Avocado Egg Toast

It's the simple things. I have been eating this too-good-to-be-true breakfast on and off all summer. Why is it too good to be true, you ask? (You always ask just the right questions.) Because it's perfectly balanced health food that tastes like the most decadent, indulgent breakfast that you would probably eat if you were a queen living on an island paradise somewhere. And it costs less than anything on the dollar menu would. And it only takes about 5 minutes to prepare (which is less time than you'll spend in the drive thru waiting to get your food).

It's just so so good. Yet it's full of vitamins, healthy fats, protein, and (maybe if you go righteous on the bread) whole grains. But beyond healthy, it's just amazing. I mean, you'd want to eat this regardless. You'd be happy if someone was like, "Hey, that's got 2% vitamin C in it like fruit snacks." You'd be like, "Morning meal justified." But you don't even have to be like all that because it really is so nutritious (vitamin K, folate, Vitamin C, potassium, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B2, Vitamin E, iron, phosphorus, selenium, I could go on). It makes you feel good in 100 ways. Eat it.

Avocado Egg Toast
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cost: $.80
bread: $.20, avocado: .50, egg: .10

Note: Don't skimp on the quality of the bread. Life will go on if you do and this will still be very good, but if you get a good loaf of bread, it will be out of this world amazing, fantastic, exclamation points!!!! kind of good. I had this with a sourdough Parmesan bread when we were on vacation and I still have sweet dreams about that. Although any good sourdough is delicious or a nice hearty whole wheat. Whatever bread you love--use it with this.

1 piece of toast
1/2 avocado
1 egg
mayonnaise
a little salt
maybe butter (you don't need it but since when do people eat butter on toast because they need it? the butter ups this to a whole new celestial level. That said, I've eaten this without it and it's still amazing)

Cook your egg so that the yolk is just the tiniest bit runny. You can poach it or do it over easy (which is what I did). If you cannot handle any runny at all, that's okay; just get it so it's barely firm. I've done this lots of times by accident and it's still delicious. Also, salt your egg as it cooks.

While your egg is cooking, toast your high quality bread. Then spread it with butter if you like to eat like monarchy.

Slice up your avocado and add that to the bread. Top with your hot egg, and some mayo (you can also put the mayo on the bread if you wish).

Eat warm. Imagine being royalty. Make your kids act like they're your servants for the day (well, we can still dream, right?)

Secret Recipe Club: Breakfast Salad

Time for Secret Recipe Club. This month I had Terri with Our Good Life as my blog. It was a lot of fun. Terri is a retired principal. My kids start school this week, so this seemed like the perfect time to peruse her blog (she even has some teacher appreciation gifts on her blog if you're interested).

I clicked on this recipe because my Japanese sister-in-law is always eating things like vegetables for breakfast and it always seems like such a lovely, healthy idea. But then when breakfast comes I'm like, "Pass the starch please." So, yes, I clicked on the recipe with good intentions. I stayed on the recipe, however, because it was similar in mood to this amazing lunch I've been making all summer with avocado, egg, and toast. I figured if I could eat a version of that meal for breakfast, then that my life would be pretty much perfect. And it is.

This simple meal is satisfying on so many levels. It's beautiful, colorful, with the right balance of salt and acid. It's hearty yet healthful; protein-rich, with good fats and vitamins. It's not expensive either (though it looks like it should be).

Breakfast Salad
adapted from Our Good Life
Serves: 2
Prep and cook time: 5-10 minutes
Cost: $2.55
avocados: $2.00, eggs: .20, cilantro: .15, lemon: .20

Note: I didn't really measure because I'm evil like that. It still turned out great. I think that I used a bit less cilantro and a bit less salt than called for. Also, I was completely lazy in making the dressing for this and basically just tossed everything in and it was good. The moral of the story being that this recipe is good enough to be lazy with. Sounds like a winner to me.

2 medium, ripe avocados
2 eggs
1/2 C chopped, fresh cilantro
1 small clove garlic (I omitted because I didn't have any and didn't think powder would be the same, but it would have been amazing with it; that said, if you need to spare your breath for kissing or something, it was also amazing without)
1 tsp sea salt
1 medium lemon, juiced (you're just going to use the juice)
dash of red pepper flakes

Dice the avocado. Then throw in the chopped cilantro and chopped garlic. Add salt and lemon juice, and red pepper flakes. Note: In the original recipes she mashed the cilantro, garlic and salt with a pestle and mortar then combined with olive oil. I seriously just tossed it all in and it was fantastic.

