Run in with an Avocado

Fruit can be dangerous. We found this out recently when my daughter was attempting to remove the pit from an avocado. The knife slipped off the edge of the pit and slid into the palm of her hand. We took her to a local emergency clinic for what I assumed would just be a few stitches. The reality of the situation was more along the lines of: 2 severed nerves, 1 emergency surgery, and 0 basketball tournaments. A basketball tournament in Barcelona Spain that was going to begin in 2 days time. It's her senior year. Ouch.

Side bar: Being a nurse, my plan, had I found a suture kit in my box of supplies, was to give her a shot of tequila and throw in the 3 stitches needed to close the original wound.

Yes, really I had thought about it. Yes, I think we're all glad that I didn't have a suture kit.

We still went to Barcelona, she cheered on the team, it was really hard, but good. Good in the way that one day you'll look back and see that you learned a lot but at the moment this really sucks and you need your mom to buy you churros and dark chocolate and shirts from H&M.

I'm still needed. So grateful for that.

You're probably wondering about the picture of the avocados. You're probably thinking that it's pretty insensitive of me to post that photo or maybe even have large bowls of avocados in my kitchen. You're probably right. But in my defense, avocados are just so darn good.

And so for my avocado loving daughter who needs a little balm not only for her hand, but for her heart that is a little disappointed, I give you this.

Chocolate Avocado Pudding. I have to say when we tried this I wasn't sure what to think. It was good, but I was hoping that I could say it did not taste like avocados. But it does. That's not a bad thing, unless you end up in the emergency clinic while trying to make this dessert.

I used some melted dark chocolate along with cocoa powder to give a deep chocolate flavor, some dark brown sugar underscores it even more. Most recipes only use honey or agave nectar to sweeten the pudding, so feel free to leave out the brown sugar if you want to. My feelings won't be hurt in the least.

Chocolate Avocado Pudding
4 ripe avocados
1/4 cup coconut milk
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
3 ounces of dark chocolate 70% or higher, melted and slightly cooled
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Pit and peel the avocados and place in the bowl of a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and puree until very smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Taste, season as you would like, more sweetener, more vanilla.....process again for 2 minutes until the pudding is very smooth.

Serves 4. Refrigerate until ready to serve.