I like to buy avocados at Costco too. Do not remove the stem until it is ready to eat. Bacteria can get into the fruit itself if you do and the fruit will spoil. I like to wait till they are ripe but not squishy, peel them and slice the avocado into a bowl. I season it with pepper and red wine vinegrette and love it as a treat. Usually half is enough for one serving. If they are real ripe, they taste great smashed with salt and pepper and smeared into a sandwich with cheese, cold ham or whatever, lettuce and a dab of mayo.

I eat 1/4 of an avocado a day straight out of the peel. I usually just cut them up and put them in salads. On some pasta dishes and rice mexican dishes I'll cut up an avocado and cherry tomatoes and just put them on top as a garnish. I love avocados but they are high in calories but they have good fat in them which helps to lower cholesterol. It is high in potassium and has some fiber and vitamin A and C. It has a ton of nutritional value to it.

If buying avocados singly, put one in your hand and squish it very very slightly - if it feels like a tennis ball it's ripe. If it feels like a baseball it isn't ripe. If it's really squishy it's over ripe. After cutting the avocado into quarters you should be able to peel an avocado like a banana which is what I do as a lot of the nutritional value is in the pulp closest to the skin.

I like them in BLT lettuce wraps, or just sliced on the side of scrambled eggs or made into guacamole or diced in salads. When we ate bread, I added them to a lot of sandwiches.

DH grew up poor in FL where they were plentiful. They used to take out the pit and pour oil and vinegar and salt and pepper into the hole, then eat it right of the shell. They called it "poor man's ice cream. "

It's a great feeling to open one up and find it perfect and beautiful inside. Because of all his experience with them, Woody is in charge of determining when they are ready and his success rate is about 95%. :)

There was something about avacodos that were unappealing to me, would not try them for years. It was my kids who finally got me to try it and now I love them. I eat some almost everyday.

Like FlamingoO, is use it as a spread on toasted tomato sandwiches, cube it and toss it in a salad, make guacamole. I also add it to cream soups, and use it in my whole food smoothies. At our whole food store, they sell a natural veggie chip medley that has avocado chips in it.

Wrapping it in bacon and baking it sounds really good! Going to have to experiment with that one. Maybe, if it wrapped in bacon, I can get DH to embrace it. He is so so about avacados.

I like making a skillet of diced vegetables, frozen corn, black beans, tomatoes and chipotle, cumin and other spices. Mixed with brown rice, and served with sliced avocado.

We also love it sliced on tuna sandwiches or wraps.
Making a breakfast burrito out of leftover vegetable mix as above, with avocado.

And of course guacamole

Love avocados! I didn't know about "poor man's ice cream" until I read Flamingo's post. But I do something similar, and it's one of my favorite ways to eat them:

Cut an avocado in half, but don't peel it. Take one half and sprinkle lightly with Lawry's seasoned salt, then squeeze Meyer lemon juice into the hollow. Get a spoon, and dig in. I don't add oil because the avocado is so rich in oil itself.

I've never looked under the stem, and I agree with Sheilajoyce that it doesn't sound like a good idea. I always go by how well an avocado yields to thumb pressure.

I also like avocado oil as a moisturizer. This is the one I use. I mix it into skin creams and apply after my shower.

My parents used to fill the hole with cottage cheese and then pour chili sauce over the top. I never cared for that at all.

Lemon juice and seasoned salt sounds good, Susan!

mmmm...so many ways to eat them! I just saw a recipe where they added them to deveiled eggs. Haven't tried it yet, but sounds yummy. I add them to scrambled eggs, pasta dishes, vegetables, anything! I wish I had Woody's sense of knowing when they're just right! Sometimes they look and feel perfect and then they're black & mushy inside. :(

I had never had one until visiting my in-laws in Florida about a decade ago. A friend with a backyard tree had given them a few giant ones. My favorite way of eating them is to merely quarter them, and lightly sprinkle them with balsamic vinaigrette.

I really enjoy them, but don't often buy them, since I often find them to be black and mushy inside. I've even tried cutting them open early, and found them to be under-ripe, hard and flavorless and black and disgusting at the same time. Yum.

My guess is it may be due to them being picked early and stored long term for sale out of season, but I have no idea when they are in season, or how to tell when one might be good to eat vs when it will be simply be thrown away.

I've found the same to be true for many other fruits such as apples or tomatoes and rarely buy them either.

I like them, and I cut into one not totally ripe recently too, you'd think I'd learn.

Wrapped in bacon, I think you'd lose the benefit of the heart healthy calories ;)

If the texture is taking some getting used to for you, you can sprinkle with some toasted nuts. Cube it up and make a salad with red onion and diced celery.

