Tuesday, June 19, 2012

My Not So Subtle Avocado Obsession

I've always been slightly obsessed with avocados. In college, I had avocado posters in my kitchen. I grew up eating them in California, and I've loved them since. At one point, our neighbors had several avocado trees on their property and we basically had a free unlimited supply. I miss those days. Now I have to pay for avocados and it is only slightly annoying when they are about a buck a piece. Still, I find myself willing to fork over the cash because these green little monsters are neatly packed with nutrients, healthy fats, and delicious flavor. And to think in the 80's this was considered a nutritionally meh fat bomb.

Before I forget, if you have a Sprouts grocery store near you, UPDATED: just got their flyer. Starting this Wednesday, avocados are TWO FOR A BUCK!!! I'm going back on Wednesday and buying as many as I think will fit in my fridge! I just bought eight yesterday. This is true avocado love. But what do you do with all these avocados purchased in one week? Fantastic question!

Avocados are extremely versitle even though they are easily squishable. You can freeze mashed avocados for up to a month. I have never frozen them longer than that because they just don't wait too long to be eaten in my house. Before you freeze them you must prepare them.

Freezing avocados:
Peel and remove pit from 4-5 avocados.
Add the juice of 2-3 limes, run in food processor until smooth and place in a freezer bag. Squeeze all the air out and seal well. You can make this into guac after defrosting by adding onion, garlic, fresh cilantro and diced fresh tomatoes later. 

Fresh ideas other than guac? Absolutely! One of my favorite breakfasts right now is bacon, avocado, and tomato with a twist of fresh lime juice on the avocado, aka The BAT Breakfast. Or you can add it to a fresh chopped salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, jicama, and cooked shrimp. Add some garlic salt, dress with cilantro and you have an entree salad, or a nice appetizer salad for a party. You can even grill them to give them a smokey flavor. Just make sure you slice them pretty thick (2-3 slices per half) and that the flames on your grill aren't high. How about a light dressing made from one avocado, white wine vinegar, olive oil and some fresh herbs? Throw it all into a blender and enjoy over some summer greens. Throw some sliced avocado into your next caprese salad! You can even replace butter in cookie recipes with mashed avocados! Try searching avocado recipes on Pinterest, and you will be blown away.

WOD

Yoga with Bob Harper. I did a 30 minute workout. It was tough still.

Nutrition

Breakfast: 3 egg cups and bacon, coffee with H&H and Splenda.

Lunch: Spinach salad, with turkey and organic Chipotle Ranch. Mineral Water with Twist of lime.

Snack: Premier Nutrition Protein Shake.

Dinner: Grilled chicken with chimmichurri, leftover caprese, broccoli, and maybe split a yam with Rob.


One last parting tip when using avocados, to prevent them from turning brown, don't leave them exposed to air that much. When storing your guacamole, place in a conainer, place plastic wrap on the surface of the guacamole making sure to leave no bubbles or airpockets. Then seal with the container's lid. My guac never turns brown this way. If you have any ideas or recipes, or you just want to share your love for avocado, let me know in the comments!

xo,


Kendra

4 comments:

  1. Cut in half, eat with a spoon right out of the peel :)

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  2. I love avocados too!!! You don't have Food City in Phoenix?? Cause here the avocados are 5 for 99 cents on Friday. YUMMM!! Thanks for the tips on freezing them, I'll have to put that to use!

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  3. Betsy's right.....Food City is THE place to buy avocados for cheap. Just watch their ads for what day they go on sale. Either that, or ad-match them at Walmart!
    I've also found that the pits also keep them fresh. Just put it in your guac and remove before eating. Sometimes we only eat half, so I eat the half that doesn't have the pit and put the other half in a ziplock.

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  4. Totally looking for avocado recipes on Pinterest!!
    YOU gave me MY avocado fascination, you know! Drew framed MY CA Avocado posters a couple Christmases ago and they hang in my kithchen--maybe you saw them in the Avondale house??
    Anyway, people always comment on them and we had company this past weekend and SERVED avocados--they thought that was funny! I loooooove them soooooo much!!!

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