Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…
No it’s not my birthday, it’s the Recipe Redux’s 5th birthday! While I haven’t been a member from the beginning, I’m so happy to be a part of this amazing group of healthy food bloggers. I think that this month’s theme is one of the best we’ve ever had but it’s also one of the hardest! We were asked to celebrate each other by choosing a fellow Reduxer and creating a dish inspired by one of their recipes. The problem is, with so many amazing people in the group, this was such a tough decision!
Ultimately, I decided to feature the one and only Jessica Fishman Levinson from Nutritioulicious. Why Jessica? Well, for a few reasons. Although we’ve never met in person, I kind of feel like we’re kindred spirits in a way. She’s a New Yorker, she’s a mom, and she’s passionate about delicious and nutritious food, like myself. We also definitely have a recipe ESP thing going on and there have been plenty of times when we posted similar dishes at the same time. We even know the same people- it turns out that I went to high school with her sister-in-law! If I hadn’t moved to South Florida, I have a feeling that Jessica and I would be getting together for coffee or lunch all the time!
Of course I couldn’t just choose one recipe to feature so I ended up making two! The first is Jessica’s Grilled Avocados Stuffed with Corn & Black Bean Salsa. This recipe originally caught my eye when she posted it as part of a Recipe Redux challenge looking for fun new lunch ideas. I was intrigued by the idea of grilling avocados and was inspired to try it out. Turns out, this won’t be the last time I grill avocados! I love the slightly smoky flavor the avocados got from the grill and they paired perfectly with the bright, flavorful corn and black bean salsa. The only change I made was to add a little cumin to the salsa to enhance the smoky flavors because I love cumin! Also, since fresh corn is plentiful at the market now, I threw some fresh ears of corn on the grill to get a nice char, which added even more smoky flavor to the dish. But if you’re making this dish out of season, you can use frozen corn. The combination of the creamy avocado with the crunchy salsa was fantastic!
Because the salsa was so good, I actually doubled the recipe and used the leftovers to make a second dish by mixing it with cooked quinoa. The quinoa salad tasted even better the next day for lunch once the flavors had a chance to meld! It was the perfect accompaniment to the grilled avocados.
Since I had some extra avocados, I also made an easy avocado cilantro yogurt sauce to drizzle on top of the stuffed avocados. The tangy sauce paired nicely with the other flavors in the dish. It also tasted great with the quinoa salad and would even work well as a spread for sandwiches or wraps.
Recipe
Grilled Stuffed Avocados
Equipment
Ingredients
Corn & Black Bean Salsa:
- 1 cup fresh or thawed frozen corn (I grilled fresh corn on the cob and cut the kernels off)
- 1 cup no-salt added black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup diced tomatoes
- ⅓ cup diced red onion
- 1 ½ tablespoons minced jalapeno pepper
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
Avocado Cilantro Yogurt Sauce:
- ½ avocado, peeled and pitted
- ½ cup low fat plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons cilantro
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon hot sauce like Sriracha (optional)
Grilled Avocados:
- 2 medium to large avocados, halved and pits removed
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- Kosher salt
Instructions
- Combine all of the salsa ingredients in a medium bowl. Let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes for flavors to meld together.
- To make the sauce, puree the avocado, yogurt, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and hot sauce together in a mini food processor or blender.
- Heat a grill or grill pan to medium high heat. Brush avocado halves with oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. When grill is hot, place avocado halves cut side down on the grill and cook 2-3 minutes until nice grill marks form. Remove from heat.
- Fill avocados with some corn and black bean salsa. Drizzle some Avocado Cilantro Yogurt Sauce on top and garnish with cilantro.
- Serve extra salsa and sauce on the side. You can also mix the extra salsa with cooked quinoa for a tasty second dish!
Abby says
It is finally getting hot now here in Australia. Was planning to grill tonight and was looking for some grilling inspiration. Found your site and this post and now I have my menu. Thanks for sharing!
Sarah @ Bucketlisttummy says
Both of these look too pretty to eat! I need to try that stuffed avocado recipe, it looks SO DELICIOUS! A small world isn't it? Sounds like you and Jessica would be besties!
Jessie says
Both of these recipes look amazing, and they are so creative! I never in a million years would have thought of grilling avocados. And I do like a good mojito, but I've never had one with watermelon. What fun summer recipes!
Charlie Watson says
It just so happens I have all of the watermelon mojito ingredients in the fridge...SOLD! Never tried grilled avocados but they look amazing!
Sarah says
I love grilled avocados and this looks amazing! If I was home right now I would probably whip this up for dinner, and of course a Watermelon Mojito, and relax on the deck.
Alisa says
What a delightful dish for summer! I could see easily making this into a meal, too.
Jenny Shea Rawn says
Ok all three of these recipes look amazing! Love the avocado cilantro yogurt sauce you added to those beautiful grilled avocados. And that quinoa salad?! So fun that we both featured Jessica. I have a bunch of your recipes on my to-make list as well. Can't wait to feature you coming up in July for your Natural Baby Food book - digging into that as we speak.
Elizabeth Shaw says
Such great choices! I adore Jessica, she's a gem for sure!! Just like you ;). I would absolutely LOVE a weekend in NYC with you two and dig into these together! Except, since I'm allergic to watermelon, think we could try these with pineapple? 🙂
Julie Wunder says
Everything about this post is so good. I love stuffed avocados. I've never had watermelon mojitos... but I'm pretty sure I'd love that too.
Natalie says
Oh my! Everything about this screams YESSSS! I'm currently obsessing over anything avocado!! yum!
Farrah says
Yay! I made stuffed avocado fairly recently too (I'm preemptively scheduling posts/recipes into the future like nobody's business before residency starts! :P)--these look amazing! I'll have to make em' after I'm done moving!
Taylor Kiser says
This menu is perfect for summer cookouts! Everything looks so delicious and the watermelon mojitos look so refreshing!
Lauren Grant says
Love this menu! I will be giving all of these a try sometime soon. Those watermelon mojitos look so tasty!
Victoria says
Both of these recipes sound amazing! I've never mad a mojito at home, and this idea with the watermelon in it?! I've go to try it!
Rebecca Pytell says
Well this just calls for a summer party!
Kaleigh @ Lively Table says
Thanks so much for including me in your post! I'm so glad you love the mojito, I actually really like it sans-alcohol as well! I'll have to try your version of the black bean salsa with quinoa, it sounds amazing!
Laura @ Sprint 2 the Table says
Theses were two of my favorites as of late too! I HAVE to make those watermelon drinks, and using the salsa for a quinoa salad is just brilliant! We just got a grill and I've been grilling literally everything lately.
Jessica Levinson says
First of all, thank you, thank you for honoring me by choosing me as the ReDuxer to feature and for your beautiful words about me! I totally agree we are kindred spirits and have very similar styles when it comes to recipes. I am so glad we connected through ReDux and next time you come to NY let's definitely grab lunch! I love what you did with these avocados, especially that aioli. #WhyDidntIThinkOfThat?! 😉 And pairing them with Kaleigh's watermelon mojitos is genius! Thank you again for the feature!
Jessica Levinson says
Oh and I forgot to add that the corn salsa added to the quinoa is just what I would do! In fact I have a Corn & Black Bean Quinoa Salad on my blog!
Kristy Sayer @ Southern In Law says
I loveeeeeee grilled avocados and I loveee stuffed avocados so this is perfect!
Watermelon mojitos sound like the perfect taco tuesday treat! 😉
sonaliruder says
They definitely are! Thanks Kristy!