Avocado Memories (And a Recipe)

Tuesday is the Cinco of Mayo, and it's going to be a strange one where spouse and I live in upstate New York.  Why?  Although we are not party people, many people are, and it's going to be just a little difficult, between social distancing and (in our state) restaurants open


So maybe I will just reminisce a little about the time I truly discovered avocados.

In 1996 my spouse, my then young son and I flew from the Binghamton, New York area  to San Diego, California for a week.  During that time, we took several road trips through the countryside and saw avocado trees for the first time. Beautiful trees with glossy foliage, we also quickly learned that there were many varieties of avocados available in local groceries.

We also visited Tijuana, Mexico and had lunch in a restaurant which served us guacamole in this device.

Not a picture from that restaurant in Tijuana - but this picture was taken by me

So, when we have our little Cinco de Mayo party (just the two of us) we will have guacamole, and here is the recipe.

It is so simple - peel ripe avocadoes, mash (we like ours a little chunky), add chopped sweet pepper (orange, yellow, red), garlic, scallions, a little salt, a touch of homemade ground chili pepper (my spouse's own secret mix, so I can't tell you) and a touch of lime juice.



In a 2013 trip to Florida, we went to Ft. Myers and toured the ECHO demonstration gardens.

Again ,we ran into avocados and I recently found this list of some of varieties we saw:

Brogdon - 8 to 14 oz black skin July Sept

Choquette 24-40 oz smooth skin Nov-Jan

Expedition 24-34 oz dark skin Nov Jan

Hall 24-34 oz, pear shape Nov Dec

Lula 14 to 24 oz, pear shape Nov to Jan

Monroe 24 to 40 oz Nov-Dec

Nishikawa 8 to 14 oz, Oval, Dec to Jan

Oro Negro 16 to 32 o pear Nov-Jan

So why am I blogging about avocados?  Because, in our upstate New York stores, an avocado is an avocado.  But, this amazing fruit (yes, they are a fruit.) comes in many varieties.  Who knew?

You learn amazing things when you travel.  Your eyes are open to new experiences.  But....

Travel, now, is lost to us for we don't know how long, although some of us travel daily now in fear.  Others travel with anxiety. Some put their trust in faith.   But you know what?  Avocadoes can also be a sign of hope, a hope that one day we will be able to live in a world where we can get together with friends for a little guacamole on the Cinco de Mayo.

It won't be this year, but I hope that day will be soon.

Strawberry Margarita Cake For Cinco De Mayo

Today is the Cinco de Mayo (May 5), celebrated in many in the United States as an eating and drinking holiday.  Time for something Mexican.

Today is NOT Mexican Independence Day (that comes in September), but rather, today commemorates a 1862 battle where Mexicans defeated a French army despite being outnumbered.  Eventually, the Mexicans won the war and ousted the French.

During our United States Civil War, this holiday and what it stood for started to gain popularity in the United States.  Now, the Cinco de Mayo is actually more celebrated in the United States than in Mexico.

So, tonight we are going to have some Mexican food my spouse (who loves to cook) is making me.  I decided to chip in and contribute a cake.

It's not my original recipe - it belongs to a blogger - Karen of Baking in a Tornado.  This is how she describes herself:  "I'm Karen, a baking, blogging, beach, ballet, Boston and booze fan. I bake to relieve stress, take pictures as proof, and blog to vent.".  May I add that she also aims to get me to deviate from Weight Watchers by publishing delicious sounding recipes.

Today, I am deviating.  From Weight Watchers, that is. 

That said, her recipe is called Strawberry Margarita cake and you can find the original recipe here.  

The frosted yellow cake is from the box of cake mix, by the way

I had to make a few minor tweaks.

One of the ingredients Karen called for was sweetened lime juice.

I have never stocked sweetened lime juice - I'm not a big cocktail maker. I don't even know how sweet it's supposed to be.

