Avocado Smoothie - Delicious...AND healthy

Avocado is an acquired taste if you haven't grown up with it. It's seldom present in Asian cuisine and has a unique buttery texture for a fruit, which was bizarre to me. I had first tried it in a Mexican restaurant years ago when I was having dinner with college friends, enjoying tacos and guacamole. It was interesting, but I wasn't crazy about it. I preferred dipping my nachos in the salsa sauce than in an almost tasteless guacamole. Then, one day, my aunt had me over for lunch and served me a bowl of mashed avocado. She told me, "try it, it's very good for you". I didn't like the fact that she left out the "it tastes good". So, I had a prenotion that it was going to be pasty and bland....that I wasn't going to like it, just like the guacamole I had at the restaurant. I had a spoonful of the mashed avocado just to show my aunt that I was open to try anything that didn't move. As soon as I had a tiny taste, I swear, I felt like I was going to puke. I HATED it. So as not to offend her, I pretended to enjoy the spoonful with an agonizing "mmmmmh" sound. But my facial expression gave it all away. She said, "you are so picky, you don't like anything!". My aunt is a person who means well, but she loves solliciting unwanted advice. When it comes to food, I'm not one to be picky. The plain mashed avocado, was just NOT good.

But with time, I grew to like avocado, just like I grew to like shrimps. When I was a child, I used to think that shrimps were live insects with legs that would crawl around my stomach, even if I was told that they were dead and cooked! I can't remember the exact moment I started liking avocados, but when I started hanging around with Colombian and Haitian friends, I discovered so many different ways to prepare delicious and tasty avocado dishes.

Now, I have an avocado every morning for breakfast, not only because I LOVE the taste of avocados, but also because it's so healthy for you. I've read so much about it and seen a few medical shows talking about the health benefits of avocado, among which the top 3 are:
1) lowers bad cholesterol
2) helps prevent breast cancer
3) helps prevent prostate cancer

This avocado smoothie is quick to make and filling. You can practically put anything you want in it. The best part is that it doesn't taste like avocado at all.

Recipe "au pif":1 ripe Hass avocado, seeded and peeled
1 ripe banana, peeled and cut into small chunks
mango or orange juice (use a glass to measure the amount of juice needed - in this case use about 2/3 cups of juice of your choice for 1 serving)
vanilla-flavoured soya milk (about 1/3 cup, again for 1 serving)
a dash of coconut juice (optional)

Blend until smooth.

* to make a more wholesome breakfast, you can add about 2 tbsp of rolled oats*

serves 2 people.
Share and enjoy.