We had ten full-grown avocado trees on our property when I was a kid. Guacamole was free-flowing and never ever made with sour cream or mayonnaise, or any other filler. While I wholeheartedly appreciate how fortunate we were to live in a house set amid so many fruit-bearers, it did make me a bit of an avocado purist. Not to mention a full-blown guacamole snob. So when one of my sweet nieces offered to make me a guacamole dip with cottage cheese, I tried very hard to keep an open mind, as I braced myself for the impact of something that could taste very wrong.
My niece’s recipe comes from someone on my husband’s side of the family, and while many of my in-laws are wonderful cooks, they did introduce me to a little something called “Cheese Jell-O” a few years ago. Looking back, this may have been part of my “new-girlfriend hazing.” Cheese Jell-O is Jell-O topped with cheddar cheese. When you combine these two flavors they don’t magically transform into a sumptuous new dish. It’s just two pleasant, yet unrelated things in your mouth at the same time. Like part of your sandwich brushed up against your dessert at a picnic, and you ate it anyway. Not bad…
So, with Cheese Jell-O and my guacamole snobbery in mind, I was thinking that my niece was about to feed me another “two things” meal but being the patient auntie I am, I sat back and let it all unfold.
Below is the recipe, and a review of this dip. To make this at home, you will need the following:
1 Ripe avocado
Salt
Pepper
Garlic salt
Lemon juice
Cottage cheese
Corn chips
Corn chips
Scoop out the contents of the avocado, and using a fork, mash it up in a bowl. Add about 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper, and garlic salt to taste.
Add about one cup of cottage cheese to the avocado dip, and stir together.
Squeeze in 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice and continue mixing with fork.
Serve with corn chips. (The nieces recommend Frito’s.)
With all of my reluctance and adverse feelings about fillers in guacamole, I would say that this cottage cheese avocado dip (note my refusal to call it the g-word) is actually really tasty! The cottage cheese ads a little tang, a lot of protein, and helps to stretch out an avocado amongst two ravenous school kids, and their full-grown aunt. The flavors blend together so well that I never once drew a parallel to the “two things Cheese Jell-O” experience. And of course, the creaminess of the avocado is always nicely paired with the saltiness of corn chips, so on the whole, this after-school snack recipe is one I embrace, and recommend to you!
This is also a great recipe for kids to “cook” on their own. For this blog post, my 8-year old niece was my “guest chef.” Her 6-year old sister was my “guest food critic” but her review was too difficult to transcribe since her mouth was constantly full of dip. She did throw me a thumbs up between bites.
I could certainly see bringing this dip to a picnic or pot-luck. However, if it cozied up next to some Jell-O on my plate, I would more than likely leave that bit un-touched.
How about my personal recipe (no avocados involved):
In blender, mix 125g of cottage cheese, some coriander, 1 small garlic clove and a few strips of smoked salmon. You can increase the creaminess with a little bit of plain yogurt or 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise. We eat with cream crackers or whole grain bread.
Celia that sounds delish! I’m going to try that this weekend! I LOVE smoked salmon and take any opportunity I can to eat it! Thank you
Cottage Cheese make every thing better!
Laurel, what do you normally add it to? For me, cottage cheese has primarily been a breakfast or light lunch with just salt, pepper and maybe some tomato slices. How do you eat it?
xoxo
I am a Guac purist too, but I believe you that this is yummy. I used to always mix cheapo jarred salsa with cottage cheese and eat it with tortilla chips-it was so good! Im gonna try this soon.
I loooooove guacamole. Though here back in Denmark, Avocado’s aren’t the best of things available, so it can be hard to find good avocados. But this recipe looks soooo good that i just MUST find good avocados to make this!!! 😀 thanks for sharing as usual, megan!
-The Creative Muslimah
We had a cousin that made cottage cheese and avocado dip and served it with potato chips. I just made your recipe and cannot wait to try it. Thanks for sharing!
My mom has always made this dip! People always think it sounds bizarre, but end up loving out. We add pepper, garlic salt and dried, minced onions instead of salt. The minced onions soften up quickly in the mix, but you can’t add too many, or they won’t. I’m going to try lime, since it does turn brown quickly. Thanks for sharing!