I like guacamole (a lot), eat avocado with dressing for a one ingredient salad, spread it very ripe in place of mayo. I just wish they weren't so expensive most of the time. And DH doesn't care for avocado so when I cut one open, I'm eating an avocado, am committed.

Finding large black spots in firm fruit suggests mishandling.

What you find in the stores are usually many days away from being ready to eat. More than other produce items, you need to plan in advance if you're buying them to serve on a particular day. They must ripen for the flavor to develop, unripe ones are pretty tasteless.

A ripe one will have a little bit of give when you squeeze it in your hand. Inside, there can be areas that are slightly brown (not black) near the stem and around the seed. Slices or pieces should be soft, not firm. An overripe one will start to shrivel on the outside with indentations.

Lots of good suggestions for use, though that dressing recipe doesn't sound all that good.(sorry).

Avocado Deviled Eggs

6 hard boiled eggs, halved
1 avocado, diced
3 slices cooked turkey bacon, diced
2 1/2 T.mayo
2 tsp. lime juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/8 tp. cayenne pepper
sea salt to taste
1 jalapeño seeded and diced
1 dash hot sauce or to taste

Scoop egg yolks into blow. Add diced avocado, 2/3 of diced turkey bacon, mayo, lime juice, garlic, cayenne, salt and jalapeño. Mash mixture with fork until evenly blended Spoon filling into egg halves, top with remaining bacon.

Corn, Avocado and tomato Salad

2 C. fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 avocado, diced
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 C. finely diced red onion

Dressing

2 T. olive oil
1 T. fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp. grated lime rind
1/4 C. chopped cilantro
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Shrimp Taco Bites

24 large raw shrimp,peeled, tails removed
non-stick cooking spray
1 tsp. salt, divided
1 tsp. grated lime zest
1 T. lime juice
2 tsp. chili powder
1 large avocado, diced
1/3 C. sour cream
1 tsp. chipotle chilies in adobe sauce, minced
2 T. freshly chopped cilantro
24 tortilla scoops

Spray baking sheet. Combine 1/2 tsp. salt, zest and chili powder. Sprinkle over shrimp. Put shrimp on prepared cookie sheet. Spritz with spray. bake 5 - 8 min. or until pink and curling up. Combine avocado, lime juice and remaining 1/2 tsp salt. Combine sour cream and chipotle. Place 1 tsp. avocado mix. in scoop, then 1/2 tsp sour cream mix. Top with shrimp, sprinkle with cilantro.

The first two are tried and true recipes. Love them both. The third recipe I'm trying today. Will let you know if it's good. Sure sounds like a winner.

I love avocado on buttered sourdough toast. I also cut them in, half pop out the seed and fill the halves with a shrimp salad or tuna salad. Eat right out of the skin.

We love avocados and one way I like to use them is of course is in salads but not just chopped in salads and not the typical salad dressing....I mash them and use any seasoning I feel like or have on hand Lets just say Good seasons or Italian for instance and use enough to just soften it....not liquify it just enough to be able to spread it through out the salad....it's my dressing but very thick and creamy...

I have all of the ingredients for the salad so will have it for dinner tonight along side some shrimp stir-fry. I can't wait! mmmm.

Thanks

Just had avocado egg salad for lunch.

4 hard boiled eggs or egg whites
1 ripe avocado
3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
salt & pepper to taste
Of course you can adjust the ingredients to your taste.

I like it on toast or a leafy green salad.

Love avocado. Mashed up with lime on crackers, guacamole, eaten right from the skin, sliced on a sandwich, made into salad dressing, diced with tomatoes. It has only been the last 4 or 5 years I have been eating them. Sure wish I knew years ago how good they were to eat.

Growing up my Dad introduced us to all kind of fruits and vegetables not local to our area. He never gave us avocados, not sure they were even available in our stores back then.

Some good ideas here! Thank you. We don't eat any bread, grains or starches so there's a few we can't do. Although I can have a blt with avocado on a romaine lettuce leaf. :) I've made avocado mayo and made devilled eggs with it. They were really good.

On the Keto diet, bacon is the #1 meat to eat and avocado's are the #1 fruit. Both are very heart healthy, believe it or not. :)

The salad dressing did taste good, but next time I'll put in less lemon juice and maybe add a little cayenne pepper. I have the other four avocados sitting on the counter waiting for them to soften up some more. I think there's a few things you all mentioned that I'm very interested in trying. I need to save this thread......

My kids no dot care for avocados, so they are my special treat. I cut one in half, remove the pit, score the meat all the way to the skin, and squeeze lemon juice into the cavity. Sprinkle with sea salt, then flex the skin, so that the lemon juice runs into the cuts and coats every chunk. Eat with a spoon. Yum.

