The Art of Living Apie-ly : Much ado about Avocados.

Remember the picky child I told you about? Well she hated avocados. It was texture thing. Plus it was green. Children don't like green things.

I now LOVE avocados. Too much probably. They are incredibly tasty and very versatile. The only problem with them is that their very difficult to buy. I either get them when they are unripe, or too ripe. You need to find avocados a day or two away from being perfectly ripe for good meal planning. You might as well try to find the holy grail. A ripe avocado is usually a dark green or brown colour. When squeezed, they give under the fingertips, the more they give, the riper they are. After a while, the flesh of an overripe fruit will go brown, instead of the vibrant green a good avocado should be. When they do, the flesh takes on an oxidized flavour I don't care for.

So I usually buy unripe avocados. And use them as they ripen. Therefore, I have several "go-to" recipes on standby. Ever heard of avocado chocolate pudding/mousse?

Here's a very basic recipe for it.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Chocolate-avocado-mousse/

Note 1: I used agave syrup instead of honey. You could also use pure maple syrup.

Note 2: for extra chocolate-ly flavour, melt some dairy free chocolate chips in a double boiler and pour that in the food processor as well.

Another favourite is "15 minute creamy avocado pasta"

http://ohsheglows.com/2011/01/31/15-minute-creamy-avocado-pasta/

This pasta is truly my favourite pasta. I always put extra lemon juice in because I love tart, sour things.

Something new I made recently was a dressing from "Oh she Glows". The recipe is for "Creamy avocado potato salad". But I only made the dressing. I've been using it on salads.