Friday, April 1, 2016

A is for Avocado Chocolate Smoothie



Well, hello, A to Z Challenge. So we meet again....

This is my third year participating in the Challenge, and I am revisiting my theme from last year: Pinterest Challenges. (Double the Challenge, double the fun.)

For the first day of the Challenge, I explored the avocado.

I am not a fan of avocados.

I think guacamole is just meh. Not worth the calories. Just give me some chips and salsa or, better yet, chips and queso (TOTALLY worth the calories). And slices of avocado on a sandwich or burger? Pass.

Then last summer, when I was visiting Marian Days (an annual festival in a neighboring town that is a pilgrimage for Vietnamese American Catholics and brings 70,000 of them to the grounds of the Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix headquarters) with my friend Kristi, we stopped for a boba smoothie, which is one of my favorite Marian Days treats (next to pho). While we waited in line and my friend debated which flavor of smoothie she wanted (I go safe and have strawberry), a Vietnamese woman in front of us recommended the avocado smoothie. She saw our (my) lips curl slightly, and she informed us that avocados are a fruit and treated as such in Vietnam, and we would not be disappointed in the avocado smoothie. Picky eater that I am, I stuck with strawberry, but Kristi took the plunge and ordered avocado, and you know what? It was DELICIOUS!  


Brave Kristi with her avocado boba smoothie.
Picky Dyanne with strawberry.

I was messing around on Pinterest and looking for a Vietnamese avocado smoothie recipe when I ran across this:


happinessishomemade.net

The ingredients are vanilla Greek yogurt, half an avocado, a frozen banana, milk, honey for sweetening, and Dutch process cocoa. 

I didn't have Dutch process cocoa. I looked for it at Walmart, both the Super Center and the Neighborhood Market, and at the other grocery store in town. No Dutch process cocoa to be found. Was it really necessary to use it? I mean, really, what's the difference?

Googled it. There's a difference. I won't bore you with the details (you can read it yourself here), but regular cocoa (like Hershey's) is naturally acidic, and Dutch processing neutralizes that acidity. That was all moot when I couldn't lay my hands on Dutch processed cocoa, though, so I made my smoothie with the regular stuff.

For starters, it took a great deal more than the 3 tablespoons of milk the recipe called for to get a drinkable consistency. The vanilla yogurt had sugar in it, but those 2 tablespoons of cocoa were very, very bitter. Very. I added Stevia, as I don't care much for honey AND because I was trying to keep some semblance of healthfulness with the recipe, but I still couldn't get rid of the bitterness. I tried to drink it, and my husband tried to drink it, but there was no saving it. This stuff was nasty.

Now, I didn't feel like I gave the Pinterest pin a fair shake, since I didn't use the right cocoa, so I continued my search for Dutch process cocoa by visiting Fox Farm Foods, a local store that carries imported Asian foods and gluten free and dairy free and other earthy/nutty/crunchy food items, plus vitamins and supplements, and THEY HAD DUTCH PROCESS COCOA. The catch was that it was sold in bulk to the tune of $1.49 AN OUNCE *cough* so I bought JUST ENOUGH and tried the Challenge again.




Yes, Virginia, there is a HUGE difference in the two types of cocoa. However, even without AS MUCH of the bitterness of the regular cocoa, the flavor was overpowering (two tablespoons is a LOT of cocoa for such a small recipe) and the smoothie was anything but sweet. By this time, I decided there was no point in pretending this was a healthy smoothie, as one-fifth of an avocado is considered a serving and contains 50 calories and 4.5 grams of fat. So a whole avocado would have 250 calories and 22.5 grams of fat. I used a whole avocado, as the one I bought was pretty dinky, so that's a hella lot of calories and fat to start worrying about how healthful it was going to be, and I decided to screw the Stevia and go straight for sugar.

It took nearly half a cup of sugar to get the stuff palatable.

The smoothie was certainly creamy, thanks to the avocado, but not ice creamy. More cold creamy, although it looked just like a chocolate shake. If I were to be honest, I'd say it felt about like drinking latex paint (old paint that has thickened up some in the can). 


The ingredients, pre-blend. Mmmm....



It wasn't BAD, but it wasn't exactly good. I put it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, until my husband came home from work, and the consistency didn't change one bit; I was expecting it to get kind of melty, but I expected incorrectly.

My husband hated it.



I drank it all, because $1.49 AN OUNCE.

I'm going to go with Pinterest fail on this. But that's just me. You try it and let me know.

$1.49.

An ounce.






32 comments:

  1. Well darn! I LOVE avocados, could eat them on/with everything and this sounded solo good, maybe too good to be true? I wonder what the secret was that made the one Kristi had taste so much better. I learned something here though, about Dutch processed cocoa, a term I'd heard before. And yes, that sounds like a lot of cocoa for just one smoothie. Think I'll pass on trying this, the consistency of paint sounds pretty yucky, but if you ever find another recipes that works better, let us know! ;-)
    Josie Two Shoes from Josie's Journal

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    1. I did make a Vietnamese avocado smoothie, except I don't have boba and that's the best part. They use sweetened, condensed milk, avocado, milk and ice cubes. Kind of a vanilla shake without the ice cream. This chocolate one just had a weird mouth feel that I couldn't get past.
      Tune in tomorrow (spoiler alert!).

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  2. I loved our local Tii Cup's Avacado smoothie! I'm not sure it's exactly healthy, and it's not really tea (though I tell people I'm drinking tea), but it's delicious. Sounds closer to the one you shared with your friend.

    1/2 cup of sugar on the second go, and still it was horrible? Definitely not likely worth the calories/carbs/fat intake. That would probably kill me!

    Pinterest Fail. DELETED!

