Good, Better, Best--Part 2

A couple of weeks ago, I shared some insight on how to make your food go from good, to better, to best. I keep thinking of things I want to share with you, so I decided this should be an ongoing series.

If you’re from the South, you know the importance of mayonnaise in our diets. A good ole ham sandwich with a nice spread of mayo, a bowl of potato salad, the infamous deviled eggs, chicken salad, pear salad (which I’ve never brought myself to try), coleslaw, or a tomato and mayo sandwich. Now I understand there are some of you who absolutely despise it, and as a wife of someone who once despised it, I can attest to the fact that there is hope for you yet. As there is hope for me as I’m about to make a statement that will cause most of you to cringe and question whether or not I’m a true Southerner and foodie–I don’t like tomatoes. I know! It actually makes me cringe too. I want to like them, I really do. So much so that I force myself to eat them in hopes that eventually I’ll love them. And I will say that this idea is beginning to work even if just with certain types of tomatoes and on certain things. I LOVE a good BLT on fresh sourdough with mayo and a cherokee purple or brandywine tomato. So I feel like there’s hope for me yet! Now the whole reason I brought up not liking tomatoes is that a tomato and mayo sandwich on plain white bread is a Southern staple, and to not like one or the other of those things is appalling to most. So here I am–the southern outcast.

So to my topic of mayonnaise, most mayo lovers have their favorite brands and it’s a “do or die” affair. I feel like in the south it’s Duke’s or Blue Plate. But if you’re like me and have recently been awakened to the damage of seed oils in our diet, you’re scrambling to find a replacement. I have tried the olive oil mayo and the taste was too overpowering for me. So I bought a jar of Chosen brand avocado oil mayo and I just couldn't do it. I ended up throwing it out and decided I might could live with a little seed oil in my life…until I discovered just how simple it is to make your own mayo! Grab a pen and paper and get ready to take a few notes.

Homemade Mayo–

1 cup avocado oil (Chosen brand) 2 tsp white wine vinegar

1 large egg 1 tsp Dijon mustard

Hefty pinch of salt

Into a wide mouth pint mason jar, add all ingredients. If you have jars with the measurements on the side, you don’t even need a measuring cup. Just pour your oil in first and add the other ingredients. Trap the egg yolk with your immersion blender, and blend for about 15 seconds, then slowly move the blender up and down until all the oil is emulsified. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. I've never used anything other than an immersion blender to make this, but have heard that a food processor works as well. **Cook’s note: I have learned to use the freshest eggs possible to make this mayo. Mine are organic from Costco. If the egg is still in date but even slightly older, your mayo may turn out runny. If this happens, you can always add another (more fresh) egg and it will come together. And as a bonus, you have more protein in your mayo to make it a little more justifiable, since we’re all about protein these days. Let me know if you try this or if you have any questions!

Here's the immersion blender I have and love and it happens to be on sale at Amazon right now.

A few things I use my homemade mayo for besides the obvious uses is dips and sauces. I'm an unashamed dipper and will always have a higher dip to object-being-dipped ratio.

Some of our favorites are homemade ranch dressing, Spicy mayo, tartar sauce, aioli, white BBQ sauce, and homemade Chick-fil-a sauce.

I'll save the deep dive into seed oils for another day. Just know that from the information I have found so far, we've decided to keep them out of our diet as much

as possible. And no, we're not perfect with our choices 100% of the time, but we try to make better choices at least.

Hope you've enjoyed this week's content!

All my love,

Angie