Remove the pit from an avocado half and you’ve got a bowl to hold salsa, veggies and even a fried egg.
How do you know whether an avocado is ripe? Find the part where it used to be connected to a stem. Remove that little wooden peg and see what color the hole is. If it’s brown, the fruit is too ripe. If it’s green, you’re good to grab it. Now that you know how to establish which one to buy, here are some ways to use an avocado.
1. Make bacon guacamole grilled cheese
Closet Cooking suggests adding guacamole to a bacon and grilled cheese sandwich. This is a great lunch to whip up while attending chef schools in Texas. Use your favorite kind of easy-melting cheese and some great bread (sourdough, anyone?) for the base, but add chopped tomato, pre-cooked bacon and sliced avocados to the sandwich before grilling or pan-frying it. As the cheese melts, the avocado will soften and the whole thing will become one gooey, delicious mess. We’re willing to clean up after this kind of delicious undertaking. Just keep napkins on hand for ?drips.
2. Chocolate avocado cookies
The Smoothie Lover was experimenting with healthy cookie alternatives one day and decided to use avocado instead of flour. Her incredibly moist, slightly bitter recipe for chocolate avocado cookies is to die for. You can use dark cocoa powder, dark chocolate chunks, and baking soda with avocado to create these incredible healthy snacks. The recommended 1/2 cup of coconut sugar can be replaced with honey or even a ripe banana. Plus, like any cookies, you can switch it up a bit by adding mint, vanilla or other flavors.
3. Avocado bowl
When an avocado has been cut in half, it makes a perfect vessel to add some tasty toppings. Consider using one to hold the following mixes, curated by Buzzfeed:
- scallions, black beans, corn and cheese
- an egg and some bacon
- sour cream, parsley, thyme
- soy sauce and brown rice
- edamame, quinoa, cayenne and parsley
- balsamic vinegar, basil, tomato and mozzarella
4. Cream cheese and avocado wontons
Imagine biting into a hot, creamy wonton and enjoying the crunchy fried outside and cheesy inside. Now add a ripe avocado to this image. Budget Savvy Diva mixes light cream cheese, avocado and cheddar cheese in a bowl before adding the mix to the wonton wrappers. Make them into triangular shapes and seal with water. Brush the individual wrapped wontons with egg and fry until the outside is golden brown. You don’t need dip with these tasty appetizers, but they can be great when paired with soy sauce. The saltiness is a good addition. These are easy to make and great for parties and potlucks.
5. Avocado Pizza
Blogger Little Broken makes a creamy avocado sauce to add to her version of a skinny pizza. She uses puff pastry as the dough and then adds pesto. The basil mix includes paprika, turmeric, onions, guar, pepper, olive oil, honey and a few other seasonings to add robust flavor to the base of this pizza. The avocado sauce is made with milk, sour cream, cilantro, seasonings and mayo, combined in a food processor. Add the pesto to the uncooked dough and then put it in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes or until it is crisp and golden near the edges. Remove the dough from the oven and top it with the avocado sauce. Add other ingredients like tomato and extra avocado chunks to personalize this pie to your own liking. You could also add more toppings like sausage or cheese while it is still in the oven. Just be sure all the ingredients are cooked all the way through before devouring.
