Avocado Mango Popsicles

I was cleaning out the fridge and found that I had a good few really ripe avocados that were in need of eating ASAP. (I bought like 8 at once... super sale!) My first thought was I wish I could freeze these and save them for later. Then I thought well why the heck don't I freeze them. So that's what I did. I pureed them up, added a little lemon juice and stuck a jar of tangy green creamy goodness into the freezer and all throughout the week found myself standing in front of the fridge with a spoon scraping at the jar of avocado. It was so good. I even added a little fruit to it toward the end. Avocado and fruit = oh hell yes.

And now that is is officially spring we should be eating popsicles (right?!). I figured you guys are cool enough that I would share my new found love of frozen avocados and you would be down with it.

I know, some might think that plain old frozen avocado doesn't sound amazing, but when you add a little sweetness and swirl it around with super sweet and creamy mango. Trust me, it's freaking amazing. The flavors go perfectly together, and the texture, it's almost like ice cream... SO GOOD! Anyway, I know that it might not be the perfect spring weather as of today, but the beauty of these is that you make them, freeze them and leave them until the perfect moment. Say a good long day of raking up all the cat poop that the neighbors cat has left in all your spring flower beds, or picking up all the recycling that has blow into the bushes all winter long. Maybe a day of cleaning out the closet or dusting the ceilings. Make these popsicles now and treat yourself to one after doing some kind of crappy spring chores, its what you need to do.. Or better yet, bribe a little with a popsicle to do your spring cleaning..... Yeah, I might just do that.

Or just make them and eat them... no spring chores required.

The stuff. A nice ripe mango and a nice ripe avocado. A bit of lemon juice (from half a lemon),  a little maple syrup, and a some water.

Scoop the avocado into a jar and cut up the mango ans stick into a jar.....

Splash a little water into each jar and blend them up. (I used my hand blender. but use the blending device of your choice) Add the maple syrup to the avocado.. as much as you need, and if your mango is not super sweet, you can add a little to that too.

Scoop the avocado puree into the mango and gently swirl it around

Now pour/scoop the mixture into your popsicle molds. And because mine was thick enough, I was able to stick the wood sticks without them sinking.

Noe get them quick into the freezer

A good few hours (I didn't even check until the next day but I bet 4-5 hours in a good freezer will do) the popsicles are nowposicles!!!!!

Pop them out of the mold (a few minutes on the counter and or a quick rinse under warm water) and do what needs to be done.

So creamy sweet and refreshing... This is a happy spring popsicle for sure.

Have a great day!

-C

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Avocado Mango Popsicles

Makes four 4oz popsicles

• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 ripe mango
• 1/2 a lemon or lime
• 1-2 tablespoons maple syrup (or any sweetener of you liking)
• about 1/2 cup of water

Note.sIF your mango is not super sweet you might want to add a little maple syrup to thatto that as well. And depending on the actual size of your mango and avocado, you might find yourself with a little extra fruit puree.... so maybe an extra popsicle can be made or you can just eat it now.

Scoop avocado into a jar and cut and dice mango and place in a separate jar. Add maple to the avocado (and the mango if you want) and about 1/4 cup of water to each.  With a hand blender, blend each until smooth ( or use a regular blender) Once both are blended, dump one into the other and gently swirl around. Pour mixture into popsicle molds, add the sticks and stick into the freeze. Keep freezing until frozen which should take at least 4-5 hours.

And once frozen, pop out of molds (run mold under warm water or just leave on counter for a few minutes) and eat them like it hot!

Persimmon Jalapeño Avocado Salad

Sitting at the airport in Copenhagen ……

What What!!!  Thats right people. Our travel adventure has begun!

And you guys, I made it alive, my very first ( and second) plane ride ever! And oh boy was it a dozy.

The flight from boston to Iceland was just about as scary as I could have imagined. The plane felt like it was jolting back and forth the entire time. So much turblance. I pretty much couldn’t lift my head off of the mr’s shoulder the entire flight or else I was going to barf. And sleep. Not a chance. I was to busy wondering how long we would make it in the sub artic waters if the plane went down. I was thinking a similar situation to Kate and Leo in the Titanic, although I would never let Nick go. (gag. I did a little too.) 

So now we are sitting and hanging at the airport waiting for eight, yes EIGHT HOURS for our next flight into Ireland. Yeah, we are a little bored and sure, we could lock up our bags and venture out into the city, but honestly, we are beat ass tired. We kind of planed on hanging here anyway so we could spend a little time recouping from the time difference (sleeping like bum style) and checking out the place so when we do come back next week for our stay we will know what to do. And really, just sitting here watching all the cool people with there funky luggage and hockey sticks??.. It’s a good bit of fun. I just wish I packed me one of those donut pillows.

Anyway enough about our travel adventures for now cause I know what you really want to know about is this salad.

This is one of those salads that leaves your mouth puckering and wanting more. Sweet, acitic, spicy.. it hits it all. I really wish I had me some of this salad right now. I made it this past weekend and as I am sitting here writing this, all I can think about it how I wish I packed it to bring we me. I actually might done that but I was worried that any fantastic food I brought with me to the airport was going to get confiscated. So all I have left to eat, until we get to Ireland and a grocery store, is a can beans.  Oh well. Next time. But you, you can go make this salad right now and eat it and be happy. I'll just have to wait until I get back to make it again.