I cut one up into lengthwise slices today, to add to a veggie tray for an extended family dinner. (Hard to do with perfectly ripe avocado!) There were still a few slices on the tray when I put away the leftovers, so I finished them off with a little sea salt.

Someone on here (I think it was luckygardner) posted a recipe for deep fried avocados I printed it, but have never tried it. Has anyone ever had one?

Try a grilled cheese sandwich with slices of avocados and bacon. Best lunch ever!!!

I love avocados and probably enjoy them the most when sliced on top of a salad. I use them in my morning green drink quite frequently; the avocados add a creamyness that nothing else matches.

One of my favorite deviled egg recipes incorporates avocado mashed with the yolk by hand and topped with crunchy bacon. Oh my....yummy.

I am envious of people who can eat and love avocados. I think avocados are beautiful and creamy and they always look and sound very appetizing to me -- but I just don't like to eat them because they always taste like wallpaper paste to me. I've tried many times... I'm sure I'll try again... always hoping for a different result. lol!

PS: even the salad dressing sounds like it would be good. lol! wondering why is it 'caesar' though?... I thought caesar has anchovies in it.

This post was edited by party_music50 on Mon, Feb 2, 15 at 9:28

party? try and wait for the avacados from so ca...if and when I can find them esconditio ca (inland from san diego) I don't even know how they pick them..the trees are on the side of hills!

isn't there an old fashion way of ripening them? seem to recall paper bag with a bit of flour??

georgysmom - I made the salad that you posted and it was really good. Got rave reviews from DH. The lime dressing was perfect.

The whole fried avocado is very common here at Mexican restaurants. One came with a meal I ordered once, I was interested in trying it because I love avocados, I didn't care for it though and would not order it again.

I have a fresh batch of guacamole in the fridge right now, had some yesterday. I love spreading guacamole on sandwiches. The guacamole deviled eggs are very good.
We often cut one in half, remove the pit, pour a little bit of our favorite dressing in the hole with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of seasoning and eat it with a spoon.

For those that like spam, try a thick slice of fried spam topped with sliced avocados on toasted bread sandwich. I haven't had one in ages but I always loved them.

I love fresh home grown tomatoes sliced, sliced avocados, lettuce and bacon in a sandwich, special blt. Wishing I had one for lunch!

When we were flush with tomatoes and peppers this summer, I really enjoyed making gazpacho, and topping it with a slice or two of fresh avocado really made it tasty.

bl, glad you enjoyed it. It's wonderfully refreshing in the summer. I tried the shrimp taco recipe. It was good, too. I found putting the avocado and sour cream mix. together speeded up the construction process. Also, I know it looks pretty to top with a whole shrimp, but eating it is easier if the shrimp is cut. I used large shrimp, will try with medium or small, toss in chili powder mixture and bake. It's a little bit different appetizer. I used Utz's taco dippers. They were great. Very sturdy and very little breakage in the package. It's a recipe that is full of other ideas like maybe chicken tossed with the chili mixture or tilapia cooked and shredded and topped with a mango salsa, etc. Another good summer appetizer and gluten free. I'm not gluten intolerant but have several friends who are and am always looking for gluten free recipes. The three I posted fall into that category.

I love avocados, often eat then for breakfast with just a little salt and pepper. I want to try the deviled egg recipe listed above, Another way I have had them here recently is Avocado Chicken Salad.
Ingredients:
2 cups shredded chicken
1 avocado
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp lime juice
1 tsp fresh cilantro
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup plain Greek Yogurt
Mix all together and refrigerate for a 30 minutes.

They are best when quite soft. Super creamy and rich. Not so good when still hard. They go with so many things. Green salads, sandwiches, meat salads. One of my favorite foods that is actually extremely healthy!

Well, I tried the eggs baked inside an avocado for breakfast yesterday morning, and I finished it all. I even mixed the little bit of avocado that I had to scoop out to make room for the eggs, with a little lemon juice, salt and pepper. It was surprisingly tasty!

My daughter gave me a recipe to try and I'm eating it right now.
1 can of tuna
1 ripe avocado
a little green onion, chopped
about 4" of celery finely diced
salt and pepper to taste

Mash it all together and enjoy. We don't eat any bread at all, so I'm eating it straight up. I can't even tell that there is no mayonnaise in this! She adds a spoon full of mayo to hers, but I decided to fruit was enough. I'm saving half for my lunch at work tomorrow.

Now to try out new recipes for my two remaining avocados. :)

I usually just S&P the halves and eat with a spoon. But sometimes I pour a tiny puddle of Paul Newman's olive oil and vinegar dressing in the holes. Sliced is good, guacamole with a squirt of lemon, and in salads. The only avocados I buy are Hass. All the others taste thin and sharp to me.

Susan, I was born in Escondido. I live a few miles northwest of it now. San Marcos is cooler !