Pineapple Salad

Just like everybody else and their momma, I've been trying to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables...'cause it's just so dang good for you!

This salad, ripped right out of the pages of Gourmet, was the answer to what to do with that honkin' pineapple sitting on my table - not that I need an excuse to eat pineapple. Pineapple, jicama, avocado,cilantro, and onion in a simple olive oil and vinegar dressing was perfect as a light side to the spicy tempeh tacos I fixed.

Pineapple Salad
adapted from Gourmet
serves 4-6 as a side

1 pineapple, peeled and diced
1/2 lb jicama, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 avocado, cubed
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon white or rice vinegar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

• Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl, and serve. Boom!
  

Avocado Ice Cream

Not a single craving for ice cream came knocking this winter (bizarre!), so I did not break out the ice cream machine, or even purchase a pint of ice cream from the grocer. But, folks, the ice cream machine is officially back in action!

The desire for ice cream began about a month ago, when I wanted to make ___ ice cream (can’t say; it might still be coming), but couldn’t find the main ingredient. I tried to make ice cream last weekend, but forgot half of the machine in Wilmington (doh!). This weekend the ingredients and the machine came together, and it happened – avocado ice cream!!

I do love the Vietnamese avocado shakes so, so much. And when I was in Mexico I was eating avocado everyday, wondering why I don’t eat it more often (it’s fattening). This past weekend presented us with a Mexican brunch, so avocado ice cream was my contribution to the meal, and kick off to the ice cream season.

Yes, it tastes like avocado – but with sugar and cream. If you've ever ventured into the realm of non-traditional ice cream flavors, you already know that anything tastes spectacular mixed with sugar and cream, then frozen.

The sour cream adds a tangy note that's not present in the Vietnamese avocado shakes. If I were to make it again I might skip the sour cream, and just sub in more avocado. Just a thought; still yummy, though.

There’s no egg custard base to cook; just throw the six ingredients in the blender, and then in the ice cream machine. Painfully simple.

Hee hee! The avocado-green blender really is avocado-green.

Avocado Ice Cream
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
Makes 1 quart

3 ripe avocados, pits removed and flesh cut into chunks
¾ cup sugar
1 cup fat free sour cream
½ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon lime juice
pinch of salt

• Put avocado chunks and the remaining ingredients into a blender, and blend until smooth.
• Pour blended ingredients into an ice cream machine, and churn until frozen.
• Store in freezer.

Avocado Shake

An avocado shake may sound gross, even if you like avocados, but it’s not. Trust me. I’m an upstanding and trustworthy individual.

I had never even seen an avocado shake until about two years ago when I was dining at Pho Ba Le, a Vietnamese restaurant on Washington Ave. This section of town, with lines of cars out the cluster of Vietnamese strip malls and the double-parked cars at the Italian Market, is a nightmare to drive in on the weekend. Can you say clusterfuck? Yet, the avocado shake and a stop in the Asian Markets is worth it.

The avocado shake is pale green in color, sweet, nutty, and has just a hint of avocado. The flavor is subtle and addictive. If you were handed the shake and not told what was in it, you would never guess avocado. You'd guess sweet nectar of God.

Pho Ba Le puts tapioca balls in the shake, so as you fiendishly suck up the shake you also get chewy, sweet tapioca pearls. With the addition of tapioca pearls, what I’m drinking is really a Boba, or bubble tea, but skip the tapioca and you have a shake / smoothie / frozen beverage / insert-name-here.

Avocado Shake

2 cups ice
2 peeled and pitted avocado
½ cup condensed sweetened milk

• Blend ingredients in a blender.
• Pour into glass.
• Put mouth to glass edge.
• Tip glass up while holding mouth open.