Good and Good for You in this nontraditional guacamole recipe

We walked into a food demo just as the goodies were being dished up for the audience. What luck! The demo item for the day was Good for You Guacamole, made with crumbled feta cheese instead of some of the traditional guacamole trappings such as mayo and sour cream.

The recipe also featured diced-up tomatoes and a tablespoon of lemon juice. I eagerly downed my sample and knew I had to seize this recipe and try it soon.

The next night for dinner I planned chicken fajitas and used this healthy guacamole as a topping for the chicken strips inside a tortilla. Hubby kept saying he couldn’t believe how much he liked this version of guacamole. I was certainly glad we had  wandered into the food demo the day before!

Good for You Guacamole

3 avocados, roughly chopped and mashed (1 1/2 cup mashed)

1/4 cup onion, diced

1 cup tomatoes, diced

1/2 cup feta, crumbled

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

Mash avocados in a medium bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate and serve with chips (or however you desire). Makes 12 (1/4-cup) servings. (Source: Chickasaw Nation Nutrition Services)

Nutritious meal-on-the-go—the colorful breakfast rollup

I love the way this recipe item was billed—as a nutritious, on-the-go breakfast treat for kids on school mornings “when singing ‘Kumbaya’ around the breakfast table just isn’t going to happen”, the magazine stated.

At our house we don’t have any racing schoolkids, but as grandparents we do plenty of breakfast “inhaling”. Lots of other meals, too. 

The photo on these Sausage-Egg Rollups (which I adapted and called Sausage-Egg-Tomato-Avocado Rollups) looked as though it would be a good comfort-food dinner item. Hubby sure gave it his heartiest “Like”. The addition of the chopped tomato and avocado brought the garden into it and just mellowed it out even more.

I loved the recipe’s suggestion about wrapping these in parchment for easier handling and then for freezing by popping them in a zip-top plastic bag. They keep in the freezer for about a month, it states—a great idea when company’s expected.

Sausage-Egg-Tomato-Avocado Rollups

1/2 pound ground pork sausage, browned and drained (I used turkey sausage)

5 large eggs (I used 1 1/4 cups egg substitute)

1 tablespoon milk (I used skim)

pinch of salt (or salt substitute) and pepper

3/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

salsa of your choice

6 (6-inch) fajita-sized flour tortillas

chopped tomato

chopped avocado

Scramble eggs in nonstick skillet over medium heat to desired consistency. Divide sausage, scrambled eggs, cheese, and salsa equally among the 6 tortillas. Spoon ingredients down center of each tortilla. Add chopped tomato and avocado. Roll tortillas up. To make ahead, wrap in parchment paper. Chill in a zip-top plastic bag up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month. If frozen thaw overnight in fridge before reheating. To reheat microwave at high 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. If freezing add tomato and avocado after you thaw and not before you freeze. Makes 6. (Source: Southern Living September 2012)

Happy that this fresh guacamole is so healthy; orange you?

I’m not sure I’ve ever enjoyed any guacamole recipe any more than I did this Fresh Orange Guacamole. It was thick, chunky, and indulgent.

Only problem was, that hint of orange that drew me to preparing this dish was nowhere around.

Perhaps another cook would achieve a different outcome. But, to me, the recommended addition of 1 large navel orange, peeled, sectioned, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces, plus the 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice didn’t have a great deal of impact on the flavor. My taste buds are a wee bit dulled from sustaining an upper-respiratory infection since the first of the year, so, thinking I might not be the best judge, I asked Hubby for his take on it. He wasn’t picking up an orange taste either. Bummer.

On the other hand, this dip was absolutely amazing when you consider the content—no mayo, no sour cream, nothing to add unnecessary calories. With the mashed avocados, chopped red onion, jalapeno pepper, and seasonings, plus the orange additions, it needed nothing else in terms of ingredients. Low-calorie, healthy—and the orange, while it didn’t bowl you over with flavor, sure couldn’t hurt in terms of healthy composition.

We served with fresh chips, although the source (Southern Living December 2011 issue) mentioned that Fresh Orange Guacamole would be a wonderful addition to a buffet spread of taco-makings.

Orange we glad we tried it?

Fresh Orange Guacamole

4 medium-sized ripe avocados, halved

1 large navel orange, peeled, sectioned, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion

3 tablespoons fresh orange juice

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 garlic clove, pressed

3/4 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

tortilla chips

garnish: fresh pomegranate seeds

Scoop avocado pulp into a bowl; mash pulp with a fork just until chunky. Stir in orange and next 5 ingredients. Cover and chill 1 to 4 hours. Serve with tortilla chips. Garnish, if desired. Makes 4 servings.

Keep things cool (and appliance-free) during dinner prep with Tuna Avocado Sandwiches

Every afternoon we, like many others, receive the automated warning call: please restrict use of appliances, lights, electronic devices, etc., during the peak hours from 3 to 7 p.m. to conserve energy during the heat crisis. That means we look for alternative ways to prepare dinner—no oven usage.

Into the recipe file to see what can be stirred up on the kitchen counter. Countertop grills don’t count: they’re appliances. Same with microwaveables. Nix that idea.

A canned tuna advertisement in Southern Living sprang to mind: Tuna Avocado Sandwich Spread. I reviewed the ingredients; I had all on hand, including three that were from my very own garden. I got to work—and used no energy source the entire time! The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which enacts the heat-wave warnings, would be proud of me.

Tuna Avocado sandwich spread utilizes two mashed, ripe avocados, fresh parsley, chopped red pepper, a 5-ounce can of tuna, a small red onion, and seasonings of lime juice, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. The mixture is lavishly spread on whole-grain bread slices with sliced fresh tomatoes (the last from our garden before we set out fall tomatoes later) layered on.

Hubby and I sat down to dinner with just the light from the kitchen window streaming in. Amazing how much cooler our rooms feel with the window shades drawn during the day (the guideline the granny ladies practiced long ago) and the lights off. Our Tuna Avocado sandwiches were the perfect counter to the heat wave outdoors. Hubby remarked, “All these years I’ve been an apples/celery man for my tuna sandwiches. I didn’t dream they could be fixed another way.” The smooth filling was just the right blend and was seasoned to perfection with the seasoning combination. Having fresh parsley on hand was the icing on the cake.

We finished dinner several degrees cooler on the inside as well as on the outside. Not one kilowatt of anything perished during our dinner prep; we found a new take on the old tuna sandwich stuffing as well.

Tuna Avocado Sandwich Stuffing

2 medium-sized ripe avocados, peeled and mashed, seed removed

2 tablespoons chopped red onion

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 (5-ounce) can tuna packed in water, drained and flaked

1/4 cup chopped red pepper

2 tablespoons lime juice

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 Roma tomatoes, sliced thin

whole-grain bread slices

Mash avocados until smooth, add red onions, parsley, tuna, red pepper, lime juice, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. With a fork blend until mixture is smooth. Chill until ready to serve. Spread on slices of whole-grain bread. Top with thinly sliced tomatoes. Cut sandwiches in half and serve.