Avocado Banana Salad

Avocado Banana Salad is a simple and tasty way to dress up a simple salad. What I love about this recipe is you can make it as complex or as simple as you want, depending on your mood. If you want to keep it simple, use your favorite bottled dressing. If you are looking for something a little more complex, try adding chopped walnuts, sliced dried apricots and cranberries for some extra crunch and sweetness, along with a small drizzle of honey to offset the tartness of the fruit and dressing.

AVOCADO SALAD

A creamy avocado-based salad is an easy 30-second side dish to make. It’s light and refreshing. Throw in some veggies and you’ve got a quick avocado salad for lunch or dinner that you can eat on the run.

Avocados are packed with healthy fats and potassium, but they’re often overlooked as a meal ingredient.

Baked Chicken Drumsticks

Baked chicken drumsticks are the perfect easy dish to make for dinner. They even taste great cold the next day and are sure to be a family favorite. They’re easy to make and only take about 45 minutes. Great for an appetizer or main dish.

WHY MAKE THIS SALAD

• This avocado salad is a tasty treat for anyone looking for something light and quick.
• A great way to make a simple salad rich and creamy without all the extra fat is to use avocado. In fact, often I will mash the avocado in the blender and serve it instead of mayo with fries and chips.
• This is an everyday salad that gets ready in a snap.
• You can serve this as a healthy side dish for starch with any protein. In fact, I often will eat my main courses such as chicken or fish with salad instead of rice or potatoes. And while my kids claim they want to eat rice, I find them enjoying this salad because it’s so creamy and refreshing.
• And, the best thing about this salad is that almost everything can be switched or substituted. If you don’t like something you can easily omit or switch it to something else.
• This salad keeps well so you can make it a few hours ahead and store leftovers in an airtight container for up to a day in the refrigerator.

INGREDIENTS AND SUBSTITUTES

• Avocado – use ripe avocados but make sure it is not mushy or firm. You want it soft enough to be able to eat with a fork but still hold its shape.
• Tomatoes – I am using cherry tomatoes but you can use one large tomato cut into cubes. I like to deseed large tomatoes to keep the salad from getting too soggy. When in the season I love to use multi-colored grape tomatoes.
• Cucumbers – I am using an English cucumber but any variety that you love eating such as Persian or pole cumbers works too. Make sure to use a nice crisp cucumber not too soft that will release too much liquid.
• Onion – When it comes to a salad, I love the Spanish red onion. It has a wonderful sweetness to it. If you don’t like raw onions, add a few tablespoons of the dressing to the onions and leave them aside for 5 minutes. This softens it and takes away that raw taste.
• Olives – I like to add a variety of olives, preferably deseeded so no one bites into the seeds.
• Lemon juice – You can also add fresh lime juice, white wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar. If you like a lemon flavor go ahead and add the zest in too.
• Olive oil – When it comes to salads, I love to use good quality cold-pressed olive oil or extra virgin olive oil.
• Fresh herbs – I am using parsley today but fresh cilantro, mint, dill, and fresh basil are a great addition too.
• Optional ingredients
  • Garlic – a ⅛ teaspoon of garlic powder in the dressing adds a wonderful flavor.
  • Oregano – a sprinkle of dried oregano in the dressing is wonderful.
  • Spice – I’m not a big fat of spicy in my salad but if you do, then a dash of red pepper flakes or hot sauce to the dressing.

EASY AVOCADO SALAD RECIPE

• Prep dressing – In a small bowl or mason jar, combine the lemon juice, sugar, salt, and olive oil. Use a whisk to combine well. Set aside.
• Prep the veggies – Dice the cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions. Chop the avocados just before you are about to make the salad.
• Combine – In a large bowl, combine the chopped veggies, cucumber, tomatoes, avocado, onions, parsley, and olives.
• Dressing – Pour over the salad dressing and toss everything to combine well.

VARIATIONS

• Chicken avocado salad – make a complete meal for lunch or dinner. Add up to 2 cups of diced cooked chicken breast to the salad.
• Tuna avocado salad – Add a can of drained and flaked tuna to the salad.
• Shrimp avocado salad – Add up to 2 cups of sauteed shrimp to this avocado salad.
• Tomato avocado salad – you can omit the other veggies and add only tomato and avocado with this dressing.
• Cucumber avocado salad – omit the other veggies and add only chopped crisp tomato and avocado with this dressing.
• Egg avocado salad – add 2 chopped boiled eggs to this salad and dressing.

HOW TO CHOOSE, CUT, AND STORE AVOCADO?

