Mock-a-mole

     So yesterday was the Superbowl. I watched zero minutes of it and don't feel bad about that at all. It's just not for me, but friendly get-togethers are. If it's the Superbowl that gives me an excuse to hang out with all my friends in one room then so be it. I'm lucky enough, too, that I'm not the only one of my friends with this philosophy, so I'm rarely in the other room by myself! I was doubly lucky yesterday to be invited to a "healthy snacks" Superbowl party that ended up being a pretty epic taco bar. Amongst the ground turkey, slow cooked pulled pork, low fat buffalo chicken dip, quinoa and black bean salad, and so much more, I nestled in my mock-a-mole.

     "What's mock-a-mole", you ask? It's the healthier version of guacamole. Guacamole can be extremely high in fat and calories depending on the what brand of guac you're consuming. Avocados are the real trouble makers here and have a reported 240 calories per cup of fresh avocado...let's be real, there's got to be a reason why it's substituted for mayo and butter in so many "healthy" recipes! So the trick is to replace some of that avocado for a better alternative. Peas are the way to go, with a reported 134 calories per cup of cooked peas and only 117 calories per cup of raw. Plus they are sweet and green, perfect for guacamole!

     I started looking around for a recipe I liked and found one by Bethenny Frankle that seemed like a good place to start. As always, I tweaked it a bit. In the end it was delicious and I highly recommend it to anyone! This recipe will be good for a party sized batch, I'd say 12-15 servings, perfect for dipping.

Ingredients

3 ripe avocados

3 cups cooked peas (can be thawed frozen, canned, fresh cooked)

1 1/2 cups chopped tomato

1/4 cup chopped red onion

2 fresh limes- juiced

6 tablespoons cilantro

3 tablespoons parsley

1 clove chopped garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

ground pepper to taste

Tabasco to taste 

Step 1: In a large bowl toss everything EXCEPT the tomatoes and avacados

Step 2: Chop the tomato and avocado.

     Avocados can be tricky for some people. Check out this video my hubby and I made on how to peel, pit, and chop an avocado super simply. Once you've done it a few times you'll be chopping avocados in under a minute, easy. Also, there is way less waste then with some of the other methods I've seen employed (mom). Now, my guy is a chef and likes to use his hands, but you can actually just turn the skin inside out at the end of the process if you don't like the idea of getting your fingers dirty.



Step 3: Put the avocado and pea mixture into a food processor or blender and pulse until you reach desired consistency. Depending on the size of your food processor this will probably need to be done in 2 or 3 batches.

Step 4: Scoop blended mixture into a bowl and fold in chopped tomatoes. Dig in.

     I was shocked at how good this actually was. Nobody at the party knew it was mock-a-mole until I told them, either.

I call that a major score on game day...see what I did there?

Simple City Sam