The Perfect Snack & a Blog Award
Could there be a more perfect snack than a fresh, ripe avocado?
Argue with me if you want… I love all sorts of snacks just as much as the next person.* I just think there’s something so simple and yet decadent about eating an entire avocado with a spoon.
Sprinkle it with sea salt and fresh lime juice. Dig in.
I love this edible ode to an avocado so much, I had to squeeze it in somewhere among my other summery avocado posts (with actual recipes).
But back to the avocado in a minute. Before I bore you away with my non-recipe ramblings, I’d like to thank Tanya of the wonderful blog Humble Feast for nominating me for a Liebster Award!
I’d like to apologize to Tanya, too, for my super-delayed response. I happened across this award post by Humble Feast a few weeks ago and was completely flattered and surprised to see Spontaneous Tomato listed there. It took me a while, though, to put this post together because there are so many amazing blogs out there; it was hard to choose just a few, among all of my new favorites!
So let me share some Liebster Award love with my 5 nominees:
1. One Happy Table. Lauren makes vegan food look easy and appealing with her varied yet approachable recipes, all while somehow posting a new recipe every single day!
2. The Patterned Plate. Caroline’s photographs (and blog design) are completely gorgeous. It’s hard to believe her blog is only one year old. I am in awe.
3. Putney Farm. This family blog (again, with daily posts!) features seasonal recipes and cocktail ideas that make me want to stop everything and head to the kitchen.
4. Vegetarian ‘Ventures. Shelly’s blog design is adorable, and she has a unique vegetarian take on many classic and seasonal recipes, which all look delicious. (Her site includes many vegan recipes, too.)
5. Veggie Zest. Pallavi’s photographs are absolutely stunning, and she beautifully prepares a wide variety of recipes, many of them Middle Eastern or Indian.
(Like Tanya, I didn’t try to figure out which blogs have fewer than 200 followers, instead I just chose among blogs that are relatively new, i.e., created within the past year.) Oh and make sure to check out Humble Feast for some hearty and scrumptious-looking recipes made with real food.
So where were we…? Ah yes, I was slowly eating my way through the quickly-ripening piles of avocados on my counter.
I’m lucky; I owe my avocado abundance to friends with a backyard tree. (Believe me when I say that guacamole has lately graced my dinner table about twice a week.) But even if you don’t have this crazy, lucky luxury, you can still indulge in this little snack.
All it takes is one avocado, darkened to a brownish green and still firm, but with just a bit of give when you gently press into it.
Slice it in half lengthwise, and twist the two halves to open. Extract the pit out of its half by whacking a sharp knife into it so that it cuts in and sticks a little, then twist it free (my girlfriend learned this trick from Pinterest).
Fresh lime juice. Sea salt. Spoon. Perfection.
Besides lime juice and sea salt, I can think of several ways to mix this up a little, since perfection comes in many shapes and sizes… Add Sriracha.** Or freshly ground lemon pepper. Or nutritional yeast. Or cilantro. Or ground chipotle. Or skip the lime and the salt altogether, and just stick with the good old avocado + spoon combination: still perfect!
* No; more. I carry them around in a snack bag inside my shoulder bag, and won’t go to campus without yogurt-covered pretzels or almonds. I bring along napkins for clementines and plastic bags for sugar snap pea ends or cherry pits, and often have extras to share.
** My first job in Japan used to leave me exhausted. I would get home around 10 or 11pm, toss some chopped up avocado and tomato into a bowl, squeeze over a generous helping of Sriracha (as if it were salad dressing), and call it dinner.
Related Recipe Posts:
> Crema de Aguacate (Mexican Avocado Soup)
> Vietnamese Sweet Avocado Smoothie
> Lentil Green Bean Salad with Avocado and Vinaigrette
spontaneous tomato 
Yum, yum, yum!!! What I’d do for an avocado tree next door. You are one fortunate lady, Allison. : ) Thanks for the award nomination too! I am feelin’ the LOVE! : )
Yes I’ve noticed you’ve been enjoying several blog awards lately– well deserved! And actually my friends with the avocado tree live a good 45-minute drive away, so I’m even luckier than they often think of me and bring along a bag of bright green avocados when we meet up.
Those are great friends. : ) I believe the avocado just may be the perfect food.
Avocados are a staple in our house too. We buy a dozen every week and sometimes run out!
We’ve been using them at nearly the same rate! (For 2 people.)
I am not usually an avocado girl but you may have changed my mind after looking at these photos :)
Congrats on such a well deserved award!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks, and yes I was hoping to change some people’s minds with this post! :) I mean, it’s not actually a recipe, so I figured that this way to eat an avocado would either seem completely obvious (to others who already do this) or completely new and worth a try!
Fan flipping tastic. One of my favorite lunches involves good whole grain bread, avocado and salt. Yum.
Yum is right! I am still planning to eventually post another non-recipe for avocado smashed onto bread (with tomatoes & lemon pepper). It’s just so good.
Congrats my friend, do I have a treat for you :D
Stop by to pick up two deserved awards!
http://gobakeyourself.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/changes/
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Wow, a blog award, awarded on a blog award post– thank you! I love your blog and I know you read MANY other food blogs, so this means a lot coming from you!
Congrats on your awards! What a fun day!
I love avocados but I am the only one in our house, so I have been buying the small ones from the market for 25 cents. They are perfect!
Thank you! Oh yes, I love small avocados… sometimes the pits are extra small and you still get a lot of extra-buttery avocado flesh. They sell small ones at the farmer’s market in town, and I was actually saving one of them to use for the photos in this post (since it might seem to be more reasonably “snack”-sized), but my girlfriend got to it first, without knowing I was saving it, and sliced it onto a sandwich!
So funny! Definitely not as photo ready smashed inside a sandwich! I opened one at work one day and every single person commented on how tiny (and cute) the pit was.
Congratulations to you…so very exciting! Delicious looking recipe to boot…love it!
Thank you!
I’ve never had avocado this way, simply with lime juice. We’re so lucky to live in California where we can get plenty of fresh avocados! Congratulations on the award!
Thanks! I know, I feel luckier and luckier to live in California every day. Originally I only moved here “temporarily” for grad school, but now I don’t know what I would do if I ever had to move away… I’d definitely go through avocado withdrawal!
Oh, this snack sounds amazing! I often eat avocado straight out of the peel, but I’ve never seasoned it first–lime juice plus salt sounds like the perfect complement!
Thanks for the link and the kind words, and cheers again for the well-deserved award! :)
Thank YOU for the kind words as well! And I hope you get a chance to try avocado with lime juice (or lemon juice, or lemon pepper…) soon!
Congrats on your award!
Well-deserved & congrats to the others too! ;) Happy times!
Thank you! :)