The stuff. A persimmon (I used half), a small jalapeno (red or green) half and avocado and some red onion.  Then you need some greenage in the form of kale or whatever greens you want and a lime, some red wine vinegar, and a bit of salt. 

Slice the persimmon and the onion nice and thin and into mouth sized pieces. Cut the avocado into chucks and de-seed and slice the jalapeno into thin little pieces

Stick it all into a bowl and cover with the juice of the lime, a splash splash of vinegar , and a pinch of salt.

 Toss around and let chill for a bit (the longer the better)

Chop up the kale into piece that will fit into your mouth

And then dump the stuff right into the greens

Agh, I want some salad….Jjust one more plane ride.

Have a swell day my friends! 

-C

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Persimmon Jalapeño Avocado Salad

serves 1-2

• ½ of a ripe persimmon
• ½ of an avocado
• 1 small jalapeño (red or green)
• ½ of a red onion
• ½ a bunch of kale
• 1 lime
• a few splashes of red wine vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Note.. You as much or as little the stuff as you like.

De-seed the jalapeño and thinly slice it, along with the persimmon and onion and place into a bowl. Cut the avocado into small chunks and into the bowl that goes too. Add in the juice of the lime and about 2 splashes of vinegar along with a pinch of salt. Toss around ad let sit on the counter for at least 5 minutes, but the long the better. And chop up your greens. When your marinating stuff tastes good enough to eat, toss into the greens. Sprinkle with pepper and grab a fork.

Eat. Yum.

Cumin Lime Waffle Iron Tofu with Squash and Avocado on Toast

I have been meaning to share the magic of crispy waffle iron tofu for a while, but somehow kind of forgot. Yesterday when talking to my (not quite) mother in law she mentioned the bean waffles I made a while ago and suddenly I had a very real need to go home and bust out the waffle iron and make some tofu. And some of you may be thinking that this sounds weird, but its not. Waffle irons are not just for waffles, you can cook just about anything in them. I compare then to a George Foreman grill (remember those) or even a griddler. . Works the same way, just makes everything waffles shaped.

As for the rest of this open face toast situation, it just makes so much sense.  Crispy cumin lime tofu, avocado, mashed up squash.... A heap of things that are so freaking good.  I actually made the sandwich for the mr and was a little bit worried he was not going to like it, but worry I need not. He got down with it too. You could even ditch the bread and eat waffled tofu slathered in the squash and tofu alone, or maybe swap out bread for greens (that's what I did) Whatever you do, it will be good and your tofu will be so nice and crispy (without having to deep fry) that you may never cook tofu anther way again.

The stuff. Tofu, some roasted squash (any squash or sweet potato works), and half an avocado. Going to need a lime, some cumin and a pinch of chili powder, salt and pepper and little olive oil. And some type of bread that is good for toasting.

The cumin and chili powder go into a bowl with lime juice, a little oil ans a pinch of salt ans pepper. Give it a good whisk and set aside.

And now tend to the tofu. You want to get as much water removed from the tofu as you can.  I do this by pressing the sliced pieces between a clean tea towel a bunch of times until the tofu is as dry I can get it without falling apart.

While you are doing this, preheat your waffle iron.

Once the tofu is a dried as you can get it, dredge each piece of tofu, front and back, through the cumin lime mixture.

And place it on your preheated, lightly oiled waffle iron.

Close iron and let the tofu iron itself cripsy.

And in about 7-10 minutes, you got yourself some super fantastic crispy, oh so tasty tofu.

Now to put it all together.  Bread is toasted and topped with mashed up squash.

Next goes the tofu then top that with the avocado. Finish with a squeeze of lime and a pinch of salt.

And sriracha if you like it..

Not deep fried, but super crispy tofu! And squash! and avocado! and toast!

It's amazing.

-C

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Cumin Lime Waffle Iron Tofu with Squash and Avocado on toast

Make 2 pieces of toast

For the tofu

• 1/2 a block of extra firm tofu cut about an inch thick slices
• Juice of half a lime
• 1 heaping teaspoon cumin
• pinch of chili powder
• salt and pepper
• 3 teaspoons oil plus more to brush onto iron

And for the rest of the sandwich

• a piece 4-5 inch piece of baguette or 2 slices of thick bread (use gluten free bread if you want)
• About a 1/3 cup of cooked or roasted squash or sweet potato
• sriracha (if you are into it)
• 1/2 an avocado
• the other half of lime

In a shallow bowl, mix together the juice of 1/2 the lime,the cumin and chill powder, a pinch of salt and pepper and 3 teaspoons of oil. Set aside

Preheat waffle iron to either the on setting or if it has variable setting, high.

Take your tofu and remove as much of the liquid as you can by pressing it between two clean kitchen towels. When you get as much of the liquid out as you can, take the tofu and place into the cumin mixture and coat both sides.  Ready the iron by brushing each side with a little more oil just to make sure it doesn't stick and place the tofu on the iron, close it up, and let it do it's thing for about 8-10 minutes. (check after 6-7 to see whats what and if is as crispy crunchy as you like, remove. If you think it could use another minute or two, well close it back up and keep ironing it.

And when the tofu is done, it's time tot make compile it all together.

Toast you bread you are going to use. Once toasted mash a good amount of squash onto toast. Place tofu on top of that and thinly sliced avocado on top of that. Finish with a sprinkle of salt, a squeeze of lime juice and if you are feeling a bit more spicy, a few drizzle drops of sriracha.

Eat right away. Do not share...they can make their own.