When I stumbled (literally – through StumbleUpon) on Lisa Fain’s blog, Homesick Texan, the first thing I thought was: “Woohoo! Another Texan in the NYC area!” and the second thing I thought was: “That is a perfect name for a blog!”. I landed on her blog about a year after I’d started mine. But she’s been blogging much longer, since 2005.

Seriously, I love that Lisa is a Homesick Texan, just trying to make carne guisada and enchiladas like we get back home in Texas.

Her approach is very different to mine, and that’s okay. We’re two different kinds of Texans. Lisa spent her growing up years in North and East Texas. I spent my growin’ up years solely in South Texas. But we’re both Texan, and that means we’re kin.

When you’re from a state as big as ours, the difference in cuisine from the North end to the South end are easily as different as from East Coast to West Coast of the United States. For example, when I was reading the Homesick Texan Cookbook, I came across Lisa’s recipe for Soft Cheese Tacos. As Lisa assures us, these are a Dallas-only phenomenon. Not that they don’t look incredible – I’d just never seen anything like them!

Like Robb Walsh’s The Tex-Mex Cookbook, Lisa’s book is a love letter – only instead of just San Antonio and the surrounding areas, I like to think of Lisa’s book as a love letter to the entire state of Texas, with a little postscript about the love of a good Texan family thrown in. I can relate.

Flipping through Lisa’s The Homesick Texan Cookbook, I realized something. I’ve never put a Guacamole recipe on Bluebonnets & Brownies. This, my friends, is a crying shame. And who better to share their guacamole recipe than Lisa herself?

Guacamole is the perfect topping, side dish, party dip or.. hell, breakfast to any Texan. We eat it all year round, sure. Without question, though, it is the must-have food at any holiday party.

Thank you, Lisa, for sharing your love of Texas and your passion for good food with the world. And thank you for sharing your Guacamole recipe with Bluebonnets & Brownies today.

Guacamole

As provided by the publisher, directly from the Homesick Texan Cookbook
This creamy condiment. We’d spread it on top of nachos, spoon it on chalupas, dollop it into tacos, or simply eat it with a basket of crisp tortilla chips.

There are many ways to make guacamole. For instance, some people make complicated guacamoles stuffed with ingredients such as tomatoes and pomegranate seeds, while others go so far as to include mayonnaise. I, however, like to keep it simple.

Guacamole is all about freshness, and while you want the avocado to be the star, the other ingredients need to be heard as well. And nothing is louder than the fire of fresh chiles, the tang of lime juice, and the bite of fresh garlic.

Ingredients
2 ripe Hass avocados, peeled and pitted
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 serrano chile, seeds and stem removed, diced (I used red, for color – the older the pepper, the more likely it is to be red)
½ cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon lime juice
Salt, to taste

Directions
1. Scoop out the flesh from the avocado into a bowl. Add the garlic, serrano chile, cilantro, lime juice, and
salt.

2. Mash the ingredients together either with a fork in a bowl or in a Mexican mortar and pestle
(molcajete) until desired consistency. If you’re using a molcajete, there’s no need to crush the garlic.
And you can add another serrano chile if you like it extra hot.

Want a little Tex-Mex love in your life?

Enter to win one autographed copy of “The Homesick Texan Cookbook” by Lisa Fain!

How you win:

{Required Entry}
Leave a comment below. Tell me what your favorite Tex-Mex or Mexican food dish is.

Who wants bonus entries?!

For each item below that you do, you will get one extra chance to win. If you already do any of these items, they DO count. You MUST leave a separate comment for each item. If you leave one cumulative comment, it will only count as one extra entry.

1. Like The Homesick Texan on Facebook.
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3. Follow @HomesickTexan and @BluebonnetBaker on Twitter and tweet the following. Then come back and leave a comment that you did so.

I want to win The Homesick Texan Cookbook from @HomesickTexan and @BluebonnetBaker! http://su.pr/8Lhmz5 #giveaway

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Important Details:

-This giveaway is open to USA and Canadian residents only and will run until Monday, December 5th at 11:59 pm EST.
-Winner(s) will be generated via a random number generator software program. Winner will be notified via the contact email provided on the comment contact form.
-Winner(s) will have until 12/7/11 to claim their cookbook or we will choose another winner.
-Winner will receive one autographed copy of The Homesick Texan Cookbook (Hardcover){$29.99 MSRP}. Product will be shipped by Bluebonnets & Brownies.

Disclosure:

This giveaway is provided to you by Bluebonnets & Brownies. The views and opinions expressed by Amber Bracegirdle on Bluebonnets & Brownies are my own, and based upon my cooking experiences with Lisa Fain’s The Homesick Texan Cookbook. I was given the product free of charge to test and review it; however, I was not monetarily compensated for the review or giveaway.

[wpurp-searchable-recipe]Homesick Texan’s Guacamole – – – [/wpurp-searchable-recipe]