Basil Avocado Dip, Rich and Flavorful...but a little too much lemon, oops

spring in the country

Fairhaven

Deale

For an appetizer by the river tonight with family we had the "dip" I put together yesterday with lots of fresh herbs.  It was basil, cilantro, mint and very rough sorrel from the Union Square farmer's market.  We blended all that with 1/2 a lemon (peel on), 2 avocados, some olive oil and a little water to get the blender moving...it took a lot of stirring but we did blend this into a creamy herby mixture and had it tonight with cucumbers, carrots, and the local fresh large mushrooms pictured below.  I think because it was such strong and sour sorrel, the lemon was overkill and could have been squeezed in into the blender in a smaller dose.

 We also had some "rosemary quackers" and some "cheezy quackers" from One Lucky Duck (the takeout smaller back area of Pure Food and Wine, the raw vegan spectacular NYC standby.  The crackers are raw and vegan, pressed nuts and seeds with nutritional yeast basically (similar to kale chips without the kale).

The asparagus and mushrooms came from the local farm stand on Route 2 and were the only local offerings there today...they have some out of state grocery store type fruits and vegetables as well but I don't buy into purchasing that kind of thing at a local farm stand...

Anyway, this all provided me with great recovery food after riding about 80 miles and sort of dilly dallying around for 6 1/2 hours...it is the stopping to enjoy the view and the little chats with locals and farmers along the way that slows down these rides.  Basil is high in vitamin K, iron, calcium, vitamin A and trace minerals like manganese and magnesium.  It also has B6 which we use to maintain healthy long attention spans.  Asparagus also has an admirable vitamin B content, lots of vitamin K and A and folate.  Asparagus has many anti inflammatory benefits and is high in antioxidants, and even has glutathione for detoxification, important in the refueling after any long work out.  Cilantro, although I did not add that much, is so strong a detoxifier people use it to pull toxic metals from their system...so anyway, all in all, a good day for a vegetable binge (any day is good for that really) and for full disclosure, I think I had half a jar of peanut butter at least!