All About Avocados

Happy Friday Everyone!!

Remember my yesterday's post about lime? I promised to make a big post about lime's best friend. No, no... not tequila you silly goose! And don't try to lie and say you didn't just think that. Anyway, I mean avocado! If you didn't know, I love avocado, and you should too. 

I used to hate avocados when I was younger and then few years ago I realized that I didn't even know why I hated them. That is why I decided to taste one again, and I happened to find out that I don't hate avocado at all. Strange how your taste buds can change (*smile*).

After I figured out that I liked avocados, I wanted to know more about their nutritional value because many people were saying that they don't eat avocados because they are fattening. Which by the way is not true. They do have more calories than some other fruit but the calories are from good fats that actually do good to your body. So, as long as you don't eat a ton of avocados per day, you are just fine. Here's more information about avocados to get you to eat them too...

You should eat avocados because they...

-have the highest protein content of any fruit.
-are full of vitamin E, K and B.

-have more potassium than bananas.

-are sodium and cholesterol-free.

-are high in oleic acid (like olive oil), which has been shown in many studies to prevent breast cancer and prostate cancer.

-are high in fiber.

-have more of the carotenoid lutein than other fruits. Lutein protects against age-related eye diseases. 

-are high in beta-sitosterol which is a compound that has been shown to lower cholesterol levels.

-have a lot of folate which prevents heart disease.

-help certain nutrients from other foods to be absorbed better when eaten with avocado.

-are an excellent source of glutathione which is an important antioxidant that prevents aging.

Other useful things to know about avocados:
-Color of them can vary from bright green to almost black and you can not use the color to determine if the fruit is ripe or not.
-To determine the ripeness, gently squeeze the fruit. The flesh should give slightly when pressed, but your fingers should not leave a dent.
-If you want avocado to ripen faster, put it in a paper bag with an apple or banana because these fruits release a chemical that speeds up the ripening process.
-They can be toxic to animals. Don’t share them with your pets.

How to eat your avocado?
I can just scoop the avocado from the skin with a spoon and eat as it is. Yummy!

Then sometimes I mash the avocado and mix in some lime juice because it tastes good (and it also prevents the color of avocado turning from green to brownish, which is not dangerous because it is only a sign of the flesh reacting to oxygen like apples do). Then I use the spread on toast or in between sandwiches.

Avocados are also great in smoothies. They give the smoothie a smooth creamy texture, yet the taste of the avocado is not very strong and you can taste the berries.
This is how I make my avocado smoothie:
-half of avocado
-1 dl frozen blueberries or strawberries (about half a cup)
-banana
-milk
-little bit honey
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and then just enjoy!!

And probably the most common way people eat avocados, is guacamole. It is an avocado-based paste or dip that originates from Mexico. Unfortunately lot of people buy canned guacamole from the store and they end up getting crap! At least in Finland all the guacamole cans are full of E-codes and they have barely any avocado. I always look at the ingredient lists at stores and I once saw canned guacamole that had only 2% of avocado!! Can you believe that? The other ingredients were just crap. So, please don't be fooled to think that you made the healthier choice at the store because you got guacamole instead of some other dip, you seriously didn't. Make your own guacamole. It is very easy!! Here's a simple and oh-so-delicious recipe for you:

Easy Guacamole
By Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
2 avocados
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 ripe tomato, chopped
1 lime, juiced
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Peel and mash avocados in a medium serving bowl. Stir in onion, garlic,tomato, lime juice, salt and pepper. Season with remaining lime juice and
salt and pepper to taste. Chill the guacamole in a fridge for half an hour to blend flavors.

If you like spicy food, you can also add few drops of hot sauce or even fresh hot peppers if you dare. Some people add fresh cilantro, green scallions, olive oil or even white vinegar. What ever floats your boat! I like to keep mine simple with few ingredients.

Then you are ready to dip some corn chips to the guacamole. Or serve it as a side dish for burritos or other Mexican foods.

For a healthier choice, you can dip other things besides corn chips. Since Finland is the promised land of rye (everybody eats a ton of rye bread here), I found these awesome organic rye chips. I hope they would sell some thing like this in the US. At least when I lived there, they didn't have anything like this. I hope they do now.

These rye chips are crispy and light. They are made out whole rye flour and little bit of whole wheat flour. A little bit of sugar and no salt at all. All organic. And the best part is that they taste really, really good. Especially with my awesome homemade guacamole that is full of good stuff... Yeah!! 

Ok, that was my super big avocado post. Now you can go enjoy your weekend, relax and have your tequila... if you really want it, but I think you are craving for my guacamole instead...

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!