#GuacSquad12: Bacon Ranch Guacamole

So.
Remember when I posted last week that #GuacSquad12 was coming, and that I would be posting my recipe soon?
That day has come.
My knowledge of guacamole is fairly limited.  I'd never made it before.  But as with many recipes, I searched Pinterest, and added bacon.  Because frankly, everything's better with bacon, is it not?

Read the details of the event (and the fabulous giveaway.  Make sure you enter!) below, and then follow the jump to see the great guac I made!

A dozen bloggers have come together to share fourteen different guacamole recipes during the month of July. Whether you're a guacamole purist - think avocado, cilantro and lime - or you get a little more creative - think of some fabulous fold-ins such as pineapple or olives - the #GuacSquad12's creations will make your mouth water.

Want to see what the other bloggers have created?  Check out all the great guacamoles here.

Here's are the GuacSquad Bloggers...

listed alphabetically by blog name

A Day in the Life on the Farm

A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures

Angels Home Sweet Homestead

Café Terra Blog

Cheese Curd In Paradise

Cindy's Recipes and Writings

Cookaholic Wife

Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Famished Fish, Finicky Shark

Jane's Adventures in Dinner

Making Miracles

The Heritage Cook

Things I Make (for Dinner)

Here's the blog tour schedule...

Here are Our Sponsors*...

and how you can find them around the internet

Casabella

on the web, on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram, on Pinterest

Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices

on the web, on Twitter, on Facebook, on Pinterest, on Instagram, on Google+

Melissa's Produce

on the web, on Twitter, on Facebook, on Pinterest, on Instagram

Here are Our Prizes...
We are giving away a dozen - yes, twelve! - Guac-Lock™s from Casabella.

And we have an amazing prize package from Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices that includes their entire collection of stir in pastes and their lightly dried herbs.

The Giveaway...

Our generous sponsors have contributed prizes for this event. The giveaway runs from July 8th through July 25th when we will select thirteen winners who will be notified by email. The first twelve winners will receive the Guac-Lock™ by Casabella; the thirteenth winner will receive a generous prize package from Gourmet Garden Herbs & Spices. No purchase necessary. Winners will have 48 hours to reply with contact information or new winner will be chosen. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Disclosure: Bloggers received complimentary products from sponsors for the creation of this event. This is a sponsored post that contains affiliate links.

Although this post is sponsored, all opinions are our own.*

Ingredients:
1/2 c sour cream
1/4 c buttermilk
2 Tbsp ranch seasonings (I used Victorian Epicure)
3 avacados, pitted and peeled
3 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped
2 Tbsp chives, chopped (I used Gourmet Garden's Lightly Dried Chives)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1.  In a small bowl, beat sour cream, buttermilk and ranch dressing mix until smooth.  Set aside.
2.  In a medium bowl, mash avocados until somewhat chunky.  Stir in ranch until you reach a desired consistency (I used about 3/4 of a cup).  Gently fold in tomato, chives, onion and bacon.  Stir in salt and pepper to taste.  Refrigerate to allow flavours to meld.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Adapted from The Recipe Critic 

My Good Food Box the past 2 weeks has included greenhouse tomatoes.  They've been beautiful.  I used one for this.

I started with a fork to mash the avocados, and it just wasn't working for me.  That's when I thought of my pastry blender.  Things went much better at this point.  I made mine fairly smooth, seeing as I'm not a huge fan of plain avocado.  My ranch also contained a good deal of garlic, so I didn't add any more, but you might want to.  I did use Gourmet Garden's lightly dried chives, but their garlic paste would be amazing too.  So easy to stir in to so many things!

Then fold everything in, and get ready to refrigerate.  Have I mentioned the Guac Lock?  It's great for keeping your guacamole from going brown during the melding process.  J and I ate this over a few days, slowly pushing the bottom of the container up to keep the dip at the top of the container and fresh in the fridge.  It was as good the next 2 days as well.

But isn't this pretty?  Delicious too.  Thanks Casabella for helping me get my guac on!

Disclosure:  I received products from both Casabella and Gourmet Garden for the creation of this post.  This is a sponsored post that contains affiliate links.  Although this post is sponsored, all opinions expressed are 100% my own.