National Spicy Guacamole Day / National Family PJ Day / National Pickle Day

NATIONAL SPICY GUACAMOLE DAY

National Spicy Guacamole Day brings together some fresh flavors on November 14th. Call your friends, get the chips ready, and celebrate with a bowl of spicy guacamole dip.

Originating with the Aztecs in Mexico, guacamole is an avocado-based sauce. It’s become popular in American cuisine as a dip, condiment, and salad ingredient. 

Guacamole is made by using a mortar and pestle to mash ripe avocados and then mixing in sea salt. Sometimes tomatoes, onion, garlic, lemon juice, chili, yogurt or other seasonings are added. Jalapenos, chilis, cumin or red pepper can be added to the recipe to make the guacamole spicy.

Super Bowl Sunday and Cinco de Mayo celebrations feature guacamole as a staple snack. As a result, avocado sales have soared to 30 million pounds on those two days each year. 

A simple avocado carries a healthy punch of unsaturated fat (the good one). Additionally, a single avocado includes substantial amounts of Vitamins C and E. Good things come in small packages, though. There are nearly 400 calories in 1 cup of guacamole.

Tips to making guacamole are making sure your avocado is ripe and to add lemon to keep the avocado from browning. It also adds a bright flavor. While picking ripe avocados can be daunting, it doesn’t have to be. A ripe avocado typically has darker skin. It will give when lightly squeezed. However, a bruised avocado will be dimpled.

I personally love guacamole and enjoy some salsa or hot sauce in it. You?

 NATIONAL FAMILY PJ DAY

Comfort comes in the form of National Family PJ Day. Celebrated each year on November 14th, the day invites everyone of all ages to wear their favorite pajamas for a party.

Whether we snuggle in for extra sleep or binge watch our favorite television series, the day will be filled with family highlights. Board games in our warm flannels or pillow fights while wearing our best footie PJs will create lasting memories. Do a little holiday shopping online while the youngest family members catch up on their sleep.

You know you have a favorite pair of pajamas. How many have matching sets for everyone in the family? Set up the camera and take a family picture. What a priceless way to mark the occasion. PJs, the family, and a cozy day together.

 NATIONAL PICKLE DAY

National Pickle Day recognizes the tart, sometimes sweet, and even spicy pickle. Each year on November 14th, pickle lovers pop open pecks of their preferred preserved pickle. observed annually on November 14. It may be a Dill, Gherkin, Cornichon, Brined, Kosher Dill, Polish, Hungarian, Lime, Bread and Butter, Swedish and Danish, or Kool-Aid Pickle. Whichever is your choice, eat them all day long.

The term pickle comes from the Dutch word pekel, meaning brine. In the United States, the word pickle typically refers to a pickled cucumber. However, just about any fruit or vegetable can be pickled.

The process typically starts with a blanching process, depending on the fruit or vegetable. Then the product is packed into jars with seasonings that will give the pickles flavor. They can be spicy, tart or sweet. However, the tartness and sweetness come from the brine. A basic brine includes vinegar and water. Various amounts of sugar adjust the level of sweetness in the brine. 

Pickle Facts

Each year in the United States, 5,200,000 pounds of pickles are consumed. While pickles can be high in sodium, they are a good source of vitamin K. In moderation, they make a great snack. 

·        Food vendors sometimes serve pickles on a stick fairs or carnivals. They are known as stick pickles.

·        A rising trend in the United States is deep-fried pickles. The pickle is wrapped in dough or dipped in breading and deep-fried.

·        The popularity of the pickle dates back thousands of years to 2030 B.C. At that time, traders imported cucumbers from India to the Tigris Valley. Here the people first preserved and ate the cucumbers as pickles.

·        Cleopatra attributed her good looks to her diet of pickles.

·        Even Julius Caesar craved the benefits of pickles. He believed pickles lent physical and spiritual strength and gave them to his troops.