Avocado Chicken Salad

This recipe is a healthier version of an old favorite, replacing mayonnaise with avocado in chicken salad. I love avocados and I love chicken salad (though mine is usually full of mayo and bacon!), so when I found this recipe I couldn't wait to try it.

The picture does not do justice to the amazing green color this salad has!

Ingredients:

1-lb chicken breasts
1 tray ice cubes
1 large avocado
3 T diced fresh cilantro
2 T lime juice
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper

*Note: The original recipe called for green onions, which didn't sound good to me. James suggested diced green peppers instead of onions in this recipe, which I think sounds amazing. I will definitely be adding the green peppers next time.

Boil chicken breasts in water until they tear apart easily with a fork (about 20 minutes). Drain chicken breasts in a colander and cover with a tray full of ice to cool quickly. When chicken is cold, remove to a mixing bowl and shred to small pieces with forks or your fingers.

Cut avocado in half and remove pit. Score avocado halves with a knife and remove from peel with a large spoon. At this point I advise to mash the avocado in a separate bowl before adding to chicken; I added the avocado chunks directly to the shredded chicken and it was very difficult to mix the two well.

Add salt, pepper, lime juice and cilantro. Fresh cilantro from the garden is so much better than cilantro from the store that one might almost think it is a different plant. For this recipe I had extremely fresh cilantro from a friend's garden, and I might never be able to eat store-bought cilantro again.

So good!

Mix everything together well. Serve in pitas or on a tasty toasted bread. It tastes great on it's own, but we also tried it on a nice dark German wheat bread with a slice of Havarti cheese and it made an excellent sandwich!

References:
http://becomingbetty.blogspot.com/2011/09/avocado-chicken-salad.html

Avocado Hummus

I hit up a ridiculous sale on avocados earlier this week and have been enjoying the surplus. This recipe combines two of my favorite foods - avocados and hummus.

Ingredients:


1 15-oz can of garbanzo beans/chickpeas
1-2 ripe avocados, chopped
1 jalapeño
3T dried cilantro
2 garlic cloves (or 1t minced garlic)
3T olive oil
2T lemon juice


Drain and rinse chickpeas. Add chickpeas, avocados, cilantro, garlic and jalapeño to food processor. To easily “chop” the avocado, I score half an avocado with a knife before removing it from the skin with a large spoon. I used two avocados today because they were really small, but one medium-sized avocado would be fine. I also didn’t have a whole  jalapeño laying around the house, so I added about 6 pieces from a jar of sliced  jalapeños. Add a few more if you really like spicy food.

Chop these ingredients in the food processor until somewhat smooth. Add olive oil and lemon juice one tablespoon at a time, pureeing in between. Continue to puree until smooth. If your hummus is still too thick for your liking, add water one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency.

How I eat it: My favorite way to eat ANY hummus is with a fresh piece of Aladdin’s Nan (flatbread) torn up into little pieces for dipping. My second favorite way to eat hummus, which I did today, is to spread a thick layer on the same flatbread and fill it with ingredients for a sandwich. Today I added ham and baby spinach for what turned out to be a really tasty wrap.

Store any leftover hummus in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Remember that homemade hummus doesn’t have any preservatives, so eat it soon before the avocado starts to change scary colors.


References:
http://www.ahealthyjalapeno.com/2012/03/hot-guacamole-hummus.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AHealthyJalapeno+%28a+Healthy+Jalapeno%29