Avocado Ideas?

[jldx2in2000]

I posted this in the Diet and Nutrition forum but didn't get very many hits so I thought I would post here and see how it did!

This is going to sound crazy but I had an avocado for the first time ever in my whole life last Sunday (outside of having guacamole on nachos ). It was awesome. I can't believe I never tried one before. I had always read they had great nutritional benefits but for some reason I was scared of trying one.

Anyway, now that I know how awesome they are, what more can I do with them? I have put them on salads, wraps, and veggie burgers.

Any other ways I can incorporate this into my meals? I like them so much, I have actually thought about just eating it right out of the shell!!

Thanks!

 

[Jane A]

Well, as a snack, I have actually eaten them out of the shell, with some hot sauce or salsa poured into the "bowl".

Mostly, I use them in salads, but I also put them in a cold salad of black beans, corn, and pico de gallo (salsa).

 

[mom418]

tune into your inner iron chef or chopped chef. they are always making weird combos that the judges usually like. like avocado ice cream. i bet there's a yummy breakfast you could make...eggs and avocado in a wrap?

 

[Dela]

My favorite new salad, is lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion, avocado and shrimp, with a homemade balsamic or red wine vinegar vinagrette (no idea how to spell that). Mostly I put avocados in salads, but they are fabulous on almost any sandwich with tuna, turkey, chicken, even roast beef. I liked an appetizers in a restaurant I had that combined sort of a chunky guac with crab meat.

 

[jldx2in2000]

I could never get into iron chef and I am really not the creative. I can modify recipes but to come up with something on my own would take a divine intervention!

I have heard of using avocados for making ice creams and puddings but never tried it. I also had heard of people putting them on eggs but I didn't know if you cook the avocado or just chop it up and add it after cooking the eggs.

Dela - how do you make your vinagrettes? I love homemade salad dressings. I have a very simple sweet dijon dressing I make that is just 1/4 C dijon mustard, stevia (or sweetener of choice) to taste, 1 T white wine vinegar, and 1 T water. It isn't exactly like honey mustard but close enough that I don't feel deprived!

 

[kathryn]

Did I miss it?
I can't believe no one has mentioned guacamole!

Also, I make a salad with chopped avocado, thaw, ed frozen corn, chopped red onion, chopped red pepper, with a bit of strained chunky salsa (save the liquid to add to water when cooking rice, or to flavor something else) to flavor, and perhaps some chopped cilantro (I call it 'salsamole' as it reminds me of a combo of salsa and guacamole.

And why not eat it just out of the shell? (But not a whole one!). I sometimes eat a 1/2 avocado with a squeeze of lemon or lime and a touch of salt. It's delish!

As others have mentioned, you can find yummy recipes for raw pudding using guacamole and cacao powder with some agave (or other sweetener) and maybe a touch of vanilla.

Also, some raw-food sites have some quite interesting avocado recipes (I think I may have posted my original avocado-cilantro-lime soup recipe in my blog here?), including a 'potato' salad made without potatoes, but with chopped avocado.

 

[CeciFifi]

chocolate pudding

you can make raw chocolate pudding with it - add agave nectar, ice, cocoa powder and... i don't remember but used to make it a lot! very yummy indeed.

 

[Dela]

How funny, I guess back in October, I did not see that question posed to me from jldx2in2000, I'm so sorry! I must not have checked back .

So I'll answer now, better late than never I suppose.

My dressings are very simple, generally I use 1 tablespoon of oil, a little less than 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar, 1 garlic close chopped, a dot of dijon, salt and pepper, and whisk with a fork. Or I use balsamic instead of red wine vinear, omit the garlic but use some garlic and onion powder. The balsamic is fun, when you whisk it, it becomes thick and kind of sweet.

 

[buckeyegirl]

OMG, avocados are AMAZING. I love the salsa in the "bowl" idea. Seriously, avos are one of my all time favorite things.

Thanks for the ideas - and I agree with others. Just eaten plain or with a little vinaigrette, and I am good to go!

 

[DixieGirl]

I love the delish avacado as well. I put it on salads but most of the time I peel it, slice it and eat it as is.

You can also use avacado in baking as a replacement for oils and butter. I've done this several times and can't tell the difference. For example 1 C. avacado in place of 1 C. butter. Since it doesn't melt like butter you may need to add a little extra liquid. HTH

 

[mj476]

Maybe this sounds a little crazy but I eat tuna with avocado and a little lemon juice. I have this for lunch quite often.

I also put avocado on sandwiches or put it in a salad.

I only started eating avocados less than a year ago and I wish I had started eating them sooner!

Kathryn - Your salsamole sounds great!

Marcy

 

[atiman]

You can also use avocados for any banana bread recipe, too. It will not taste like it. Or you can use half banana and half avocado.
Same goes for a protein shake.

I have a recipe I saved that for avocado cookies. Okay, probably not healthy. It sounded interesting.

I made a guacamole recipe and added many other spices and cheese, etc....and made a bread out of it. Okay, not the best healthwise, but at least I used a good portion of whole wheat. Don't ask for a recipe. I don't usually use recipes. I have a very hard time following directions.