For the past two days,  I have been craving for Mexican food. As we all know, ordering it in a restaurant is a pleasant experience however it leaves you with a triple feeling of guilt! The first one being the over-consumption of nachos with salsa sauce. The second one being the over-consumption of drinks such as frozen Margeritas or others and thus increasing your caloric intake by two! And thirdly the over- consumption fajita wraps leaving you with an oily after taste and bloated stomach!

Having remembered all of the above and knowing that during this period of the year, calorie savings is the name of the game, I preferred to stay home today and prepare a light Mexican lunch!

~Guacamole… The making of!

Guacamole is an avocado based dip that originated in Mexico and was first prepared by the Aztecs! It is generally regarded as a heavy dip as it includes avocados that are known to be highly caloric and fattening.In fact, a small sized avocado has around 200 calories and 20g of fat.However, the types of fats found in avocados are the good ones (monounsaturated fats) that help raise the good levels of cholesterol(HDL).Nevertheless, the caloric count of one avocado is high when compared to other fruits and thus must be consumed in moderation!

Avocados have often held the reputation of being an aphrodisiac and  this have been most probably given by ancestors, due to the sensuous pear shape and the rich flavor and is most probably an erroneous illusion …

“The avocado is a food without rival among the fruits, the veritable fruit of paradise”.

                                                                                                                                             David Fairchild

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In order to prepare an exquisite guacamole dip you will need the following ingredients:

4 ripe avocados

4 tomatoes

juice of 1 lemon

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

small bunch of fresh coriander chopped

3 red chillies (optional)

Method of preparation:

In a blender, process the peeled avocados until almost smooth then scrape into a bowl and stir in the lemon juice.

Chop the onions and tomatoes.

Crush the garlic. Add to the avocados with onions and tomatoes and mix well. Stir in the coriander.

In this traditional recipe you can only find natural ingredients! Unlike many commercial guacamole dips that may contain mayonnaise and other ingredients!

4 tbsp of this homemade guacamole will have around 120 calories!

What about the Nachos ??

Yes! They are fattening!! Each 15 pieces of Nachos have around 150 calories! You do the calculations and see how many you’re allowed if you’re planning to have chicken fajitas and other Mexican delicacies!

Read the following post to discover the light version of chicken fajitas!

Dietitian Nicole Maftoum