Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Superbowl Snacks or Why We Love Avocados

I have had the idea to write this post since the Superbowl, but I have not written a single post since then. Some good news regarding Miss Picky (she said 2 words today!!! "Diaper" and "Birdie," I'm so proud) has inspired me to pick the posting back up.

I suspected that I would stop writing when things were discouraging, and unfortunately proved myself right. We went through a couple of bad eating weeks and I lost all interest in writing about it. I'm not really a writer anyways, I could never get past day 2 of keeping a journal and all of my school papers came back with comments such as "Please expand here..." "Tell me more about this.." etc.

That being said, I need to sing the virtues of the creamy, dreamy fruit that has basically kept Moriah alive this past year - the avocado. Moriah eats at least half of an avocado almost every day, scooped right out of the skin with a spoon. We've also been able to use avocados to introduce her to other foods as well. We've mixed it with various meats, hard boiled egg yolks, grains, and other veggies, spread it on crackers, and mashed it in yogurt.

On Superbowl Sunday I made a simple guacamole with some freshly squeezed lime juice, salt, and garlic powder to go with tortilla chips. I also sauteed a little ground beef with some salt and oregano to see if Miss P would eat it with the guacamole. YUM. Loaded onto chips, the guac + seasoned beef made the most delicious cheese-less nachos. I was not surprised that Miss P ate a very nice amount. A good meal like that, when eaten by Moriah, always makes my day. So I decided to do a little research on avocados to see exactly how nutritious they really are. I was so impressed with the humble-looking little fruit. The Potassium! The Vitamins! The Folate! The Monounsaturated Fat!!! No wonder Moriah has survived despite barely eating anything. Here are the nutrition facts, based on a serving size of 1/5th of a small avoacado. A much more in-depth analysis is on this website



They apparently have 20 times the average calories as compared to other fruits. I guess this means that they are the perfect food for Moriah and that I should enjoy 1 or 2 slices of her leftovers.