crazy for California avocados

Thank you to California Grown for encouraging me to connect with California growers and encouraging California consumers to “Choose California Grown” when they can.

I know, I know. Being a locavore is so “in” right now that singing the praises of “buying local” might sound like a silly plea from yet another foodie-type blogger. But here’s the deal. I don’t belong to a CSA. And I don’t shop exclusively at the farmer’s market (but I do like to visit every few weeks!). Instead, I’d consider myself a pretty normal foodie consumer who buys the majority of her produce at the regular ‘ol grocery store and Costco… but I do like to be informed of where my fruits and veggies and meat are sourced from. For me, it’s both a consumer choice and a taste choice.

I know that when I buy California Grown fruits/veggies, that they were shipped to my market from the farm within the week. They’re fresh from the farm, even if they’re from San Diego, because that’s only an 8 hour drive from my store. And being from the “Salad Bowl of the World” … I like to support California farmers when I can. And I’m incredibly lucky that our local markets take note of that preference that many California consumers have and label where everything comes from… even in the weekly ads:

And if your market doesn’t do this already – ask them to add signs to the produce section – or just bug your produce section managers to tell you where everything comes from until they do it!

So when I was offered to sample some “fresh from the farm” California Grown avocados delivered straight to my house from the California Avocado Grill, I jumped at the chance to taste the farm goodness of one of our family’s favorite fruits.

Not only were these avocados extremely large, but they were absolutely smooth and delicious and ripened within the week they arrived. It almost made me forget that we were nearing the winter crops here in Northern California… and that I used to live in that Southern California climate that grew these awesome fruits year-round!

[p.s. Did you know California produces 90% of all of the country’s avocados?!?]

And look how amazing the farm is where these beautiful fruits came from:

Now you might remember why avocados hold such a fun place in our household… remember this?

Well… instead of squishing them all over herself in whole fruit form, she now devours (and demands) her favorite snack while watching football in the form of guacamole.

(When we say we’re going to watch football, the next thing she asks for is “chips” … followed very shortly by “dip.” We once tried to have a Sunday without guac and it was tragic for everyone involved)

And making guacamole at home is so darn easy (you might remember me singing the praises of my handy dandy avocado tool before) and is great when you have kiddos that might not like the spices of store-made fresh guacamole.

Miss L’s Guacamole:

• 2       ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and mashed

• 2 tsp  honey

• 2  T    lemon juice

• 1/4     cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

• a pinch of sea salt

Combine everything in a bowl and serve! And if you want to keep some for later, remember to sprinkle lemon juice on top and then wrap it tightly in the fridge.

Just remember to eat the chip you used to dip… and don’t put it back in the chip bag/bowl after eating a whole bowl of guacamole. Don’t worry… all visitor’s to the M household on Sundays get fair warning to check for soggy chips before munching.

Thank you again to California Grown for sponsoring this blog post. Please click here to learn more about all of California Grown growers. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own. #CleverCAGrown #spon