My first tutorial...Dicing an Avocado!

My friend Hillary posted a delicious dip tutorial yesterday. Looks wonderful, right? Well, I couldn't help but notice her method of dealing with the avocado. Now, I'm no expert, but in my 8 years in Texas and my Chef husband have taught me a few things...and dealing with avocados is one of them. I love avocados, and I don't think I had my first one until college. They aren't real big in the deep south. But since living in Central Texas, we have avocados in the fruit basket like we have apples, onions, etc...it is just a staple. Yes, they are fattening but it is the GOOD fat! (you only have to tell me that once!). I eat a couple a week at least. One of my favorite quick lunches is a boiled egg and an avocado spread on toast...delish!

So, I commented on Hillary's blog that I needed to teach her an easier way to handle an avocado. She emailed me a "do tell" and left me a message this morning to fill her in {sidenote: Hill, I love you....but lazy people without kids are not awake at 9 a.m. on Saturday mornings}. I realized I had to take photos to demonstrate, so while Chris and I were making brunch before I went to work today (btw - only 3 games left this season, woo hoo), I took some crude photos to demonstrate this method. Here we go:

Start with a SOFT avocado.  It should be dark like this one....and very soft, but not super-mushy (technical term).

Slice lengthwise.

Karate chop the pit with a heavy knife.  (you can even say "hi-ya!" when doing so).

Twist knife and pit comes right out.  Easy-peasy and less dangerous than other methods.

Score the avocado lenthwise while still in the skin.

And since I am demonstrating chopped avocado, go ahead and score it the other way too, creating little avocado chunks.

It'll look like this.  (Mine is messy though cause I was in a hurry).

Then, get a big spoon and scoop it all out, staying close to the skin.

Plop it in a bowl, or wherever you wish.  There you have your chopped avocado, without messy hands or green avocado mess on your cutting board!

Squeeze lime to keep it green and "purty."  {p.s., Hillary...I have never heard of the leaving the pit in there method, but will try that next time I need it to hold overnight!}

And here is how I ate it.  This is our favorite Saturday brunch meal that we make almost every week.  It really is fast too!  Just plain ol' whole wheat toast, topped with plain ol' cold cut ham (browned in skillet), topped with Stouffer's Spinach Souffle (I heart stouffer's - no preservatives!  And this souffle can compliment so many dishes, but it is sooooo good at breakfast/brunchy stuff!  Just don't cook it as long as they say too...), topped with a tomato slice, topped with a poached egg (I go 3 minutes, husband goes 2 on his).  We've had hollandaise on it before too, but that is just too rich for me.  This is incredibly filling, delicious, but not heavy.  We've also done fancier breads, etc....but this is a quick, in your pantry, plate of deliciousness.  Of course, today I had some cool avocado chunks as well! 

Yes, I ate two. 

And when you cut into the egg, you get this glorious gooey-ness:

Everyone enjoy football Saturday!  I will be sneaking away from our baseball game to watch as much of Bama-Virginia Tech as I can! Roll Tide Roll!