SlimCados

Our family recently made a trip to Florida to see the Grandparents. While there, we were fortunate enough to eat fruits straight from the tree--grapefruit, oranges, and a gigantic avocado. My funny little offspring said to me, or herself because she often talks to herself, "This is SO tropical." I mean, really, what's more tropical than taking a walk through your neighborhood in January and picking fruit right off the tree and bringing it straight to the lanai for breakfast?

 I super heart avocados. I can't believe that they are a healthy food--they are that good. And I don't think I am alone in this sentiment. But I think people either love 'em or hate 'em. There are so many yummy ways to eat them--sliced on toast, in a veggie sandwich with ranch dressing, chopped in a salad, and/or plain with french dressing or Lawry's seasoning salt. But my #1 fave is to make guacamole. Again, super healthy to go with your chips or even with veggies.

But this avocado was so impressive in size that I had to take a picture.(That's a lime next to it! The picture really doesn't even convey its true ginormosity.)  I have a feeling it was a SlimCado. What, you ask, is a SlimCado? Well, it grows in Florida, can range in size from 3-13 inches, and has half the fat and a third of the calories. And the growing season is June-January which pretty much means that this big boy was probably a SlimCado. Let's just say that I made guacamole for 8 people with this one guy. That's all it took. And it was gone in minutes.

Over the years, I have gotten better at the guac making and never has it made a soul sick so below I will share with you my super easy and healthy recipe.

Needed:

2 ripe avacados
the juice of 1 lime
fresh cilantro
1 small onion
1 small tomato
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Lawry's seasoning salt

OR THE FAST METHOD

2 ripe avacados
the juice of 1 lime
half cup pico de gallo
garlic powder
Lawry's seasoning salt

Tips:

To get the rind off the avocado and the pit out -- cut in half lengthwise, throw your knife right on top of the pit, once it takes hold, gently twist and pull out pit, then gently peel the skin back off of the meat of the fruit. (No spooning out required. If the avacado is ripe, the skin should just seperate away from the green.)

Once the skin is removed, throw the halves into a bowl and get out the potato masher! (Unless you like the chopped version...)

Use a garlic press or a juicer to remove the juice from the lime. Or, I have seen Rachel Ray roll them on the counter like a rolling pin before she cuts them.

Refrigerate, refrigerate, refrigerate! Even I do not like warm guac. Yuck! And make sure you cover it tightly so it doesn't go all moldy black looking on you. I have heard that putting the pit back in the bowl afterwards keeps it from doing that, but it hasn't worked for me.

                                       Anywhere else it's a patio, but in Florida it's a lanai.