Ok in the home stretch now!  3 days to go, and then I will be 31.  I really think I’m going to finish all of these things on this list!  This soup has a very nice backstory – it’s one of the things my husband made for me for our first Valentine’s day together.  This started our proud tradition of not going out on Valentines day – it’s just so…hokey.  Instead, we got dressed up and he picked up ingredients for a fancy 3 course meal in – turns out, 2 of the 3 courses were bright green (both of them delicious as well – in case you’re wondering the other one was salmon with scotch bonnet pepper sauce – I’ll have to blog about that one some day too) and we have fond memories of eating this green soup on that chilly winter evening back in 2005.

I personally love bisque, however the pound of butter per bowl is a little much for my stomach usually.  This bisque has – wait for it – absolutely NO butter.  Yep, that’s right, no butter.  The avocado provides all of the creaminess one needs in a bisque, and is much, much healthier than butter.  Some people who have reviewed it complain it is too bland; I will agree, it is a bit on the bland side if you follow the recipe to a tee.  I added much more lemon juice than called for and also some extra salt and pepper.  The other thing I did was to add some extra shrimpiness by boiling the shrimp tails in the chicken broth before I used it.  I also pureed the base after it was made, before I added the shrimp, as I personally think a smooth green soup is more tasty looking than a lumpy green soup.  Enjoy with some crusty french bread on its own, or you can try it as an appetizer as well.

Avocado Shrimp Bisque

From William via allrecipes.com

• 3 ripe avocados
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
• 2 cups skim milk
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 teaspoons minced onion
• 1/2 pound cooked shrimp
• salt and pepper to taste

• Slice avocados in half, and discard pits.  Remove avocado flesh and chop coarsely.  Remove shrimp tails and chop shrimp coarsely.  Place chicken broth and shrimp tails into a small sauce pan and simmer on low for about 10 minutes.  Strain shrimp tails out of broth.  Combine avocado meat, broth, milk, lemon juice and onion in a small sauce pan and heat through thoroughly but not quite to a boil.  Remove heated broth to a food processor, and puree.  Place pureed soup back into the sauce pan and add chopped shrimp.  Enjoy!

For some reason, I always found the idea of making guacamole intimidating until fairly recently.  I don’t know what it was, but the idea of peeling and mashing avocado just seemed too difficult.  But, for the 3rd recipe in my January dip series, I wanted to post my favorite guacamole recipe. 

Guacamole is one of those dishes that can be prepared in many ways to suit many tastes – I personally really enjoy the flavor of the avocado, so I try not to overwhelm it with many spices or other strong flavors, such as tomato.  Feel  free though to modify this however you see fit – I’ve tried it with the addition of diced tomato, with bacon, with cumin, and using lemon juice instead of lime.  You can make it spicy or tame.  No matter which modifications you make, it’s important to remember to make the guacamole shortly before you intend to eat it, or else it will develop a brown color like apples or bananas do when cut and then left out.  (Please note, though the color may be significantly less appetizing, it still tastes fine like this.)  Enjoy with chips or your favorite Mexican-inspired dish!

I think perhaps what intimidated me in the past about making guacamole was not knowing how to choose and prepare avocados – I find it nearly impossible to find a perfectly ripe avocado in the grocery store.  If your grocery store is like mine, the avocados are all firm as can be when you pick them up.  The trickiest part of making guacamole then is timing your avocado purchase accordingly.  If all you can find are firm, unripe avocados – place them into a paper bag and wait for a day or two.  Do not refrigerate them, or they stop ripening!  (On the other hand, if you happen to find ripe avocados and want to keep them from spoiling – put them in the fridge to halt the ripening process.)  To retrieve the flesh – slice the avocado in half lengthwise around the sizeable pit in the center.  Twist the halves of the avocado in different directions – this ought to loosen up the pit and allow you to pull one side away.  To remove the pit – there are a lot of different methods out there, but I would say that the safest is to pry it out with a spoon.  Scoop the flesh out of the tough, leathery peel using a tablespoon. 

Guacamole – original recipe by Lisa!

• Flesh of 2 medium sized avocados
• 1/2 small onion, minced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 2-3 tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro (1 tsp of dried cilantro can be substituted – but the flavor just isn’t the same!)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Juice of 1/2 of a lime
• Salt and pepper to taste

Mash the avocado in a bowl prior to adding any other ingredients.  It’s ok if it’s a little lumpy, that will make your avocado have body and character!  Stir in the minced onion and garlic.  Add olive oil and lime juice, stirring until the texture is even.  Add cilantro and stir well.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy!

If your weather has been anything like our weather lately, you may be looking for some recipes that can be prepared outside on the grill!  Today our air conditioner picked the perfect day to go ka-put, as we’re heading into a three day heat wave - so when picking a menu for dinner I wanted to make sure whatever we were making wasn’t going to add to the sweltering environment inside.   I saw a recipe for veggie-laden California Burgers a few weeks back when perusing my Food Network magazine and thought it would be a good day to give it a whirl.  These burgers are chicken-based, but the addition of Panko bread crumbs and Greek yogurt keeps them moist even on a grill while providing a great texture to the burger.  They were perfect with a tossed salad and a glass of ice-cold lemonade – great for staving off even the worst hot weather.  I loved the fresh flavors, and even my husband (a red meat lover) had to admit they were really tasty despite their poultry origin.  Stay cool, everyone!

California Burgers – from Food Network Magazine, June 2010

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground chicken
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp plain non-fat Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp salt (more or less to taste)
• 1/2 avocado, sliced
• 1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced
• 4 slices of tomato, thinly sliced
• Alfalfa sprouts
• 4 whole wheat rolls

Instructions:

Mix chicken, bread crumbs, worcestershire sauce, yogurt and salt together in a large bowl.  When ingredients are well combined, form into 4 even patties – about 1 inch thick and 4 inches in diameter.  Make a thumbprint in the center of each patty so they stay in tact on the grill.  Chill patties for 15 minutes prior to grilling so the patties stay solid when cooking.  Preheat your grill on a medium-high setting.  Place burgers on the grill, cooking for 5-6 minutes per side.  Just before the burgers are finished, toast the rolls on the grill if desired.  To assemble, put alfalfa sprouts on the bottom half of the roll and place the burger on top.  Top with avocado, cucumber, and tomato.