Guacamole or Pico De Gallo?
Oftentimes, when we get invited to somewhere where everyone is expected to bring a dish, I choose one of two things. Most of the time, I bring Pico de Gallo, but sometimes I bring Guacamole. For gatherings, these dishes seem to be a hit, and since they are some of my personal favorites, I really enjoy the opportunity to make a big batch of them.
Yesterday, we gathered with 
PREPARING!
Doesn't that look like a great pile of ingredients? Avocados, tomatoes, cilantro, onions, peppers, green onions, limes, and a few tomatillos! A bit of salt to finish them and we'll be ready! Since I use many of the same ingredients in both dishes, I just made up a big batch of each together!
I like to start "clean." This means chopping the onions first. If I chopped the tomatoes first, there would be tomato juice all over the cutting board right away, which would make everything else more messy and harder to cut. If I dices the avocados first, it would be a similar story. After chopping the onions, the cutting board basically looks the same as before I started, so I like to start with them first.
The green onions are the same story, as they keep things rather clean. Usually I don't add green onions, but I wanted to mix things up a bit, and they were on sale, so I went for it.
I think that tomatillos bring an interesting flavor to the table too, so I dices some of them to add to the Pico de Gallo too. This was another new twist on an old favorite for me, but it worked out well and I may be adding tomatillos next time too.
By making the two dishes together, I just have to chop each ingredient once and split it between two bowls. Except for me only adding the tomatillos to the Pico de Gallo mix, both batches are the same so far.
Next I added my favorite, the peppers. For these batches I kept things milder. If I was gathering with a bunch of "hot-heads" I would have chosen some different peppers, but this time is was an Anaheim and a few Jalapenos. They added enough heat to make it kick a little, but were not enough to hurt anyone.
Cilantro was my next ingredient. Some people do not like it, but it adds the classic flavor that many expect. I like to try to dice the leaves small to make it more palatable, which seems to work well.
Now things start to get messy and juicy! We dice up the tomatoes next. If I was just making Guacamole, I may have chosen to go with the avocados next, but is I got too much avocado over everything, the Pico De Gallo may have just ended up looking like Guacamole, so tomatoes it was.
Again, I just added this ingredient into both batches. I'll mix them up and stir them once all the ingredients are in.
I added the lime next. If I "slimed" the cutting board with the avocado first, cutting these in half may have become dangerous. I just cut the limes in half and squeeze the juice into the bowls. I think that Pico De Gallo is best when it has a chance to sit and "marinate" for a day first, and this lime juice really helps. Thankfully, I was making these batches a day ahead of time. Additionally, the lime juice helps keep the avocado from turning brown, which is a plus.
Finally, avocado time! Honestly, this is the big difference between my Pico de Gallo and my Guacamole. Others may have different recipes or ingredients, but I like the way that it tastes this way. Interestingly enough, many have really enjoyed my guacamole, with at least one person even claiming it was the best that they had ever tasted.
The last thing to add is a little salt, and we are good to go!
THE FINISHED PRODUCTS
After mixing the bowls up, we have our "finished" products. Not only were a lot of the steemians at the gathering really happy to see these two dishes show up, they were very impressed with the amount of each that I brought. By making such large quantities, it usually works out where I have at least a little bit to bring back home. Thankfully, I'll be able to enjoy some today!
So, what is your favorite dish to bring to a potluck? Have you ever brought either of these? Does seeing these dishes here make you want to invite me to a potluck?
As always, I'm 
and here's the proof:
proof-of-pico-de-gallo-and-guacamole
Until next time…
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