By Candy, RN (Steele the Day)
Avocados are one of those foods you can eat every day and never get tired of them. There’s a reason they’re nicknamed the “butter pear!” You won’t find many whole plant foods that are mostly fat, but good old avocados are loaded with it. The good news is that they are a healthy fat, which means they contain a high amount of monounsaturated fat. This been shown to lower both total cholesterol and LDL or “bad” cholesterol.
If there’s a down side to avocados, it’s that one medium avocado is almost 300 calories. Once you get hooked on them, it’s hard to stop eating them. They are an ideal fruit for someone who is limiting their carbohydrate intake, unless of course, you like to eat it with lots of pita chips in a yummy guacamole.
Avocados make a great addition to any salad, baked potato, or even plain. You can use a buttery soft one as a spread on bread, just like you would mayonnaise or on a bagel instead of cream cheese. Diced avocado is great in a corn salsa.
Avocados are very low in cholesterol and sodium. They are also a good source of dietary fiber, Vitamin K and folate.
And bonus! They come in their own bowl!
Pick avocados that are about the same firmness as the tip of your nose. Flick off the stem if the avocado is brown, it’s too ripe.
To remove the fruit from the skin and get every smidgen of goodness, slice the avocado in half lengthwise. Your knife will hit the pit – just continue slicing around the entire fruit. Take the avocado in both hands and twist to separate the halves. If the pit doesn’t come out easily, take your knife and quickly whack it into the pit, then turn counterclockwise. The pit will remove easily.
Slice or cube the avocado (still in the skin) with the tip of your knife, then scoop the contents out with a large spoon. If you aren’t going to use the entire fruit right away, rub the exposed flesh with lemon or lime juice. Avocado exposed to air tends to darken rather quickly.
And don’t forget to lick the spoon!
This is one of my favorite versions of guacamole. You don’t often find onion and tomato in it, but I think it adds a real freshness to the dish. For dippers, I brush whole grain tortillas with olive oil, cut into wedges, sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper, and bake at 350° for about 10 minutes.
Holy Guacamole
2 ripe Hass avocados
½ cup diced Roma tomato
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lime, juiced
2 tablespoons red onion, diced fine
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped fine
Salt and White Pepper
Mix and mash all ingredients together, leaving a few good-sized chunks of avocado. Serve with pita chips or your dipper of choice.
Candy Steele is a registered nurse who has worked with cardiac patients for over thirty years. “Functional foods” have become her passion, and she enjoys sharing her love of cooking, a random life and a faithful Jesus with her friends at Steele (the Day). She is blessed with three grown children, a new daughter-in-law, and a kind and patient husband who only knows how to fix popcorn (but she’s OK with that).