• Choosing an avocado
  • It should be firm but have a little give when you press.
  • If the avocado is hard it means it is not ready so don’t cut it.
  • You can ripen an avocado in a paper bag in about 2 to 4 days.
  • Adding a banana to the paper bag will speed up the process of ripening.
• Cutting an avocado
  • Cut each avocado in half first. Then, twist and it should open into two.
  • Carefully stick the sharp side of a knife into the pit and twist it. The pit will get stuck to the knife. Lift it off and throw the pit.
  • Next, use a spoon to scoop the whole avocado out of the skin.
  • Then, cut into strips on one side. Turn and cut again. That should give you squares perfect for your salad.
• Storing avocado
  • Store avocado on the counter, in fact, a paper bag will help ripen the avocados quicker.
  • Always cut avocado just before you are going to serve because it does oxidize quickly.
  • Squeezing lemon juice and covering it well with plastic will slow the process of oxidization.
  • If you need half an avocado. Leave the other half with the pit on, wrap well in plastic and store it in the fridge. It will stay good for 24 hours before oxidizing.

AVOCADO AND BLUEBERRY FRUIT SALAD

People who eat more generous amounts of fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy diet are likely to have reduced risk of chronic diseases, including stroke, type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer, and perhaps heart disease and high blood pressure.

This recipe meets the following Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH) Fruits & Veggies–More Matters® program criteria. Per Serving, each serving must contain at least one serving of fruit or vegetables per 250 calories; added sugars cannot exceed 15% of total calories; total fat is ≤35% of total calories, saturated fat is <10% of calories, trans fat is <0.5g per serving; contain ≤600 mg of sodium; and offer ≥0.014g/kcal naturally occurring fiber (28g of fiber/2000 calories).>

Ingredients

1 ripe, Fresh California Avocado, peeled, seeded, cut in slices2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed, picked over, well-drained2 medium sized apples peeled, cored, seeded, diced2 cups diced fresh mango chunks1 (5-oz) package mixed baby greens, or 8 cups mixed lettuces torn in bite-size pieces2 Tbsp. chopped chives or green onion2 Tbsp. walnuts, toasted*, chopped coarselyAvocado and Blueberry Fruit Salad Dressing2 Tbsp. honey1/4 cup plain nonfat yogurt1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon1/4 cup fresh orange or grapefruit juice1/8 tsp. salt1/8 tsp. ground white pepper

Instructions

Salad

1. Place chopped avocado, blueberries, apple, and mango in medium bowl and toss with about 2/3 of the tangy dressing; set aside.
2. Toss salad greens in large bowl with remainder of tangy dressing, and distribute evenly on each of six salad plates. Place an equal portion of dressed fruit/avocado mixture on top of each greens serving. Sprinkle with chopped chives and toasted walnuts to serve.
3. *To toast walnuts, place nut pieces in dry skillet over medium-high heat and stir occasionally for about seven minutes, or until pieces are browned lightly. Remove from heat. Let nuts cool slightly before chopping and using to garnish salad.

Dressing Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, mix honey, yogurt and cinnamon together until smooth and creamy. Whisk in juice; stir in salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning.

*Large avocados are recommended for this recipe. A large avocado averages about 8 ounces. If using smaller or larger size avocados adjust the quantity accordingly.

Sudan: Banana salad with shrimp and avocado

Very simple and turbo delicious salad. It looks crazy! All possible flavors and colors! Simmer peppers, tomatoes melt, avocados glide softly, sweet banana… ma, beauty! And when you go you think you won’t be able to eat… a-ha! :)) You can serve alone or as a side dish. To me, this is for the main course! Did I say it looks nice? 🙂

 Persons: 3 people

 Preparation time: 30 min

Preparation steps

• clean and boil the shrimp very briefly; transfer to a bowl and add the crushed garlic; return the prawns and garlic to the pan with the oil and fry them for 5 mins; when done, take them out and set aside to cool for 10-15 minutes.
• cook 2-3 eggs in parallel, depending on taste, I prefer 3; let them be boiled hard; cut them into slices, and you can break them and sprinkle the salad later, as you wish 🙂
• wash all vegetables; chop the peppers into strips or cubes, tomatoes too; peel the avocado (gives a slightly different flavor to the whole salad) and remove the core, chop the rest into larger pieces; peel and slice the bananas; sprinkle everything with lemon;
• place the salad on a plate; what you see in the picture are 2/3 of the used material, so you need quite a bowl to fit all this 🙂 arrange the vegetables, add thinly chopped carrots, eggs and shrimps at the end and drained tuna cut into larger pieces
• sprinkle with remaining lemon; salt / pepper; add other (favorite) spices to your taste, e.g. primrose, chives, basil, etc.