Now cook up your egg. Terri poached hers, but I just cooked mine over easy. Note: While I'm being truthful about how completely lazy I am and how this recipe still came out gloriously, let me say that I started cooking the egg while preparing the other ingredients. I'd intended to have it with just a bit of a runny yoke, but got it cooked till it was firm. It was still amazing with the other ingredients. I'm craving it as I type.

Enjoy!

PRINTABLE RECIPE

An InLinkz Link-up

Secret Recipe Club: Avocado Banana Bread

Before I blab further, I will introduce my Secret Recipe Club blog this month: Making Miracles with Rebekah. Rebekah has lived a fantastically interesting life--enjoying her own children and family and being a surrogate mom to four other little girls. She's traveled the world and enjoys a lot of the same foods I do--quick, family friendly, and delicious. (Note: I'm also itching to try this casserole.)

I think that today's recipe perfectly showcases that. And it's barely even green. Greenness was one of my main concerns when I found this recipe. I knew that it would be my soul recipe regardless, but if it came out bright green I knew it wouldn't have a prayer with the minions. It's only just vaguely tinted, so no one was the wiser. I got my soul mate food and the kids spared me from eating the whole darn thing.

It's delicious, beautiful, healthy (if a little on the sweet side), moist, and a perfect summer breakfast. Especially if you've got those spotty summer bananas.

Avocado Banana Bread
adapted from Making Miracles
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 65 minutes
Cost: $2.05 ($2.90 with chocolate chips)
flour: .50, sugar: .15, bananas: .25, avocado: .50 (aldi price), honey: .40, oil: .15, eggs: .20, chocolate chips: .85

2 C whole wheat flour
3/4 C sugar
1 tsp baking powder
 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 C (about 2) very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 C (about 1) avocado, mashed
1/4 C honey
1/2 C oil
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 C chocolate chips, optional

Preheat oven to 325. Grease a loaf pan.

Combine dry ingredients (unless you're too lazy for words, like me. Then you throw them in at the end, drag a fork through them, and hope for the best.)

Mash bananas and avocado. Then beat it to get it a little smoother. Blend in honey, oil, eggs, and vanilla.

Stir in the dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips if using.

Bake for 60-75 minutes (mine took 64 on the dot).

Allow to cool for 10 minutes or so, then turn out of the pan and allow to cool further.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

An InLinkz Link-up

Guacamole Rice

I made this and I thought it would be a kind of good side dish that would add some vegetables to my rice. Yay. What it turned out to be was a super amazing bowl of deliciousness. I made it with some meat to "balance" the meal for the minions. Whatever. This was all I wanted. And it's pretty. And easy. It won't heat your kitchen into summertime purgatory. And lately I've been finding avocados for really cheap. 

You can make this as a side dish or a light summer dinner/lunch. You can make from scratch or cheat and use a bit of Rotel. It could be a perfect way to use leftover rice. Also, it can be eaten warm or at room temperature. What, on earth, is not to love? Unless of course you hate avocados, in which case you have issues and I can't help you.

I'll include directions and cheats below.

Guacamole Rice
adapted from Foxes Love Melons
Serves: 6
Prep time: 3 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes for the rice
Cost: $2.45
rice: .65, avocado: .65 (that's how much I paid for the last one I bought, but the price varies on these a lot), lime juice: .15, Rotel: 1.00 OR tomato: .40, jalepeno: .40, other stuff: ..40 (guessing a bit here; I haven't bought some of these items for a while because I get them from my garden and freeze them--they should be cheap this summer)

Cheat: If you'd like to cheat a good cheat, use the first four ingredients here and follow directions below. Then drain a can of Rotel (save that juice for something amazing) and add it plus a good pinch of cumin to the avocado/rice mixture. It's pretty awesome.

