Stupid Good Avocado Soup – $.74

I think if we have food in Heaven, avocados will be there. As well as mangoes and bacon. I had a very random thought this morning: avocado soup. Avocados give amazing texture to anything you put it in, especially if you blend it till smooth, so I figured it’d be perfect for a healthy soup base.

This recipe serves about 2 people and took maybe 20 minutes tops. Cut up about 1/5 of a large onion and about 1/6 of a pepper. It doesn’t have to be pretty, it’ll be blended anyway, but try to get them about the same size.

Put the onions, peppers and a hefty pinch of salt in a heated, greased pan on medium high heat and cook until the onions have some color to them. When that happens, add 3 or 4 cloves of chopped garlic to the dance floor. They want to be a part of the fun too. Don’t forget to take a big whiff of this amazingness.

It should look something like this after about 7 or 8 minutes.

Add about a tablespoon of wheat flour, or white if you don’t have it. I also added a bit more olive oil here. Stir for another 2 minutes on the heat, making sure it doesn’t burn.

At this point, add in a little bit of milk and stir. When that thickens, add even more milk and stir again. For 2 people you probably don’t need more than a cup of milk.

Now add your spices. You could have added spices before the milk which sorta “wakes up the spices” but I forgot. No worries. Add a nice sprinkle of cumin, chili powder, paprika (or smoked paprika if you have it) and a few vicious shakes of your favorite hot sauce.

Here’s what mine looked like. When it gets fairly thick from the heat, take it off the burner and set aside.

Meet the main guest, avocados. Like I’ve said before, give your local Latin foods market a shot with foods that their culture is more familiar with, such as plantains, mangoes and avocados. They know what they’re doing! When looking for the perfect avocado, pick it up with your hand and gently squeeze. If it’s really soft or really hard, put it down. It should give just a little bit. Finding a ripe avocado is important to this recipe.

So put the guts of the avocado in a blender.

On top of the avocado, add in a very big handful of FRESH cilantro. This was equivalent to about 1/2 of a normal bunch from the grocery store. If you don’t have fresh cilantro, just give up now. Without it, this soup would be pretty lame. Put in more or less than I did, depending on what you want. You’re the one eating it, not me.

Add the mixture from the pan on top of the avocado and cilantro.

Now pulverize the heck out of it. If it’s not moving around smoothly in the blender, you may need another splash of milk.

Taste it now. Is it salty enough? Make sure you salt it or it’ll be bland. Put the mixture back in the pan. This is IMPORTANT! Listen! Only heat it till it’s hot and take it right off the heat. Really. You’ll see the bubbles form on the surface, give it a stir a minute and stop cooking. If you let it cook too long, even for 2 minutes too long, it’ll turn the avocado kinda sour and it’ll taste nasty. Your soup is now ready!

If I had tomatoes and lime juice I would’ve definitely added them, but I didn’t. In a way, this is sort of like a guacamole soup. I served mine with tortilla chips (I found on sale for $1.88 at Food Lion) and cheese. Feel free to leave these potentially fattening sides out of your soup, but I found both of them very pleasant to eat with it. I hope you enjoy this! It was SO GOOD!

Avocado – $.69
1/5 Onion – $.12
1/6 Pepper – $.16
1/2 Bunch Fresh Cilantro – $.31
1 Cup of Milk – $.20
2 Servings: $1.48
1 Serving: $.74