Avocado and Walnut Salad

Thursday was an interesting day.  I spent most of it sat in a meeting room called “Bainbridge”.  I wish I’d actually been on Bainbridge Island instead.  The day unfolded to be a very long day made up of a series of blonde moments, mainly concerning technology.  Like forgetting to take a power cable for my laptop to a 10 hour offsite meeting.  Thursday also involved being carded – apparently there are more benefits to eating a pound of spinach every day than I first thought.  And then, even though it was my Friday night, I drove past KFC without stopping to get any.  I also learnt that if one buys cookies to make Cookies ‘n’ Cream Ice Cream, one should not bring the cookies into the house until one absolutely needs them.  Otherwise, there is a large risk that when one needs them there will not be any left.  Yes.  It was a strange day.  It was also the day that I determined that Avocado and Walnut Salad should be in your future.

Friday also started out a little oddly.

1. TdaP’ed.  Take THAT Whooping Cough.
2. USAA Customer Service totally rocks my world.  Every single time.
3. So, just like that…I can now buy brandy alongside my spinach, coconut oil and bacon.
4. It’s The Friday Night Dinner tonight!
5. I didn’t know it was even possible to be so insanely excited about garbage service.
6. How To Drive Your Cat Completely Mad 101: make a bubbling pot of homemade chicken stock.
7. I knew bringing those chocolate chip cookies for the Cookies ‘n’ Cream Ice Cream into the house was a bad idea.
8. Penelope has a fat lip.  (No, Daisy didn’t duke her.)
9. Off to play in the kitchen.
10. That Avocado and Walnut Salad from yesterday is on my mind.

Friday ended up in a marathon.  It was the kind of marathon that included 14 cups of heavy cream, 7 cups of nut milk, 29 egg yolks, coffee beans, cognac, and an assortment of other ingredients.  It *may* have involved 26 miles and 385 yards as I gallivanted for 8 hours round and round the 480 sq. ft that is my kitchen, but I cannot confirm that.  I know, for sure, there was no finish tape or medal at the end of it.  This was my prize.

Ice-cream-making marathons are my favorite kind.  I find making ice cream extremely therapeutic, and *SO* much more fun than running along a road for 3 hours in a pair of teeny, tight, lycra shorts and producing enough sweat to fill a small paddling pool.  I think the recipients of my ice cream find eating it very therapeutic, too.  I hope so.  I am working on coming up with a range of low carb / KETO ice creams (Update!  I have published a cookbook of low carb / KETO ice cream recipes!!), but in the meantime these were the full monte, super-creamy, knock-your-socks-off, crammed with flavor versions for which I have become {locally} famous.  There’s a special party going down on Thursday and ice cream is mandatory.  A lot of ice cream. Now my ‘fridge is full of ice cream custards; tomorrow evening the churning will commence.  I had to turn my big-a** garage freezer back on, just for the occasion.

Interspersed with all the heavy cream and chocolate was the creation of The Friday Night Dinner.  I made the {Low Carb} Chunky Chicken and Apricot Pie early in the day and then whipped up this Avocado and Walnut Salad as Mini-Me and The Hubs wandered in the door.  I was relieved that they were a little later than they had planned.  Had they arrived 20 minutes earlier they would have been greeted by screeching fire alarms, a horde of crazed kitties and a very blackened, coffee-bean-encrusted baking sheet.  I’d been busy attempting to burn the house down again – this time by forgetting to remove a tray of discarded coffee beans that I’d put in the bottom of the oven to dry out.  Gotta love yet another blonde moment.  Is it still Thursday?

This salad was perfectly simple for my blonde moment state of mind.  Two kinds of lettuce – one buttery and soft, one crisp and slightly bitter – plus creamy avocado pieces and crunchy walnuts all combine in every bite, held together with a slightly sweet and slighty tangy, flavorful herb dressing.  Cool, refreshing, delicious.  The perfect accompaniment for a hearty plate of comfort food like the {Low Carb} Chunky Chicken and Apricot Pie.  Quick and easy to throw together, and beautiful greens to brighten up the table.

Mini-Me and The Hubs got terribly excited when they spied the avocado languishing in amongst the greenery of the Avocado and Walnut Salad.  The excitement grew once Mini-Me tasted it and said it was her new favorite salad.  Often the simplest things are the best – fresh, organic, raw foods tossed together in a bowl.  Perfect.

I’d also throw some grilled chicken pieces onto this salad and call it lunch.

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