1 ripe avocado, diced
juice of 1 1/2 limes (or about 2-3 Tbsp juice)
1/4 tsp salt
3 C cooked rice (or any other grain that floats your boat--quinoa, barley, whatever)
1 clove garlic, very finely minced
1 Roma tomato, diced
1/2 Jalepeno pepper, seeded and minced (add some seeds if you like more heat)
1/4 C chopped cilantro (optional)
1/4 C diced red onion (optional and we skipped it)
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp cumin

First cook your rice if you don't have any leftover.

While it cooks, take the avocado, lime juice, and salt and mash that all together.

When rice is ready, toss it with the mashed avocado mixture and the other ingredients.

Serve warm or cool.

PRINTABLE RECIPE 

Spinach Avocado Grilled Cheese

This is not your mother's grilled cheese sandwich. And it's certainly not your son's.

In the summer, we tend to do summery meals--more salads, sandwiches, more quick things and cold things and simple things. Which can get boring if you're not careful.

So I made this. It wasn't boring. And it's awesome. And definitely filling enough to be a meal. And kind of green. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the avocados. I don't generally like mine hot; once I tried them as a pizza topping and HATED it. But in this they just get mildly warm and add a nice creaminess to the sandwich.

Spinach Avocado Grilled Cheese
adapted from Taste Spotting
Makes 1
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 5-10 minutes
Cost: $1.20
bread: .20, avocado: .20, spinach: .05, pesto: .20, mozzarella: .15, goat cheese: .40)

2 slices bread (any type will work, so go as wholesome as you wish)
6-8 leaves of baby spinach
1/4 avocado (use the rest in a smoothie if you wish)
2 Tbsp pesto (or even mayo if you don't have pesto, though mayo won't have as much punch)
2 large slices mozzarella or cheddar
2 Tbsp crumbled goat cheese (optional, but good)

Spread the pesto on your slices of bread. Add sliced cheese to one slice. Add spinach leaves (layer them only in a single layer; otherwise, they feel crunchy and don't feel right with your warm sandwich). Add avocado slices. Add goat cheese. Top with other slice of bread.

Butter each side and put in a frying pan on medium low heat. You'll need the heat low-ish so the cheese melts. Once one side of the bread is lightly browned, flip and do the other side.

Note: If you're having trouble getting your cheese to melt, take the pan off the burner and put a lid over the sandwich. This will hold the heat in and melt your cheese without burning your bread.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Avocado Salad Dressing

Now that we've learned how to know when to cut open our avocados, let's talk recipes. I made this last night for a lettuce-based salad. It was delicious. It would also be delicious as a mayo sub for chicken salad. It would also be a fabulous veggie/cracker/whatever dip. It'd be so amazing with hamburgers I might have to make some this week just to have them together. And while it could be spread on your hamburgers, it could also be used as a dip for your fries. Or chips. Or to give your potato salad a little pizzazz. It's just that kind of a thing--a be-whatever-you-need kind of a condiment.

You can use Greek yogurt or sour cream to make it. I'd planned to use Greek yogurt, but them my kids ate it all for lunch, so I used sour cream. To make it more dressing-y, a yogurt would be perfect. To make it more dippy, use sour cream. Although I cannot emphasize enough that you could use either for anything and it will be great.

Avocado Dressing
makes about 1 cup
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cost: $2.00
avocado: 1.00, yogurt: .50, olive oil: .40, other stuff: .10 (this will be considerably cheaper with sale avocados which is what I used--mine were .60 and bulk yogurt--mine only cost about .25 for 1/2 C)

1 avocado, mashed
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 C Greek yogurt, regular yogurt, or sour cream
1/4 C olive oil (another oil would work as well, but I really like it with olive)
1-2 garlic cloves
3/4 tsp salt
dash of cayenne or hot sauce (optional)

Mash the avocado. Add lemon juice and combine. This should keep it's color nice longer as well as add a nice punchy flavor.

Add other ingredients and mix until it's combined.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

How to Know When an Avocado Is Ripe

I'd never eaten an avocado until I was an adult. And after that, it was a really hit or miss experience for me. I didn't like my avocados under ripe and as a result I would generally let them ripen and ripen until the skin was entirely dark and the area around the stem was quite wrinkled and the fruit was softish. Then I'd open my avocado up and occasionally I'd get a decent avocado, but much more often I'd have a nice rotten piece of fruit. I blamed stores for this--stores with their hopelessly bad avocado selection. This went on for years.