    I'll just stick to Tii Cup's version, unless the Ladyfolk gets adventurous and cares to try blending a homemade concoction.

    Better luck on B!

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    1. A little cocoa goes a long way. There are only 3 tablespoons of cocoa in an entire red velvet cake! I really wanted it to be good.

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  3. Well, I hope my avocado ice cream experiment doesn't go as badly as your smoothie. But you had fun, right?

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    1. I did have fun! As long as there isn't chocolate in your avocado ice cream, you should be fine. I think....

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  4. Uftah, that's a toughie. I loved the avocado boba smoothie at Jak and my favorite boba tea shop in town. And I have heard avocado in smoothies is really good, to give it that creamy texture. But I have heard to mix it with fruit smoothies, and still add fresh (or I prefer frozen fruit as a substitute for ice). I have yet to try it though. As a smoothie maker pro, I feel like i have to try it. Maybe just avoid any chocolate concoctions.

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    1. Yes, the boba smoothies are really good! I just think chocolate and avocado must not go well together. It was really creamy, but it was kind of a weird creamy. But I'm also a really picky eater, so you should try it and report back to me.

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    2. I cannot deny your pickiness. ;)

      I tried spinach in smoothies a while back ago in a berry smoothie and you couldn't taste it. Just gave it an awful color. Maybe if I tried like 1/2 avocado -- a bit of creaminess but not overpowering. Have some of the acid of fruit in there to cut through it. I am intrigued. But looks like I should not tell Jak beforehand.

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    3. I can do spinach smoothies, believe it or not. If you use plenty of spinach, the color is better. Also, don't add blueberries. Not. Pretty. Oh, and always use some banana or mango to emulsify the spinach.

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    4. Ooh thanks for the tip! Will definitely try those tips out!

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  5. I too love an avocado in just about anything but i cant take certain textures . just your paint description made me gag a bit!

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  6. I am a fan of avocado and I love chocolate but somehow the two together don't sound like something I'd want to try. I remember Jen posted a vegan ice cream using cocoa and avocado. It looked really good but I never tried that either. I'm looking forward to following you in the A-Z. Fun, fun, fun.

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    1. Thanks, Val! I can see where it would be a good substitute for someone who was vegan. Do vegans eat dairy?

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  7. i love avocados can eat them everyday ...im now thinking that is way too much fat need to research ...basically i make salads with them at work no oil just a squeeze of lime - mix it with cucumbers, mango or watermelon...sometime plain, with carrots or tomatoes.

    last week i made a sweet type of spread for my toast - kids liked it too.


    too bad this was a fail... :)

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    1. We are used to avocado being treated like a vegetable, so treating it like the fruit that it is is a big step. Maybe too big a step?

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  8. Hubby might hate it but it looks good. I will add few more ingredients and see :)

    I am a positive psychologist and lifestyle blogger writing about self help tips for success at work place and relationships. Check out the blog here at www.consumerpsyche.com

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  9. Two of the foods that dominate the top of my list of favorites are chocolate and avocado. Have each pretty nearly weekly. But never as long as I maintain a sound mind in my head will I ever, ever mix the two! So, I am doubled over in laughter picturing you a-non-avocado-fan trying this! It sounds horrendously disgusting! But $1.49 an ounce? Yeah, once in that deep I would have felt compelled to drink the whole stinking thing too!

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    1. Come on, May. You know you want to try it!
      Thank you for understanding my need to get my money's worth out of the damn cocoa.

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  10. I never knew the difference between cocoas. I love avocados, and I love chocolate, so I might just have to try this and let you know. [I can see my A to Z next year: "Second Opinion of Dyanne's 2016 A-Z Challenge"] :-)

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    1. That would be an AWESOME challenge. Do try it and let me know, but trust me on using the Dutch process stuff, unless you want your tongue to feel like you dipped it in a can of cocoa.

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    2. I could totally second this challenge. It's not too late, you could still catch up and try her challenges and participate this year!

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  11. Thats a cool recipe. I heard about the goodness of avocado but never tried it, never tried even making unique smoothies too !

    This intrigues me

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    1. I'm not a good representative for the avocado industry. People in America (but not me) LOVE avocado made into guacamole and eaten with tortilla chips and sliced on sandwiches and in salads.

      If you try it, let me know!

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  12. And Kudos on taking up the challenge , Sadly I cant participate even this year :( Miss those days

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  13. We have a chocolate avocado chia seed smoothie recipe saved on Pinterest. I too was HIGHLY skeptical! The Husband made it and I was prepared for it to be disgusting, but it was actually very good!
    We just decided last night to sign up for the A to Z challenge, I am very curious what you mean by a pinterest challenge? I'll have to poke around here!

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    1. I liked it, but I didn't. It was the texture that was the biggest problem. What kind of chocolate did you use?
      I'm finding a Pinterest pin that corresponds with each letter of the alphabet and trying to recreate them. I did it last year, too, and I had a lot of fun with it. Good luck with the A to Z! I'll be looking for your posts!

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  14. Avocados are WONDERFUL and I LOVE THEM, but I learned a while ago that they should never ever EVER be mixed with chocolate, EVER because it's disgusting and gross and makes you feel so ill that even a healthyish (or pretending to be) recipe is ruined irrevocably.

    Like the coolie hat! Maybe the Vietnamese have a trick for better avo smoothies (what's a Boba?) or maybe they're just not daft enough to try teaming it with ANY kind of cocoa.

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    1. You're right; they're oily. They add a kind of slime to the smoothie. But the Vietnamese ones don't. Maybe because they are thinner? They use sweetened condensed milk, regular milk, avocado and ice to make theirs. Boba are tapioca beads. They are the size and color of a smallish peeled blueberry. No taste, just kind of like a gummy candy. I love them.

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