Green with Envy – Avocado Tips and Tricks

Posted on the 15 July 2014 by Lynne @lynneknowlton

AVOCAADOOS for life. Tis an avo life for meee.

Tips and tricks on how to become an Avocado GURU

Hi, I’m Tristan, Lynne Knowlton’s favorite daughter.  I work for her behind the scenes on her blog to give her more time to do the things she loves –> write blog posts, cook, travel, grocery shop,  drink slushy summer cocktails,  goof off annnnnd be our Mom {at least I hope she loves that.}  She has four of us kicking around the house.  I bet she has never told you that she has a handful of kiddos.   She keeps us in a dungeon.

Me  &  My  Momma  +

Side note :  Just a little shout out to my mom {don’t let this go to your head, Momma}. You are so wonderful and kind.  Oh ya, and thanks for letting me try this whole blogging thing out!

I love reading blog posts with tips & tricks because I am always looking for short cuts and life hacks.   I thought I would share some of my expertise with you

{{ Which just so happens to be about avocados. }}

Too bad I can't put that on a resumé.

Delish  !!

I’ll start from the beginning, although part of this may be a review for those who are already lovers of the good ol’ avo.

#1. When to eat an Avocado …

You want an avocado to be soft and not mushy.  If the avocado is hard, it will have very little flavor.  Blah. Blah. Blah. Yuck.

It’s  Worth  The  Wait

What I do in the grocery store … ( in addition to hopping on the front of the grocery cart )

*   Buy avo’s soft if I will be eating them that day.

*   Buy avo’s hard if I will be eating them later on that week.

If you want to keep an avocado from getting ripe too quickly, put it in the fridge.  This halts the ripening process.  HALT that hot mess.  If you are going to be eating the avocado within a day or two, keep it at room temperature.  That would almost make you an avo pro.

Sink  your  teeth  into  it

#2. How to open an Avocado …

First slice lengthwise around the perimeter.  You will hit the pit, but don’t cha worry.  Once the avocado is sliced in half, firmly strike the pit with a large knife.  Twist.   Voila, the pit comes out without a mess.   BE CAREFUL.   Those pits can be little slippery devils.

Ewwwh.

I warned you.  

Up  Close  and  Personal

#3. How to slice up an Avocado

This tip is good for salad, guacamole, toppings or whatever else you are making with avocados.  Maybe a stiff drink.  Jokes.  Okay.  Maybe not jokes.  Ha.

Listen up. This is the good stuff.

How to slice –> Method 1 :

1.    Half the avocado just like I taught ya.

2.   Take a little knife and slice lengthwise.  At this point you can stop slicing if you want long slices for a salad.

3.   If you want them dice sized, you can slice the other way as well.

Bob’s your uncle.  Wait.  Maybe only Canadians say that.  Go Canada, eh.

4.    Take a spoon and scoop it all out!   Go right to the bottom.  You can eat it  All. All.  All.

How to Slice –> Method 2

1.   Slice the avocado in half and with the cut side facing up.  Cut slices all the way through the avocado.

2.    Now just peel back the skin on each slice.   If the avocado is ripe it will peel back very easily.  Avo pro.  Again.

You can keep the slices long or chop them into bite size pieces.

#4. How to keep Avocados fresh!

This is an ancient family secret.  Ha.  Here comes the good juicy stuff.  When I taught my Mom this secret,  she screamed.  Yeah.   Life in Casa Knowlton.  Never a dull moment.

Sometimes you only want to eat half of an avocado… especially if you get the Costco size. Holy batman.  Good luck with eating a whole one in one sitting.

*burp*

Once sliced in half (if you intend on only eating half), DO NOT remove the pit.   Eat the side without the pit and store the other side with the pit in an airtight container.

Why oh why?

By keeping the pit with the avocado, you are tricking the avocado into thinking it is still fresh and unsliced.  Smart, right?

The avocado doesn’t go brown <— how epic is that?!!!

Smart  stuff

You can also try cellophane, but you have to wrap it tightly.  It won’t work as well as our family secret.  The save the pit, secret.  Even at this rate you gotta eat it within 24 hours or you’ll have a brown looking yucky slimy avo – sounds appetizing.

Pause, not.

It would definitely taste a bit iffy.  It might make you throw up in your mouth a little bit.

ALSO, if you are making guacamole and want it to stay fresh and green longer, throw that pit in the guac bowl!

Booyah !!!

You tricked the avocado again.

It's officially fresh as the day is long.

Brills  brilliant

Smart. Smart. Smarty pants. Smart.

Pssst… I also recently read a tip online where you can store part of an onion in an airtight container with the avocado.  Let me know if that works!  My Mom tells me that the internet lies sometimes.. Hmmm.

My favorite snack:

Slice an avocado in half.  Once in half, make little slices lengthwise.  Sprinkle with rock salt.  It gives it a little crunch!  Drizzle PC balsamic vinegar glaze.  Simple and DELISH.

The  glaze  is  the  d’bomb  dot  com

My Mom adores the glaze.  I swear ~  if I drizzled it on our gravel driveway, she would lick it off of the pebbles.  She’d face plant an avocado if it had that glaze on it.   Fwump.   The stuff just gets inhaled in her mouth and it’s GONE.  It vaporizes in front of her face.

Shhh.  My Mom is just entering that awkward stage of adulthood.

The glaze is THAT good.  Mom even cheated with it in her cleanse.  3 Days of smoothies mixed with sneaking veggies drizzled in the glaze.  She licked it off the plate.  I witnessed the catastrophe.

Hot tip:

There’s a PC plus contest going on right now (until Thursday.)  You can win a bazillion million PC plus points here.  Enter the contest by snapping a photo of your fave President’s Choice product & upload it to Instagram with a @LoblawsOn tag and #LeapOfFlavour hashtag.

Uhhhm. Hello.  The points translate into cold hard grocery cash.   You can buy a truckload of avo’s.

My favorite sandwich:

Also very simple.  Toast the bread.  Fry an egg.  Slice a few slices of tomatoes, a few slices of avocado and add salt & peppaaah.

Oh my. Yum.

BOB’s your uncle.  Yup.  Apparently you have an Uncle named Bob too.

You can also add mayonnaise, if that’s your thing.  I had a roommate that was deathly afraid of mayonnaise, so I had to omit this step most of the time.   I’m not joking.   She’s wonderfully weird.   Like my Momma.

Warning: do not make/eat this when you are trying to impress someone. It is not dainty or pretty.  It usually requires a fork.

Good news:  Your taste buds will thank you for it.

You’re welcome. Haha.

Want more?

You can find more avocado yumminess on my pinterest boards right here.

What’s your fave avo recipe?

What recipe makes you lose your mind?  Avo’s are delish.  AmIRite?   What makes you want to munch them all the live long day?  Is it ridiculous avocado love? Ugh. Does it blow you over with a feather ??  That’s delish.

Keep on keeping wonderful,

Tristan Knowlton xx

Source :  Loblaws provided our family with a PC gift card.  I’m running out to the grocery store,  STAT.  If you are looking for me, I’ll be the gal hanging off the front of the grocery cart.  That never gets old.