Then, the last time I visited my sister, she showed me how she could tell if an avocado was ripe. And it worked. Every time. Every single time.

You ready?

Your avocado is ripe when the little stemmy area is just about ready to fall out. If you wiggle it, it will start to pull off and sometimes even pull off completely. Then your avocado is ripe and you can cut into it with full confidence. Every time. Every single time.

(See, when I wiggled this guy, the stem came off, but it took a little wiggle. By which I mean, I didn't touch it and it fell off--if that had happened, it would have been a little over ripe.) 

Ahh, avocado perfection, right there.

By way of warning, I should say that you must start with a decent avocado--one that is a nice, firm fruit. Not one that is bruised or squishy.

Also, for this to work, you've got to get an avocado with a little stemmy thing still on. I haven't found this to be too much of a challenge.

The great thing about this tip is that it also helps with meal planning. If you need the avocado soon, then pick one from the store with a wiggly-about-to-fall-off stemmy thing. If you need it in a few days or a week, pick one with a stemmy thing that is still pretty firmly stuck to its fruit.

Chocolate Avocado Pudding

Who's late to the party again? Me, that's who. I've been seeing links to recipes like this for ages and have meant to try this for ages. But I just barely got around to it. A bunch of ripe $.39 avocados were helpful. Maybe you come late to parties too. If you do, we can hang out in the corner eating our chocolate avocado puddings together. We won't regret it.

We can even invite our husbands over. Even if they claim not to like avocado. Kip gobbled up half of mine the other day and liked it. It came from a blender so he knew something was up and asked what was in it. I told him that the food industry has their little secrets and I've got mine.

This is so delicious and so smooth. It is more in texture to Jello pudding than most homemade puddings (whether that's a selling point for you or not). I hate Jello pudding, but I think they go for that texture for a reason--it's smooth and just thick enough. That's how this pudding is. It's very very creamy and the texture--I mean, it's just perfect.

The other thing I love about this (besides it being delicious because it really is--I crave it every time I tell someone about it) is that even though there's an avocado in it, it will keep. You can eat part now and part the next day. You can put it in school lunches. You can make it ahead. Unlike homemade guacamole, which looks like the compost bin ate it by day two.

This is not a vegan version, but I'd bet my buttons you could vegan it in an instant. I recommend using canned coconut milk and real maple syrup to do so.

The one thing you should be aware of with this pudding is that it's dessert. I know. I know. It's dessert that you just threw a super food into and I'm sure your skin will thank you, but it's still got 1/4 C sugar for what could easily be considered one large serving or two small ones. And that's a lot. I tried making it with half the sugar and half the cocoa (knowing that adding half the sugar and all the cocoa could make it a bitter disaster). It wasn't terrible. I ate it. But it wasn't chocolate pudding. It was an avocado-type-chocolate-ish smoothie.

The other thing I should tell you is that this is really very filling. I don't know what it is about avocado, but it is so so filling to me. The day I tried eating this all by myself (for breakfast--it was the lower sugar experiment), it was all I ate and I could barely get it all down and was not even close to hungry at my next meal. When I ate a half serving of this, I still got till 1:00 before being hungry for lunch. And, yes, I know avocado has, like, 22 grams of fat, but so does 1/4 C of butter and I don't think it will fill me up the same way (but then I've never made a butter smoothie--hmmm--bet I'd be the first one to that party).

Chocolate Avocado Pudding
serves 2
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cost: $.70
(avocado: .50-1.00, milk: .05, sugar: .05, cocoa: .10)

Note: I used a small blender for this. Using a big one might be difficult because the blades might pass right over the avocado. If you only have a large blender, I recommend doubling or tripling and scraping down the sides frequently.

1 ripe (but not overripe) avocado
1/4 C sugar (or pure maple syrup, which I also tried and to good effect, though it adds a slight maple flavor to the end product)
1/4 C cocoa
6-7 Tbsp milk
drop vanilla (optional)

Blend in blender.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

4 Things to Do with Avocados

For the last 2 weeks, avocados have been on sale at Aldi for $.49/pop. Not bad. I bought 4 both weeks. And then I realized that I'm the only avocado lover in this joint and also that I didn't really know what to do with all those avocados.

