Happy Cinco de Mayo!
With the ongoing climate of COVID-19 impacting how we celebrate occasions from Easter to Passover to Ramadan, and more, one constant throughout each holiday is food. Food unites us, it’s universal, and it gives us a way to celebrate something in our own special way.
On past holidays I think back to how my heartmate and I would recreate my mom’s or my grandma’s recipes. More recently, we baked a chocolate cake while social distancing to give us something to do and to have special homemade dessert after our meals for a few days.
While I’m not Mexican, I do love Mexican food. It has ALWAYS been a favourite of mine. From tacos, to salsa, to traditional empanadas and tortillas, whenever I’m in Mexico I make sure to eat authentically. And of course, a staple in Mexican cuisine are avocados from Mexico.
While in quarantine, I decided I would try to celebrate every holiday with some sort of special recipe–relying on the limited ingredients I have at home as physically shopping in a grocery store remains a distant memory. Not every recipe will be perfect or followed to the T, some may even have my own #inspiredbynick spin on them–like this one–but I would make a concerted effort to celebrate in some way or another involving food!
So to celebrate Cinco de Mayo I figured the best ode to Mexican cuisine that I could include in my recipe would be Avocados from Mexico!
Avocados from Mexico are actually quite unique as they typically have that wider pit, making for larger avocados with a healthy vibrant green interior. And of course you know all about avocado health benefits, I’m sure, as a nutrient powerhouse containing almost 20 vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.
My Cinco de Mayo recipe below pulls in traditional Mexican ingredients–like Avocados from Mexico–with other nutrient-dense ingredients that I love. It has fresh spiralized zucchini, thinly sliced garden cucumbers, organic chickpeas, black and white sesame seeds that are a source of plant based calcium, and a simple yet delicious homemade dressing!
Avocado-Zucchini Spring Garden Salad Recipe
Avocado-Zucchini Spring Garden Salad Recipe
This spring garden salad uses fresh avocados from mexico which are so dense in nutrients making the perfect, healthy-fat, salad.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 2 avocados from Mexico
- 1 large garden cucumber
- 1 medium zucchini
- ½ can chickpeas
For the dressing
- 4 tbsp sesame oil
- 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
- Juice of one lemon
- ½ garlic clove minced
- ½ tsp oregano
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
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Plating your greens will be the first step, and cutting them for style is entirely based on preference. I like to cut my avocados in halves and plate them face-up for visual appeal. To get my cucumbers to look like long ribbons, I simply use a peeler, and run it along the length of the cucumber from end to end, each time cutting a new slice. For the zucchini, I like using my spiralizer to get those thin noodle shapes or “zoodles” but you can slice them thinly if you don’t have a spiralizer at home.
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Once your greens are plated, you can toss your ½ can of chickpeas on top, and add your sesame seeds.
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For your dressing, in a small bowl combine all ingredients and whisk using a fork until smooth. Pour over your plated greens and serve!
The lemon, sesame oil, and salt in the dressing pull out the flavours of the avocados really nicely. It gives it a great summer salad and vibrant taste with ingredients that are fresh and textured.
I hope you enjoy this recipe this Spring/Summer season. If you recreate it, be sure to tag me on social media @inspiredbynick and #inspiredbynick. Happy Cinco de Mayo!
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