"avocados" news and stories

An avocado scandal erupted in California. While avocado farmers are experiencing one of their worst years in avocado production, their advocates are celebrating, so it seems. Last week, Marisa McClellan wrote a post that foresees the scarcity of avocados in the coming year. Following the sad news, the New York Times printed an article revealing the decadent lifestyle of the California Avocado Commission "as a kind of free-spending, avocado-gone-wild farm party."

The California Department of Food and Agriculture just released a report explaining that commission employee benefits included: season tickets for the Los Angeles Angels and hockey's Mighty Ducks, paid gym memberships, stipends for vitamins, and even workout clothes. To think that I thought health insurance was an important benefit...As one would imagine avocado farmers are outraged. Rick Shade, an unpaid chairman of the board and third-generation avocado farmer, states that they uncovered about $300,000 in dubious expenses - $39,000 spent by commission employees at upscale clothing stores, like Ann Taylor and Nordstrom.

With such outrageous spending, how could it have taken this long for avocado farmers to take notice? Shade explains that they turned a blind-eye since most farmers were making more and more money from the commission's succuss at popularizing the fruit.

Really now, when you think of food porn, that last thing you think of is bean dip, right? Okay, maybe a luxurious cannellini bean spread drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, or perhaps even a deep, dark sultry black bean dip, but seven layer dip? That's the stuff made with brown lumpy stuff that's mashed together with pork lard then layered together into a congealed rainbow of Taco Bell flavors most often found pre-made in the grocery store refrigerated section. There is nothing sexy about Seven Layer Dip.

Unless it's the Seven Layer Bean Dip over at Simply Recipes. Unlike all those supermarket dips, Elise demands that the refried beans as the first layer be hot. I agree. Who wants to bite into a lump of cold, hard smashed beans? When the refried beans are hot, then the next layer, shredded cheese, melts itself all over it, creating quite the pornographic seven layer dip pictured above.

You'll never be able to look at Seven Layer Dip the same way again.

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I adore chipotle peppers. They may be trendy, but that doesn't take away from the fact that they are very tasty. Chipotle peppers are smoked jalapenos and are usually packed in cans in an adobo sauce. The original process was developed to preserve the peppers, but the smoky flavor and lingering heat of the chipotle long ago caused it to become popular in its own right. That heat makes a nice background to the cool, creamy avocado in this guacamole.

You can choose to make it either creamy or chunky, depending on what you want to serve it with. Chunky guacamoles tend to work best with chips and crackers, as both provide ample surface area for scooping. Creamier dips are a better choice for veggies and pretzels, or other snacks that don't make for a good scoop. For a chunky dip, simply mince everything and stir it together to blend. For an ultra-creamy dip, use the food processor to combine everything.

If you had asked me 15 years ago what I thought the healthiest foods were, I probably would have said salad, pasta, bread, rice, and water. If you had asked me 35 years ago, I probably would have said Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Quisp cereal, pretzels, Pepsi, and Sara Lee pound cake.

We all know better now, of course (for example, Sara Lee pound cake should only be eaten 20 or so times a week), but do we really know what the healthiest foods are? We've talked a lot about healthy foods before, but never like what you'll see after the jump...in video form! The video isn't the best quality, and waiting 30 seconds for the next food to be listed is rather annoying, but the info is interesting. Besides, it's like a game. You can take those 30 seconds to place bets with your friends! What will be next in the video...apricots? Avocados? Broccoli? Read on...

Not all single-purpose kitchen gadgets are useless, but slicers are getting out of control. There are slicers for avocados, tomatoes, eggs, butter and mozzarella, just to name a few from Williams-Sonoma. While the avocado slicer has a slightly different look, the other four have the exact same design in slightly different shapes. And you don't need any of them. All of those foods are exceptionally easy to slice through with a sharp knife and the scooping function of the avocado slicer can be replicated with a spoon.

If none of your knives can handle tasks like slicing tomatoes or hard-boiled eggs, you don't need a gadget. You need a new knife. Trust me - you'll get a lot more use out of it.