By Amy Barton

It's confession time.  I love hot sauce - always have.  But I have not always loved Tabasco.  According to some hot sauce aficionados, this is basically sacrilegious.  There are certainly much better (and worse) hot sauces out there, but Tobasco is (apparently) a benchmark for your "basic, good" hot sauce.  Who knew?

While I may have recently converted from Tabasco Hater to Tobasco Fan (in limited instances, which I'll get into shortly), the elusive title of "Favorite Hot Sauce" still goes go Cajun Chef.

So, what happened?  I'm a sucker for retail, that's what happened.  During a 2013 trip to New Orleans (Happy 30th Birthday, Amy!), I got sucked into the Tabasco store.  To be fair, a friend recommended that I try Tabasco's "Family Reserve" if I did nothing else.  Okay, he didn't recommend.  He threatened my life.  So, off I went.  And what did I find?

A lineup!  It was like being in Tabasco jail.  Or heaven.  Whichever.

While I did end up trying the Family Reserve (it's awesome!), my first foray was directly into Tobasco Soy Sauce.  It sounds weird.  It looks weird.  It's fantastic.  If you can find it, try it.  Slightly spicy soy sauce?  You don't know what you're missing.

Speaking of slightly spicy, that's what you get with the Family Reserve.  They're all slightly spicy I guess - they're hot sauces - but that one had more of a kick than I was expecting.  Delightfully, it also still has some flavor.  That's my beef with so many hot sauces out there - they're just HOT, with little to no actual flavor.  Family Reserve, you're okay with me.

Super honorable mention goes out to Cholula.  Cholula is the bee's knees.  It's not overly spicy, and the ones that are "flavored" definitely have flavor to them.  Chili lime, chipotle, chili garlic, regular... you've got all kinds of options.  If you're easing into the hot sauce world, Cholula is a great first choice.

What's your favorite hot sauce?  I'm open to suggestions and ready to try 'em all.  Post the best you've got in the comments below.

By Amy Barton

I'll go out on the cliche ledge and say it:  Guacamole belongs at any party.  Most of all, it belongs in your hands and mouth for the duration of every Super Bowl ever played.  It's just one of those culinary rules of life.  I've long been known among my friends and family as "the best guac maker ever."  Not gonna lie... I'm pretty good.  What I'm sharing is my basic guacamole recipe.  You can jazz it up any way you'd like.

What makes mine so different?  I like it chunky, baby!  I need substance.  I need girth.  I need something to chew on.  I need a zesty green party in my mouth.  There's also a secret ingredient hiding in the silky goodness. 

INGREDIENTS
-  4 ripe avocados
-  2 medium tomatoes, diced small
-  1/2 large red onion, chopped fine
-  fresh cilantro, one bunch (or dried cilantro to taste - start with 3-4TBSP)
-  3 green onions, chopped
-  juice of 2 limes
-  1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
-  1 TBSP garlic powder (or garlic salt - if using garlic salt, adjust additional plan salt accordingly)
-  2 tsp ground cumin (secret ingredient alert)
-  salt and pepper, to taste
-  hot sauce; optional

DIRECTIONS
Peel avocados and remove pits, discard.  Cut into large chunks, add to large bowl.  Add diced tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, and green onions.  Squeeze lime juice into your bowl - watch out for seeds!  Add olive oil, garlic powder (or salt), ground cumin, salt, and pepper.  If desired, add favorite hot sauce, to taste.  Mix vigorously with a wooden spoon, large fork, or spatula.  You want your guacamole to be creamy-feeling when you eat it, but the point here is to leave some large chunks - so don't go to town mashing your avocado!  The olive oil and stern hand when mixing will get it as luxurious as you'd like it be while still leaving some avocado chunks.  Think of it as guacasalsa.  Or salsamole.

Get ready to dunk!  Much like other dips/spreads/snacks/condiments, I really don't need to dip anything in this.  I'm perfectly happy eating it directly from my spoon.  Just be sure you're tasting it along the way.  Guacamole is very forgiving - you can easily add more lime juice, garlic, cilantro, onion, or hot sauce and stir that baby up again!

Nutritional Info, per serving (makes 8 servings): 145 calories, 12g fat, 10g carb, 5.5g fiber, 2g protein

By Amy Barton

When I was titling this post just now, "Greek Yogurt Style" lead me to almost making a "Gangnam Style" joke.  I'll spare you.  We're all over that, right?

So here's the thing: Greek yogurt is, by far, one of my favorite foods in the world.  I do all kinds of stuff with it.  I eat it.  I bathe in it.  I throw it at the dog.  I... you get the point.  Also, I'm lying.  But I do absolutely adore it.  Bonus: greek yogurt is a fantastic source of protein for when you're all meated-out.

It's really very versatile.  You can use it in place of mayo and sour cream just about anywhere.  You can use it to replace some fat and/or dairy in your baking.  Hell, you can even replace simple "icing" and "frosting" applications with it.  What's not to love?  Savory ... sweet ... Greek yogurt really did come from Adonis, I'm convinced.

If you're curious, Fage is my favorite Greek yogurt brand.  (It's pronounced "fa-yeh.")

Let's get to the goods.  And apologies in advance - I have a tendency to put "a little of this" here and "a little of that" there, so "to taste" and "as needed" are pretty common measurements in my recipes - which is great, because it means you'll be making things taste the way YOU like them to taste.  And a lot of the things I use are EASILY switched out for other ingredients, which I'll always be sure to specify so you can use whatever you'd like!

INGREDIENTS
-  1/4-1/2 cup greek yogurt (whole, low, or no fat.  I used 1/2 cup)
-  1-2 TBSP almond butter (I used sugar free)
-  1-2 TBSP unsweetened Vanilla Almond Coconut Milk (or regular milk, heavy cream, half & half, etc)
-  1 tsp cinnamon
-  10-15 drops liquid stevia (or any sweetener of your choice, to taste)

DIRECTIONS
Combine all ingredients.  Mix well.  Refrigerate if you want it extra cold.  That's it!

This is a great dip for so many things - apples, pears, pretzels, waffles, bananas, (okay, any fruit, really), shortbread.. Your imagination is the limit.  Me? I like dipping my spoon in it.  That's all I really need.  I add the apples to make myself feel better about it.

Note:  There are times I will include nutritional information and number of servings.  This is not one of those times.  Due to the ease of adjusting ingredients and amounts, there is no way to give you a one-size-fits-all list of macros.  Next time! 

If you're feeling particularly fancy, sprinkle some cinnamon on top.  Ain't nuttin' wrong with impressing yourself; you're worth it!

What's your favorite fruit dip?  Better yet, what is your favorite fruit TO dip?  I think we all like to dip apples in things, don't we?  What's your alternative?  Leave your favorite dipping fruit in comments below!