A Transition into Lean Eating: Chilled Gingered Avocado Soup with Lemon

Ahh, the holidays are over. They were nice, but I've got to admit I have a little extra jiggle in my step. Actually, I have for some time, haha. But I'll blame it on the holidays. Anyway, it's time to abandon my recent, extravagant diet of rich, roasted meats; deliciously buttery Christmas cookies; and endless piles of carb-laden potatoes and pasta.

But it's so hard to get back into healthier eating! My mind encourages me to eat things like scrambled egg whites and grapefruit halves and baby greens with balsamic vinegar, but my body wants to gorge on the 10 bourbon balls we still have left in the fridge.

I think this avocado soup recipe is a transitional one: a compromise between a food that is self-indulgent and one that is actually pretty decent for you. It's made of avocados so it seems rich and creamy, but it's full of the avocado's "good fats" and employs low-fat buttermilk to impart a luxurious quality. It's also full of interesting flavors from the ginger and lemon.

I am actually pretty proud of myself in that I came up with this recipe mostly on my own. I perused some avocado recipes online, but they were all made with cream, which is too fatty, so I substituted buttermilk. Buttermilk is pretty low in fat and only has about 100 calories per cup. Plus, the tangyness of the buttermilk complemented the avocado perfectly. I saw that one recipe included ginger, and I love ginger, so I decided to include that too. And to add a little brightness to the flavor I decided to incorporate lemon.

Here's how to make the soup. You need:
-two avocados
-a teaspoon of minced ginger
-a cup and a quarter of chicken stock, perhaps more if you enjoy a thinner soup
-about a half a cup of buttermilk
-the juice of half a lemon
-salt and pepper

I cut the avocado flesh into cubes and tossed them in lemon juice as I simmered the ginger and stock for a few minutes to soften the ginger. After this was accomplished, I added to the ginger and stock the avocado and let it cool for a while. When it was room temperature I blended the soup with an immersion blender (my Christmas present!) and added the buttermilk and lemon juice. Finally, I added some salt and pepper to taste and chilled the soup. If the soup is too thick, you can add more stock. It depends on what thickness you like. This recipe makes about 4 3/4 cup servings.

I thought it was really good! Especially if you like ginger and the smooth texture of avocados. Georg wasn't as into it as I was, but he is not a big fan of chilled soups. The soup left me really satisfied, but I didn't feel all heavy and bloated like I have after practically every single meal I've eaten in the last month.

I will be trying out more light dishes this month, as well as more soups now that I have my immersion blender. Sorry for the terrible picture quality...it is so hard to get good shots at night in a tiny dark apartment!