White Bean Stuffed Avocado

When I am coming up with a new recipe, sometimes I have a hard time with the directions.  For example, my stove has dials that are only labeled Hi and Low.  Sometimes, it is a bit tricky deciding how to explain the temperature when it is a teensy bit higher than low, but not quite medium, or a tad lower than high, but still boiling away pretty ferociously.   It would be nice to have something a bit more specific like numbers, so I could just say, “Cook the mixture on 4 for 20 minutes.”

Being specific is apparently very important when giving driving directions as well, as I found out years ago when my sister-in-law moved to our area.

I had the brilliant idea to have her drive the places she would most need to go while I sat in the passenger seat and gave turn by turn directions.  Pretty sure Waze and Maps totally stole that idea from me, by the way.

As we came to the first (pretty major) intersection, I directed her to go straight through the stop sign.  And she did.  Straight through that sucker without even slowing down.

“What?” she asked, as I gasped, seeing my  life flash before my eyes.

“You missed that stop sign!” I peeked out from under my arms to see if it was safe to uncurl myself from the fetal position.

“No, I did what you said, and went straight through it,” she calmly explained, like I was the crazy one overreacting to a near-death experience.

“I assumed you would follow the law,” I sputtered, “and actually STOP before going through.”

“Well, you should have been more specific,” was her response as we approached a red light. “What do I do here?”

“Um, Stop!”

This recipe has such simple directions that I honestly don’t think anyone could mess it up. And it has lots of protein and healthy fats to boot!

Ingredients:

• 1 large avocado
• 3/4 cup chopped tomato
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1/2 cup diced cucumber
• 1/2 cup cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

Dressing:

• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon salt or more to taste

Directions:

1. Cut the avocado in half, scoop out the “meat”(save the shells), and cut the avocado into bite-sized pieces. Put them into a bowl with the tomato, onion, cucumber and beans and mix to combine.
2. To make the dressing, whisk all ingredients together or put them into a small jar and shake.
3. To serve: Pour the dressing over the avocado mixture and stir to combine.  Place spoonfuls of the mixture back into the shells and serve.

Serving suggestions:  Sprinkle with cilantro, or some green onions, add some jalapeño, or make a double or triple batch and serve in a bowl for a family style  main dish!

Enjoy!