Meatless Monday: Creamy Avocado Pasta

I had a leftover avocado that I wanted to do something with.  I saw this recipe and thought that it looked tasty.  My husband and I love avocados.  I had never thought to mix avocado with pasta.  Honestly, after making this recipe, I don't think that I will again!  Unfortunately, I didn't have usable cilantro.  I knew I had some in the fridge, but when I went to use it I discovered that it had gone bad.  I don't think that cilantro would have made this recipe more palatable.  It was just kind of plain and tasteless.  The avocado was creamy and coated the pasta but added little flavor.  I made this on a Saturday as a quick lunch for my husband and I, knowing the kids wouldn't eat it.  They had pasta with butter and cheese.  Overall, my husband and I weren't too impressed.

Creamy Avocado Pasta
from two peas & their pod

Ingredients:
6 ounces pasta
1 large ripe Avocado, pitted and peel removed
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Bring water to a boil in a pot. Add pasta, reduce heat to medium, and cook until Al Dente, about 8-10 minutes.

2. While the pasta is cooking, make the sauce by placing the avocado, garlic, lime juice, cilantro, salt and pepper into a food processor or blender. Process until smooth and creamy.

3. When pasta is done cooking, drain and put into a large bowl. Add the sauce to the pasta and toss until pasta is well coated. Season with additional salt and pepper, if desired. Serve immediately.

Family Rating: So-so.

Guacamole

When I went grocery shopping on Monday for the Black Bean Burgers (see Monday's post!) I needed an avocado  for the salsa.  The loose avocados were hard as a rock though.  I've learned from a past bad experience that hard, unripe avocados are not tasty.  The bag of four avocados though were nice and soft.  So, instead of one avocado I ended up with four.  My husband and I both love avocados, even though the kids don't.  So I was super excited to be able to make some guacamole.  There are tons of guacamole recipes out there on the internet.  I had never made homemade guacamole before this, but have eaten it many times when I've gone out to eat at Mexican restaurants.  I referred to foodnetwork to find a recipe and adapted it a little to fit my needs.  Overall, I thought the guacamole was okay.  I ended up using it as a dip for my quesadillas that I made that night, instead of eating it with tortilla chips, like I originally had planned.  It was nice having homemade guacamole, but next time I may try making this recipe as originally written!

Guacamole
recipe adapted from foodnetwork.com - courtesy of Alton Brown, Good Eats
original recipe here

Ingredients:
2 Haas avocados, halved, seeded and peeled
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced

Directions:
In a large bowl place the scooped avocado pulp and lime juice, toss to coat. Drain, and reserve the lime juice, after all of the avocados have been coated. Using a potato masher add the salt and mash. Then, fold in the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and garlic. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour and then serve.

Mommy & Daddy Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

Meatless Monday: Black Bean Burgers with Mango Salsa

I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to make these burgers.  The major fact being that I don't like beans!  The last dish I think I made with beans were bean burritos.  My son, the picky eater of the family ended up loving them!  In an effort to not pass on my eating dislikes to the kids, I try to make an effort to expose them to all kinds of foods....even ones that I don't like.  Since we try to eat meatless once a week I decided to make these burgers.  They were pretty easy to make and while they were cooking in the oven I was able to make the salsa.  The salsa really helped me enjoy these burgers because if I had to eat them plain, I wouldn't be fan.  The salsa was so tasty I could probably eat the whole bowl of just that! The kids, not fans of avocado, picked all of it out of the salsa (more for me!).  But they each ate the half of a burger I gave them.  This recipe made ended up making 8 burgers for me.  I could have made them a little larger, as seen in the picture below, but was happy with the size.  Since I wasn't a big fan of these, we ended up freezing three of the burgers for my husband to eat in a few weeks when me and the kids go up to my parent's beach house in Rhode Island and he stays home. 

Black Bean Burgers with Mango Salsa
slightly adapted from Cooking Light, April 2010

Ingredients:
2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro, divided
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 large egg whites
Cooking spray
1 1/4 cups chopped peeled mango (about 1 medium)
3 tablespoons chopped shallots
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 avocado, peeled and chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
6 hamburger buns

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Place black beans in a medium bowl; mash with a fork. Stir in 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro and the next 6 ingredients (through egg whites). Shape bean mixture into 6 (1/2-inch-thick) patties. Arrange patties on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, carefully turning once.

3. Combine remaining 1/4 cup cilantro, mango, and the next 4 ingredients (through minced garlic) in a medium bowl. Place a patty on bottom half of each hamburger bun; top each with 1/3 cup salsa, and top half of bun.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.

Grapefruit and Avocado Salad

I first thought about making this recipe for the Eating the Alphabet Challenge but thought it was too easy/simple.  Plus, I've already made something similar before.  But I love grapefruit and avocado so I ended up making this to serve with the Pepperoni Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.  I thought it would be nice to have something nice and light.  Effort wise though this salad probably took more time to prepare than the sandwiches!  Segmenting a grapefruit is not something I do very often and am not very good at, as seen in the photo below!  My husband and I enjoyed the salad a lot.  The kids are not avocado fans though and wanted to only eat the grapefruit.  I ended up quartering the recipe knowing that the kids probably wouldn't be big fans.  I didn't want leftovers because I didn't think they'd hold up very well.  I'd definitely make this again though for a nice, light side.  Especially over the summer when it's hot and I don't want to turn the oven on, I think this would make a great side for something barbecued on the grill!

Grapefruit and Avocado Salad
allrecipes.com - by Sugar-N-Spice

Ingredients:
4 large red grapefruit, peeled and sectioned
4 avocados - peeled, pitted, and sliced
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons honey
salt and cracked black pepper to taste

Directions:
1.Arrange the grapefruit sections and avocado slices attractively in a shallow serving dish. In a bowl, whisk together the orange juice, olive oil, lime juice, and honey until well combined; drizzle the dressing over the grapefruit and avocado slices. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Serve immediately.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.