I love avocado. I’m envious of folks who live in places like Southern California where the fruit is local and abundant. Instead, I settle for avocados shipped thousands of miles that could stunt double for rocks. (Thankfully, they soften after some time on my counter.) Not perfect, but still pretty good. And the best part, avocados are super healthy. A nutritional powerhouse, they are especially good for your heart thanks to oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat that may help to lower cholesterol.
Avocado is also a perfect family food. It can be fed to children as young as 6 months. In fact, it was the first solid food my oldest ChowBaby tried! It’s great on its own and mixes well with other early foods like banana, cereal, tofu, peach, and pears. And—yes, there’s more!—you can freeze avocado, mashed or in slices. Just expect a little browning (it doesn’t impact flavor).
Here are 6 easy, delicious ways to enjoy avocado.
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Both!
I gotta admit that I wasn’t immediately drawn to the freeze dried fruit I recently spied at my local Trader Joe’s. (I think it’s all of those freeze dried ice cream fueled family trips to Cape Canaveral.) But then I got to thinking about all of the breakfast cereals that make use of the space age snack and, in true ChowMama fashion, thought: I can use this to make my own lower sugar cereal in all of 5 seconds. Other ideas quickly followed—check them out after the jump and weigh in with your ideas for how to use freeze dried fruit!
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Food News, Things We Crave, Green Your Eats, Tips, Tools & Techniques, and the Weekly Roundtable (a roundup of our most recent posts). Check out this week’s picks!

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Photo: taratara69

I know, it sounds strange. But think about it. You eat blueberry muffins, right? And blueberry pie? And blueberry pancakes? All a combo of blueberries and something bready or doughy or crusty. So why not a berry pizza? Besides, it gave me an excuse to use my dad’s pizza stone. You know I’m not one for extra kitchen gadgets, but I have to say that it did wonders for my crust. I am tempted.

And my sweet and savory pizza pie was tempting too. For all three generations that sat down to lunch. So much so that in minutes, it was gone. Leaving us with only good conversation to share.

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Photo: LOLcatpics.com, in honor of Krispy Kreme’s Fan Fave contest (see below!)

Food News, Things We Crave, Green Your Eats, and Tips, Tools, & Techniques. Check out this week’s picks.
And, while you’re at it, our friend at fabulous family food blog FoodieTots.com (subscribe and follow @foodietot on twitter) has extended the deadline on her Farmer’s Market Photo Contest. All you have to do is submit a photo of your tot at the farmer’s market by August 31st for a chance to win a kid-sized reusable market tote filled with foodie goodies. How great is that?!
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Photo: jensteele

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I’m on a peach kick—enjoying my first truly delicious peaches of the season. Maybe it is the wet weather we’ve had, but my first peaches in July were mealy. Ick. Now that August is here, however, all that has changed. And the ChowFamily is relishing my favorite pitted fruit.
For dessert last night, I decided to macerate some peaches. Pre-kid, macerating usually involved alcohol. But post-kid, I’ve turned to using either sugar alone or a combo of sugar and balsamic vinegar. In combination with the kick of a  little fresh ginger, this goes great over whole milk yogurt for a snack, over ice cream for dessert, and even spread on toast for breakfast.
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