Simple Avocado Soup

 

With the rush of the holiday season, cooking at home may seem out of reach. But with this simple cold soup, all you need to do is dump everything in a blender, and a few minutes later dinner is served. The soup is very filling, despite not being hot.

Simple Avocado Soup
We made this curried, but try substituting lemon for the lime, basil for the cilantro, and a clove of garlic for the curry powder for a lighter flavor. The curry powder we used has a bit of heat to it; if yours is completely mild, you might want to add a pinch (or more) of cayenne.
Serves 2-3.

INGREDIENTS
1 avocado, pit removed and scooped from skin
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 handful cilantro
1 tbsp curry powder
1 cup light coconut milk
1 cup veggie broth
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. Combine all ingredients except lime zest in a blender. Blend for a minute or two, until the soup is smooth. Taste, and add salt as needed.
2. If you have time, stick it in the fridge for a few minutes to get colder.
3. Serve, topped with lime zest (and a little more cilantro if you like) and with bread for dunking on the side.

We ate this with a failed attempt at naan - the bread tasted great, but the texture was totally wrong - naan should be soft, with crisp spots where the bubbles darken, and these were crispy all over. I'm still trying to find a simple naan recipe that works.

Creamy Avocado Pasta, Cilantro Lime Edition

For dinner tonight, we tried a twist on a recipe I made for the first time last week. This Creamy Avocado Pasta Sauce comes together in less time than it takes to cook the pasta, making it a perfect week-night dinner option.  Last time, I followed the original recipe. The result was amazingly delicious.

This time, I made two switches. One was to try a different method for making the sauce. The original recipe calls for the use of a food processor, which not everyone has access to, and sometimes you just don't feel like cleaning it (for the third time that day). I thought if I put the garlic through my garlic press (you could also mince it), chopped the herbs, mashed the avocado with a fork, and stirred everything together, I'd still get a similar consistency. Although I'd call the result satisfactory, this more rustic version lacked the superb creaminess of the original. But, if you don't have a food processor, you can certainly still make this sauce. For me, in the future, I'll bust out the food processor.

The second change I made was to the flavor profile. Instead of lemon, I went with lime. Instead of basil, I decided to try cilantro. Why? Because that's what I had in the fridge, silly. Our basil plant sadly died over the holiday break, so we only have whatever herbs we buy at the store until the new seedlings mature. I'd say this second change was more successful than the first. I used the juice of a whole lime (instead of half of a lemon) because the lime was fairly small.

We ate this over quinoa rainbow veggie pasta curls. The flavor twist was a total success, and I see us eating this recipe again and again.