So off to the store spouse and I went, and found that the brand they stocked contained corn syrup.  I am no purist, but corn syrup generally is something I don't want in my food. (Pecan pie is an important exception.) So spouse said, oh, why don't I just add some sugar to lime juice?  And he did.  I have a feeling he didn't add enough.  Moving on....

Since I  had duck eggs in the house, I used duck eggs.  Yes, duck eggs. They are wonderful for baking.  Expensive, though I can sometimes get them cheap.  Years ago, when I owned egg laying ducks...but I digress.

There's also a frosting but I did not make it.  Why?  Because I am one of those strange people who don't normally frost their cake.  But if you want frosting, Karen provides a recipe for that, too, at the link above.

And voilà.

It was delicious - light and moist.

If you do make that cake, please give Karen full credit. 

Cinco de Mayo Snacks

Today is the Cinco de Mayo (May 5), celebrated in many in the United States as an eating and drinking holiday.

Today is NOT Mexican Independence Day (that comes in September), but rather, today commemorates a 1862 battle where Mexicans defeated a French army despite being outnumbered.  Eventually, the Mexicans won the war and ousted the French. During our United States Civil War, this holiday and what it stood for started to gain popularity in the United States.  Now, the Cinco de Mayo is actually more celebrated in the United States than in Mexico.

For today, I am repeating a Super Bowl post from 2015. Whether or not you are trying to lose or maintain weight, I am hoping  you may get some inspiration from this for your Cinco de Mayo celebration. And if you don't celebrate - why not have some of this food, anyway?

A Homemade Healthy Super Bowl

"Healthy" and "Super Bowl" normally do not go together. And, if you aren't careful, "delicious" and "healthy" variations of high fat items do not go together, either.

The first time we tried to make healthy snacks, it was New Years Eve, 2012, I was new to Weight Watchers and much of the food my spouse made was inedible.  Dry. Tasteless  Ugh. We decided that, in the future, we would not try to do "healthy" makeovers of fatty food, but rather, forge our own trail.

So, we have (no pun intended) lightened up a bit.  It's a splurge day.

We will have guacamole, although we won't make it in this device.  It is so simple - peel ripe avocadoes, mash (we like ours a little chunky), add chopped sweet pepper (orange, yellow, red), garlic, scallions, a little salt, a touch of homemade ground chili pepper (my spouse's own secret mix, so I can't tell you) and a touch of lime juice. Just don't eat too much.  Easier said than done.

We serve with chips - these happen to be local chips made about an hour away from us.  Or, make your own baked ones - take fresh corn tortillas, cut into triangles (pizza cutter works great for this), spread on cookie sheet, bake at 400 degrees F until they start to turn light brown.  (Celsius folks, you are on your own-sorry.)

Salsa makes a wonderful dip - and fat free salsa has no Weight Watchers points. It's so easy to make, too, if you have good fresh tomatoes available. If not, use canned dice tomatoes (preferably fire roasted diced tomatoes).  Simply chop up ripe fresh tomatoes or use the canned ones, combine with chopped pepper and onions, season with cilantro, lime juice, salt to taste, jalapenos if you like it spicy.  Or, buy it pre made in the refrigerated section of your market.

We'll be serving fresh fruit although, at this time of year, there is little local fresh fruit to be had here in upstate New York.  This is the time of year we are grateful to Florida, California and Chile.

We don't bother with low fat versions of high fat dips - we are not fans of fat free mayonnaise or fat free sour cream.  You can substitute fat free Greek yogurt with a touch of lime juice (for zing) for sour cream, too.  An easy dip can be made with the fat free yogurt, a can of black beans, some cilantro, salsa, just blending it to consistency.  Add jalapenos for spice.

And last, instead of those chicken wings, how about some Thai Chicken Skewers?  We haven't tried this recipe yet but I am a big fan of powdered peanut butter.  We have used a product called PB2 but decided to use "Just Great Stuff" which we found locally.  It is organic, and uses organic coconut sugar, sustainably harvested and low glycemic.  I know some people shy away from this type of product, but I don't have a peanut allergy, and this is a good alternative for me.

Do you make your own snacks?