Avocado Salad Sandwich

One day last week, I found myself contemplating avocados.  Yes, I do strange things like contemplate avocados.  I got thinking about how their texture is similar to that of a hard-boiled egg, so I decided to give it a try as a substitute in an egg or chicken salad type application.  It actually worked out great, and I didn't do anything different to it than what I would have used/done with the egg or chicken.  I'll probably play around with variations at some point, but I wanted to make a true test of the "traditional" version.

INGREDIENTS :

1 celery stalk

3 kosher baby dill pickles

2 scallions (or minced onion)

1/2 t yellow mustard

2 avocados

salt / pepper

bread or rolls of choice

lettuce (optional)

cucumber (optional)

Start by dicing your celery, pickles, and scallion/onion.  I usually use onion in my salads, but I happened to have a few scallions kicking around that might not otherwise have been used, so I opted to throw those in today.

To your diced mixture, add the yellow mustard.  I have gotten into the habit of cutting back on the mayo in this type of salad by including some mustard, which is not just flavorful but better for you.  I only added a small amount here, but again, I wanted to make it a true test, so I didn't want to skip it altogether.  Because of the creaminess of the avocado, I did not use mayo at all, but if you still want that flavor, you could always spread some on your bread.

Mash one of your avocados and dice the other.  If working with avocados is new to you, simply run a knife lengthwise around the entire fruit, and twist to separate the halves.  Hit the pit with the blade of a knife and twist to pop it out, then you can run a spoon between the skin and the flesh of the avocado to easily separate them.

Stir the mashed avocado into the veggie mixture, along with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, then gently fold in the diced avocado so you have some different textures going on.

I always use lettuce and/or sprouts on my sandwiches.  I didn't have sprouts today (would have been great with this), but I did start with a layer of lettuce, then piled on the avocado mixture.  Just for the heck of it, since I had a partial cucumber in the fridge, I cut a few thin slices and added those to the top of my sandwich too.

If I had been blindfolded, I would have thought I was eating an egg salad sandwich with some avocado mixed in.  You really don't miss the eggs at all!  If you're skeptical, try it the other way around and work your way up to it -- add some to your egg salad.  (I realize that goes totally against my no mixing policy - I hate eggs in my chicken salad - but that's OK.)