Here are a few ideas for those who might share such a tragic plight.

1. Eat them. Maybe with a little salt and lime juice. This was my sister's recommendation. In fact, she seemed to think my tragic plight not really so desperate and/or tragic at all. Hmph. That's pity for you.

2. Add them to a smoothie. I have one on this site where the avocado takes front and center and one where it plays a supporting role.

3. Make this amazing salad from Kalyn's Kitchen. Don't eat as much as I did or you might get a stomach ache.

4. Try this cheater guacamole: 1 avocado mashed together with a few tablespoons of pre-made salsa. It takes 1 minute and it tastes great. Drizzle it with a squeeze of lemon or lime if you're trying to convince yourself that you're fancy and not just a lazy avocado-eating bum like me. You can eat it with chips or quesadillas or whatever.

Work-a-Day Wednesday: Avocado Smoothie (aka Raw Avocado Pudding)

If you've ever watched a sitcom (especially from the 1950's) you know that when people come home from work, they they relax by knocking back some type of alcoholic beverage. That's not really my scene. Especially considering that on Wednesdays my work involves an afternoon of piano lessons with other people's children and I suspect that it just might not go over well with those parents picking up their kids. "Excuse me Mrs. So and So, but I can't talk to you for another minute, because after finishing little Timmy's lesson, I really need to throw down this glass of bourbon. Or maybe a few. See you next week."

Not that there aren't days I'm not tempted to sit down and enjoy something grown up and relaxing. Wednesday is definitely one of those days. Avocados are grown up (in this house at least; my kids won't touch them). So is plain yogurt. Yeah, you're going to add a banana and some juice, so we'll just call it cocktail hour, okay.

At Aldi last week (and this week!), beautiful, perfect avocados were going for $.49 each. I purchased several. The unfortunate thing about avocados is that they all ripen at the same time (rude). But that just means you get to glut yourself on them for a few days.

This smoothie is going to look fairly green. Be not afraid. It's also a little thicker than some smoothies. But it's smooth, sweet perfection make that not a problem. In fact, as I drank mine, I realized that it was just the thing that raw foodists would label a pudding. Which made me realize that this could easily be a raw dessert or appetizer if that's your thing. You'll have to use a yogurt that's been cooked at 104 degrees F (I believe) or less, but I'm assuming if you're a raw foodie, you can totally handle that.

Avocado Smoothie (aka Raw Avocado Pudding)
adapted from Everyday Food
Serves 2
Prep time: 2 minutes
Cost: $1.15 or $.58/serving
(avocado .50 if you're lucky, banana: .15, yogurt: .20, juice: .30)

Note: I first made this with orange juice (which is what the original recipe recommended), which I thought would be weird, but was surprisingly good. Then I made it with apple juice, which I liked even better. The type of juice you use will affect the flavor, but both are very good, so use what you've got.

1 avocado
1 banana, frozen
1/2 C nonfat yogurt
1 1/2 C orange juice or apple juice

Blend until smooth. Add a bit more water (or some ice cubes) if it's too thick.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Avocado Green Drink

Cheap Eat Challenge, Part 2: Watch as our family of 6 eats on less than $10/day.

 

Motto: Looks like swamp sludge, tastes like yum.

My sister has a vitamix blender (swoon). She made us these the other day and they looked, um, really gross, but they tasted so good you will not believe.

And while we talk of things you won't believe--avocado in your green drink is wonderful--creamy and rich. Try it; you'll see. 

Avocado Green Drink
Serves 2-4
Prep time: 3 minutes
Cost: $1.75
(kale: .30, strawberries: .40, avocado: .50, apple juice: .40, banana: .15)

3-4 large kale leaves (with a good blender you can leave the ribs in; with a normal blender, cut the big middle ones out)
1 1/2 C frozen strawberries
1/2 avocado
1 RIPE banana (not rotten, but not green--lots of brown spots=good)
2 1/2 C apple juice (this is a bit much and if you are used to ugly green brown drinks, you can use some water for some or all of the apple juice, but we went the low road and had ours apple juice sweet)

Blend in blender. Consume. With eyes close if necessary. You won't regret it.

PRINTABLE RECIPE