Bountiful Baskets Recipes: Plight of the Avocado

Oh silly little Avocado.. how do I deal with you in my basket? Hmm.. tasty treat and yet, so relegated to guacamole... but lets try something new!

1. Use an avocado instead of mayo on a sandwich- that creamy texture, good and healthy, nice trade! I'm pretty partial to wraps myself- especially lettuce wraps (and the lettuce in a basket is a great way to go too! Substitute your bread for lettuce, toss in some tomatoes, meat, cheese, avocado, some spinach, cucumber, maybe some fresh sprouts or watercress for some bite- and voila! You look pretty food couture, and it was super easy, super healthy,  and its SOOOO tasty!

2. Salads: Marinate a peeled, diced avocado with a little lime and olive oil, some mango, and throw into a spinach salad with some strawberries and some shredded carrot. A little grilled chicken is nice too!

3.Throw that wicked little avocado slice in a taco! Corn tortillas are a good way to stay gluten free- or if you picked up a tortilla pack, break em out! Throw in some heirloom tomatoes if you got them this week, some lettuce, maybe onion- that lovely avocado, load it up! We do ground turkey with chili seasoning in our tacos, cheese, maybe some beans, definitely sour cream.

4. F-ushi. I don't have a household filled with nori lovers, but they will it faux-sushi. I use crepes or thin rolled breads or even phyllo dough for my nori. You can use lettuce or spinach too (though it needs a toothpick to hold unless you roll it in rice again. Make yours with cooked things- thin chicken or steak strips, sauteed potatoes or carrots. But  throw that avocado in too! I like a roll done with sushi rice (though risotto works well) spinach or butter lettuce instead of nori, rainbow carrots, avocado, cucumber, radish or water chestnut, and maybe a sliver of cream cheese. I know- its not sushi- but boy does it look pretty cool, and is it tasty!!

5. slice them, bread them, and fry them!

6. Last but not least- puree them and add them into anything- breads, cupcakes even (just not white cake lol) Its easy to hide because they are mild tasting. Bake em in, and you get the goo stuff, without the kid freakout- they will never know!

And if you want to dig deeper- check out the haas avocado recipe site- they had me at gluten free and chocolate! http://www.avocadocentral.com/avocado-recipes