Avocados

Amber, this is for you!

As I've said before, we love avocados around the Wright household, especially at $.44 a pop at Wal-Mart. Some of our favorite recipes are:

Our favorite guacamole is Tomato-Avocado Salsamole from the You: On Diet recipe list.We've tried several guacamole recipes, and this is by far our favorite. It's basically guacamole with tomato chunks, and they just add a little more flavor. AND it's healthy. Of course, they also suggest that you eat it with toasted whole wheat pita bread instead of tortilla chips, but that's only a suggestion.

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1 tsp minced jalapeno, or more to taste
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and coarsely mashed
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Mix first six ingredients together in a bowl. Add last three; stir well. Serve immediately.



I got this Chicken and Avocado Pasta recipe from the Lake Charles Junior League cookbook (one of the most beautifully photographed cookbooks I've seen). The avocados give it such a rich, creamy texture, but it's oh-so-much healthier than heavy cream.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
Salt and pepper to taste
Tony's to taste
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 (12-oz) package tri-color spiral pasta, cooked al dente and drained
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup ranch salad dressing
1 can pitted small black olives, drained
1 small jar pitted green olives, drained and sliced
3 avocados, sliced

Season the chicken with salt and pepper and season generously with Tony's. Melt the butter in a skillet. Add the chicken and saute until brown and cooked through. Combine the pasta, olive oil and salad dressing in a serving bowl. Season with Tony's and toss to coat. Add the olives, avocados and chicken and toss to ix. Serve immediately or chill for 2 hours before serving.



This recipe I tried for the first time this morning, but I just had to include it. I was searching earlier this week for a kiwi smoothie recipe, and stumbled onto a recipe for an Avocado Banana Kiwi smoothie.

It's weird, I know.

The result? It's...fine. Not at all bad. But it didn't have quite enough flavor for me. A comment on the blog suggested serving it garnished with berries or mint, and I can see how that would improve the flavor.



Most of the time we eat avocados, though, we just add them as an extra. Some things we like them on:

All things Mexican (fajitas, tacos, nachos, etc.)
Turkey sandwiches
Eggs Benedict

Any other suggestions?