WATERMELON AVOCADO BOAT RECIPE

Happy July friends! 

​I am so excited to be kicking off this month with a super special Guest Post.  I hope you enjoy Meredith's refreshing summertime recipe and let us know how yours turned out in the comments below! 

​lindsey

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This bright, summer dish is light, fresh and super seasonal. Make this dish for a snack to savor or a snack to share at your next pot-luck, celebration, or relaxing meal at home.

I love avocados. Avocado in my salad, avocado in my eggs, avocado on my sandwich, avocado on my tacos. Don’t even get me started on guacamole. There something about the way it brings creaminess to any dish you put it on that keeps me coming back for more. 

Fun Fact: Did you know that in Columbia (one of avocado’s largest producers), the avocados are the size of a small football? I’ve considered visit just for this reason.

Recently, Trader Joe’s has also introduced the “mini” avocado, so there is less to waste once you cut it open...I unfortunately do not find myself in this predicament often. Once it’s open it’ll be gone.

We currently also find ourselves diving into summer, otherwise known in my house as watermelon season. Through the months of May through September, you can find these at most farmer’s markets and grocery stores fairly cheap because they are so abundant!

So I asked myself….why wouldn’t I put my two favorite foods together in one dish? So I tried it. And loved it.

When I buy a whole or even a half of a watermelon, I find myself looking for ways to use it because it gives you SO much fruit! I usually always buy the whole melon, it’s cheaper that way, and it forces me to get creative and find fun ways to use it before it begins to turn. This usually results in putting it in my water, my salads, my cocktails, grilled as a side dish...you name it.

I came up with this idea when making a salad for lunch...when I realized I had no lettuce (happens to the best of us). So I improvised! I took what I had in the fridge to make a salad, but mixed it in a bowl and placed it atop of a perfectly ripe, green avocado. So this CAN be done in salad form, and I have done that since and enjoyed it just as much! But I’m a huge fan of finding fun things to put in the “boat” of the avocado.

I happen to live down the street from an incredible olive oil store (The Olive Oil Store), where I find all the perfect balsamics and oils to make my salads have a bit of a twist. I chose the Lavender Balsamic to bring out the fresh, herby taste of the mint, giving the whole dish a new flavor. I highly suggest trying different balsamics if you can to see how different you can make the dish taste!

ALSO- what’s great about these is you can make a larger portion for an easy, and beautiful, appetizer for house guests. OR for yourself (nothing wrong with that). Simple as that!!

Ingredients

• 2 cup watermelon, cut
• ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1 tablespoon mint, chopped
• 1 avocado
• 1 tablespoon Lavender Balsamic Vinegar​

Directions

1. Combine watermelon, mint, feta and balsamic in a bowl and stir
2. Cut open avocado, remove seed. You may have to use a spoon to remove more of the avocado to create a larger “bowl”
3. Place ingredients from bowl into avocado bowl
4. Top with mint garnish

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My name is Meredith Williams and I am an RD2Be, graduating from Vanderbilt University in June 2017! I am a foodie, a Nashville Native, a lover of the outdoors and my Black Lab, Beck. I have a passion for food and for people, and for bringing the two of these together at the table. I think it is empowering that as a Registered Dietitian, we have the power to change the lives of those next door, down the street and across the world through something that we all need to survive - food.