Last week, the good folks at Sabra sent me some containers of hummus. Now, I'm not sure if they knew this, but their hummus happens to be my favorite brand (the roasted red pepper is the best). You can usually find some in my fridge at all times. I told one of my friends about it, and he was surprised that I didn't make my own hummus from scratch. That got me thinking...there are certain things I prefer to buy that are fairly easy to make at home (hummus, salsa, tapenade), and there are some things I'll never buy in a store. One of those is guacamole.

I love fresh guacamole. I make it periodically to bring to parties or to serve friends when they come over, and it's always a huge hit. In fact, people often say it's the best guac they've ever had. It's kind of embarrassing when people rave about it, because it's so incredibly easy and simple to make. The pre-made guac you find in grocery stores always looks sad to me...it's kind of an unappetizing brownish-gray shade, it's mushy, you don't know how long it's been sitting there. Because avocados turn brown so quickly, you really need to serve fresh guacamole within a day or so (though of course it's best to eat it right away).

The guac recipe I originally followed is from Everyday Food magazine, but I've since adjusted it to suit my tastes. These days I don't use a recipe at all; I just buy the ingredients, chop them up and mix, and taste, taste, taste, adding more lime juice, heat, or salt as necessary. But for those who want a basic recipe to start off with, here's what I made last night:

Maggie's Guacamole

Makes about 1 cup, with a little left over for the chef to enjoy

• 3 small (or 2 medium) ripe avocados, roughly diced
• 1 small red onion, minced
• 2 small tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 2 jalapeno chiles, finely minced (you can use just 1 if you don't want it too spicy; I always leave in the ribs and seeds for more heat)
• Handful of cilantro, roughly chopped (to be fair, I'm not a huge fan of cilantro so I didn't add it last night, but I do think it adds a bright, fresh element to your guac and really perks it up)
• Lime juice from 1 or 2 limes
• Coarse salt

 Combine the avocados, onion, tomato, jalapenos and cilantro in a bowl. Mix the ingredients with a spoon; if you like your guac chunky, like I do, mix lightly. Squeeze lime into the bowl and season with salt. Mix, taste, and keep adding lime juice and salt as needed until you get the right balance of flavors.