Do you remember back in February when I wrote a post about Wolf’s “Reclaim the Kitchen” initiative? I’ve been thinking a lot about that ever since…about why families have been moving away from family mealtime. Growing up, eating at home as a family was the norm. Now? We have over scheduled our lives, and I believe, really over complicated family mealtime.

I know in my house, when we hit the drive through it’s because of my lack of planning. Maybe I didn’t set the meat out to thaw or forgot to grab the key ingredients for a recipe at the store. Either way, if I don’t plan, dinner at home doesn’t happen.

The other thing I have a BIG tendency to do is over complicate family mealtime. Especially as a food blogger, I’m always trying new recipes. Sometimes I forget that getting back to basics…returning to those simple recipes we grew up with… will do just fine. There’s no need for dinner to be a difficult, complicated, affair. There are so many resources at our fingertips with online recipe tools, magazines and cookbooks, we forget that our best recipes are the ones we rarely turn to… the ones our grandmas, our grandmas grandmas, etc. fed their families with for decades using staple ingredients they had on hand from their gardens and pantries. …

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I recently received a shipment of California Avocados from California Avocados Direct. Securely packaged with care and a hand written note directly from the farmer himself, I was pretty excited about this package. California Avocados Direct is bringing fresh from the orchard avocados directly to your home and mine through their innovative e-commerce store. With a selection of monthly avocado deliveries, gourmet avocado gift baskets, and more, California Avocados Direct is giving the chance for people like me, in Kansas, to really be able to taste an avocado.

What I realized when I first took a bite of an avocado from California Avocados Direct is that I have never really tasted a fresh avocado. We have avocados in the supermarket here that you have to hurry to get home or they will be over ripe. What we don’t have are orchard fresh, delicious, farm fresh avocados. After one taste, I can tell you… you haven’t truly tasted an avocado unless you have tasted a farm fresh California avocado.

I hesitated to even turn these avocado’s into a recipe… they were so good by themselves – fresh and full of flavor. However, I decided to create a delicious veggie dip (or pita chip dip) using an avocado, some cream cheese and Rotel. A veggie dip for your veggies… gotta love that!

If you are interested in supporting a farmer with a commitment to providing the freshest avocados to people in all regions of the United States, check out the California Avocados Direct website. Their story is one worth supporting and their avocados are truly like nothing I’ve ever tasted. Freshest of the fresh and the highest quality avocados available.

Recipe: Avocado Dip

• 1 8oz package light cream cheese
• 1 ripe avocado, diced
• 1/2 Teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 10oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine light cream cheese and diced avocado. Blend until smooth.
2. Add Kosher salt and tomatoes with green chilies. Stir with a spoon until well incorporated. Serve cold with fresh vegetables or pita chips.

California Avocados Direct sent me a lovely package of avocados. All opinions expressed within this post are my own.

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Anyone out there tired of cookies and other baked goods yet? I mean, it has been a non-stop flow of cookies, cakes, brownies, breads coming out of my oven since November 1^st. I think I would be fine never seeing another baked good for the rest of my life…

OK – that is totally untrue. I love baked goods and the holiday season is pretty much my favorite time of the year because there seems to be total acceptance of all day cookie eating. In the summer if you walk outside with a cookie in your hand at breakfast time, other mom’s on the block might give you a strange look and judge the kind of parent you are. However, during the holidays? You walk outside with a cookie at any time of day and people flock to you asking for one. It’s the holidays! Cookies, cakes, candy are celebrated all day long!

There does come a time for balance though. We can’t merely survive on cookies alone. Every once in awhile, it is probably a good idea to throw the occasional apple or carrot into the mix just so your body doesn’t go into shock when you initiate your annual “I’m giving up sweets” resolution on January 1st.

I’m headed to a holiday party this weekend and am going to give my friends the opportunity to munch on some apples, grapes and strawberries. Oh – did I mention I’m bringing this fabulous Brown Sugar fruit dip along with the fruit tray? I think if I brought something too healthy, like plain fresh fruit, to the holiday party, my friends would revolt.

If you are ready to step away from the baked goods for a bit, but still want a delicious sweet treat paired with some healthy fruit, this Brown Sugar Fruit Dip will give your sweet tooth just what it craves!

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Brown Sugar Fruit Dip

Brown Sugar Fruit Dip

Author Dine & Dish

Ingredients

• 2 8 oz packages light cream cheese softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

• Using an electric mixer, mix the softened cream cheese for about 2 minutes on medium speed
• Add the brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon and continue to mix until ingredients are full incorporated
• Place in 2 small bowls and serve with fresh fruit

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