Wednesday, April 25, 2012

PinFTW: Avocado Chicken Salad and Lessons Learned

Alright. In traditional Wednesday fashion, I have a pin for you to go checkout. I also have two confessions - well, maybe three.

  1. I can't honestly say this is a Pin For the Win (per Mommin it Up's link-up regs) because I didn't get through the whole recipe. It looks like a delicious recipe, but you'll have to be the judge of that one because my attempt resulted in a major kitchen fail.
  2. I have no idea how to peel an avocado (hence the kitchen fail).
  3. I *really* need to learn to follow directions and plan ahead.
In an effort to get our family back on track with clean eating, I've been pinning ideas to my clean eating board on Pinterest. Of course, I picked the easiest thing first - we love chicken and turkey salad around here so I thought incorporating a few extra ingredients into the normal recipe would be no sweat and an extra clean eating item to choose from.  So, I picked the avocado chicken salad recipe. No such luck this time. When I pulled the brilliantly green avocado from the fridge today (maybe that's not even where avocados live?!), I started to slice away at it. After trying two different knives, I realized that I really don't know about avocados. I finally got the thing in two pieces. Then...oh my word...it has this thing in the middle. I guessed at what to do with that for a second - I really thought it may be edible - then decided to ask Google. I got the pit out and tried to lift off the peel like my little avocado tutorial said. That was so not working out for me. After mangling the thing and chopping it into a bazillion pieces, I decided that we wouldn't be having avocado turkey salad today and that this post would have to take a new spin as I didn't have any other Pinterest tricks up my sleeve today. I used turkey, lime juice, cilantro, salt, mayo, and a little coconut oil to make a new concoction that actually ended up being pretty...for lack of better terms...yucky. I didn't even finish my sandwich. 

I wasted a little food, some time and some energy, but I did learn a lesson. High fives for lessons learned, right? I learned that I really need to start preparing better for meals. I need to read the directions ahead of time and further research things I'm unsure of; and, finally, I need to keep practicing patience. If I had been more patient, I would have taken the time to read about avocado peeling first. If I was more patient, I would have asked myself if all the other junk I threw into my makeshift salad was going to work. So, maybe this will stick with me next time I try a new recipe (or start over-seasoning a roast). 

This post in a nutshell - slow down, read the directions, and have patience. Remember this in the kitchen and everywhere else in life.  

I hope your day is fabulous!

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This post is linked up to Mommin' it Up's Pin for the Wednesday blog carnival. 

Head on over to check out the other awesome pins posted by Mommin' it Up followers.

9 comments:

  1. cracking UP!!! We all LOVE a good fail! One day we are going to do a #PinFTW "opposites" day. I definitely have some for that!

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  2. Lol. Yeah, do that! I'll be the first one to Pin a fail - that probably originates in the kitchen - I have a bunch of them!

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  3. It sounds like your avocado may not have been ripe yet. They are pretty easy to peel when they are perfectly ripe. The peel falls to pieces if they're overly ripe, but it doesn't look like your avocado was too ripe from the picture. An avocado is ripe when you they are tender to the touch - not rock hard or mushy. You can place them in the refrigerator at the point they are tender. Cutting/peeling: Cut in half, either longways or shortways (is that even a real term?). Pull apart. Jab the pit with your knife and gently wiggle it out. Then peal the avocado with your hand. A perfectly ripe avocado should peel in a few nice sheets.
    Hope that helps!

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    1. Thank you! I know you use a lot of avocado. I should have called for a consultation beforehand. :)

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  4. It is definitely worthwhile to learn how to "mess" with avocados. One of my favorite superfoods!

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    1. Thanks for commenting, Jennifer! I'm going to give it another try for sure.

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  5. LOL. Ok, here's a few hints about avocados: if it's green, it's not ripe. And if you can't break through the skin easily with a knife, it's definitely not ripe. You want the black ones that are soft to the touch (not mushy, though, those are bad spots).
    Next, cutting it. Take your knife and cut into the middle (like as if you were going to slice it in half), till you hit the seed. Then score all the way around. Hold one half in each hand and twist (like when you pull apart an oreo to get to the creamy center). At this point, the two halves should come apart, with the seed still stuck in one side. Now, take your knife and hit the seed with the sharp end of the blade (like you were trying to chop it in half--be careful not to miss and cut yourself). The knife should stick into the seed. Hold the avocado in one hand and the knife with the other and twist and pull. The seed should pull free. Remove the seed from the knife. (You may want to use a paper towel to hold onto the seed, as it can sometimes be slippery.) Last steps--take the tip of the knife and score the green stuff, all the way through till you reach the skin (but don't cut through the skin). I use a checkerboard pattern (doesn't have to be perfect). Do this to each of the halves. Take a spoon, scoop the green stuff out (just like you're scraping the last bits of ice cream from the carton). And-tada-you have successfully cut up an avocado.
    Or, if you don't want to do all this--buy some Wholly Guacamole from the grocery store (found in produce section at Kroger, not sure abt where at other stores). I love this stuff--healthy, whole ingredients and no additives. Tastes fantastic, too.

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    1. More great advice!!! So what you're saying is I shouldn't narrowly escape cutting one of my fingers off while slicing the thing? I'm going to have to try this again - with a little more patience. :) ...Or maybe I'll just pick up the Wholly Guacamole. Lol... Thanks, Marcy. :)

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  6. I'm pretty sure I will never buy an avocado...
    and my PinFTW post... didn't go so well, either! :)

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