avocado

Guacamole Quinoa Salad

by Lisa on May 10, 2013

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Lately, I’ve been trying not only to stick closely to our meal plan, but also to shop my pantry before I do any grocery shopping. You’d be amazed at the quantity of quinoa I found in there. And the truth is, we’re not even the biggest fans of quinoa!  Occasionally, it does the trick because quinoa is a blank canvas, which is a great thing, a dish with quinoa can go in any number of different directions. For this dish, I wanted to replicate the flavors of guacamole in a protein heavy side dish. Just because I had it on hand, I also added an ear of corn.

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Two of my favorite words to associate with a meal are quick and easy. From start to finish, plus the additional elements of this meal, it took me all of 15 minutes to assemble {not counting the 10 minutes that it took to cook the quinoa, I did that while giving Caroline a bath}.

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I loved how this salad came together. Creamy avocado, sweet corn, tangy lime juice and zest, and bright cilantro mixed in with tomato, red onion and perfectly cooked quinoa.  As is, this is a vegan dish; we ate it along side salmon. With the addition of black beans, it would be a great vegan main dish.

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Guacamole Quinoa Salad

by The Splattered Apron

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: n/a

Keywords: salad vegan vegetarian avocado quinoa

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

  • 1 cup quinoa, prepared according to package
  • 1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced
  • 3/4 of an avocado, small dice
  • 1/4 large red onion, small dice
  • 1/4 cup cilantro, minced
  • 2 ears of corn, kernels removed from the cob
  • Juice of 2 limes, zest of 1 lime
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

Prepare the quinoa according to the package.

In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, lime zest, salt and pepper. While whisking, add the olive oil.

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir well.

Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator.

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Enjoy!

 

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{ 6 comments }

Avocado Steak Sauce

by Lisa on June 5, 2012

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Years ago, Jeromy found this recipe in The Washington Post.  We tried it, loved it and it has been a summer staple to accompany grilled steak ever since.*  Naturally we’ve put our own spin on it.

The best part? This is a no-cook recipe—so it’s perfect for those hot days when the thought of turning on the stove is just too much.

Avocado Steak Sauce

by The Splattered Apron

Prep Time: 8 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Keywords: raw condiment avocado

Ingredients (2 cups)

  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and roughly chopped
  • 1 banana, peeled and halved
  • 8-10 stems of cilantro, leaves removed, stems discarded
  • 5 tomatillos
  • several dashes of hot sauce {we use Texas Pete’s}
  • 4 tablespoons tequila
  • 3 limes, juiced and zest of 1 lime
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Drop the tomatillos in the water for about 5 minutes. When the tomatillos are cool enough to handle, roughly chop and put them in the food processor.

Add the balance of the ingredients, except the lime juice, salt and pepper to the food process.

Process until smooth.

Add the lime juice and process to combine.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve over steak, chicken, pork or vegetables. It pretty much goes with anything!

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I’m a huge fan of avocado, so it should not be shocking that I love this sauce.  It lasts for about a week in this house and in that week we put it on everything—most recently we’ve put it on burgers and pork cutlets!

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I think it would be delicious over some grilled shrimp and vegetables.

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The avocado and banana give the sauce a lovely creaminess and the banana gives it a touch of sweetness.  The tequila adds a bit of bite to the sauce and goes perfectly with the cilantro and lime. 

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Next time you need a steak sauce, look no further than this recipe.

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I dare you not to put it on everything else you eat for a week.

Enjoy!

*Please note: we do eat steak in the winter too. But when steak is cooked in a cast iron skillet, the only way to serve it is with mushrooms. No sauce necessary.

Recipe adapted from The Washington Post.

{ 1 comment }

On the Side {Sweet Corn Confetti Salsa}

by Lisa on June 1, 2011

I absolutely love corn on the cob.  In fact, I love corn in any form.  Corn is the only canned vegetable that I can stand to eat.  But getting fresh, sweet corn on the cob is hard to come by most of the year, so as soon as it started showing up at Trader Joe’s and the farmer’s market, I grabbed some! 

Unfortunately, when I was at the store this weekend they did not have any unshucked {is that word?} corn, so I had to buy 4 packaged ears.  I had in my mind that I wanted to make corn salsa for when Leah came over for lunch on Memorial Day and I wasn’t going to let a package of partially shucked corn deter me. 

I also had it in my mind that I had a can of black beans at home. Nope, not true.  So I used chickpeas instead.  And taking a cue from Mama Pea, I shelled them. The whole can.  The change in texture was absolutely worth it.

{Sweet Corn Confetti Salsa}

Ingredients

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  • 3 ears of corn, shucked and cleaned
  • 2 avocados, diced
  • 1 green pepper, diced
  • 2 limes,  juiced
  • 1/2 of a red onion, diced
  • 3 tomatoes, diced
  • 1 package cilantro, chopped
  • 1 can chickpeas, shelled
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper

Method

Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt and add the ears of corn.  Allow to boil for 5 minutes; remove corn from boiling water and cool.

Meanwhile, dice the avocados, green pepper, red onion, tomatoes and chop the cilantro.

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In a separate bowl, combine the lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper {to taste} and whisk.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then squeeze them out of their translucent skins.  Discard the skins.

Once the corn is cool enough to handle, cut the kernels off of the ear.

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Next, combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl.  Pour in the dressing and mix well.

Serve in a fun glass with tortilla chips.  Or eat it straight out of the bowl with a spoon, like Leah and I did.

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The verdict from Jeromy, Leah and I was that this is delicious.  It’s light and refreshing on a hot day. 

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The only thing I would change about this recipe is to add an additional tomato and more lime.  Maybe even a fresh jalapeno pepper just to make things even more interesting.

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This is great especially when it’s a hot day out.  If the grill is already on, why not grill the corn instead of boiling it? I bet that would provide another depth of flavor. 

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Enjoy!

{ 5 comments }