Bacon Avocado Grilled Cheese

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // October 20, 2014 // 14 Comments

Happy Monday guys! It’s a particularly happy Monday for me because I’ve been dogsitting for my mum over the weekend and she’s home now! I’m not a dog person okay, don’t hate me! I don’t dislike dogs, I feel the same way about dogs as I do about kids – I love hanging out and playing with them, but I don’t want any of my own! The weekend was pretty exhausting though, dogs are hard work and the miniature dachshund is real mama’s girl, she spent the whole weekend pining after my mum!

I’ve got a nice simple recipe for y’all to start of the week. I said a while ago I was going to post one savoury, dinner type recipe a month and this bacon avocado grilled cheese recipe is October’s. Grilled cheese’s are an ultimate comfort food for me, they’re particularly good on these cold autumn evenings. I love to have them with tomato soup instead of bread, so yummy. When I was craving a grilled cheese one night but didn’t have any tomato soup to pair with it, I thought I’d kick it up a notch and add some tasty extras!

I’m a new convert to avocado, for the longest time I was convinced I didn’t like it but oh how wrong I was! Now I eat it any chance I get! And who doesn’t love bacon? When people go vegetarian, bacon is usually the thing they say they miss the most! It has to be the real thing for me too, turkey bacon just feels so wrong! The crispy saltiness of the bacon paired with the mild and creamy avocado is just a perfect match, and let’s be honest – cheese makes everything better! You can, of course, use any cheese that takes your fancy – personally I like to go with a nice, strong cheddar for my grilled cheeses. I also add a little lime to my avocado and a sprinkling of paprika in the cheese – heaven!!

Bacon Avocado Grilled Cheese

2014-10-20 18:50:02

Serves 1

The comforting classic grilled cheese, taken up a notch with bacon and avovado

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Ingredients

2 slices of bread of your choice (I use tiger bread)
150g cheese of your choice, grated or thinly sliced
3 rashers bacon
half an avocado
juice of 1 lime (optional)
1/8 tsp paprika (optional)
Knob of butter

Instructions

Cook the bacon to your desired crispiness, the crispier the better in my book! Set aside.
Slice your avocado and squeeze on lime juice, if using. Set aside.
Butter your bread if desired, layer half the cheese on one slice, sprinkle with half the paprika, if using.
Add the bacon and avocado, then the rest of the cheese. Sprinkle on the rest of paprika, and place the other piece of bread on top, butter the top side of the sandwich.
Head a frying pan or griddle on medium heat, and melt a small knob of butter in it. Place the sandwich in the pan, buttered side up, and fry for 2-3 minutes, until the cheese starts to melt and the underside is dark golden brown. Flip over and cook the other side for another few minutes, until cheese is all melted and gooey!
Cut in half and serve.

By Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake

A Tipsy Giraffe https://www.atipsygiraffe.com/

Kale Avocado Banana Smoothie

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // October 6, 2014 // 5 Comments

I’ve always been turned off by the idea of green smoothies. I don’t know why, because I love my greens! Spinach? Yum! Kale? One of my favourite foods! But the idea of drinking them just sounded wrong to me! But I am officially a convert, green smoothies are awesome!

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Kale and Black Bean Salad with Avocado Lime Dressing

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // August 27, 2014 // No Comments

This Kale and Black Bean Salad with Avocado Lime Dressing is the first of my non-baking posts. I’m going to be doing these at least once a month to encourage myself to cook more and also share some of the yummy non-baked things I make! I’d like to apologise in advance for the terrible photos these posts will have, while I have been improving my baking photography it seems I have a lot further to go with general food photography!

This salad is a favourite for me and the best friend, it’s simple to make, super tasty and healthy too! What’s not to love. You can mix it up with your favourite veggies to customise it your personal tastes.

The dressing is nice and creamy, which is great for raw kale as it helps break it down – raw kale is a favourite of mine but it can be pretty tough, I normally toss it in lime juice which makes it extra tasty and helps break it down. This dressing has the benefits of the lime juice and the thickness to make the kale more palatable as a salad.

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Chocolate Avocado Brookies

by giraffescanbake // July 25, 2014 // 41 Comments

Super moistly and chocolatey brookies – a cross between a cookie and a brownie, the best of both worlds!

Okay, I have a confession to make. These weren’t intended to be brookies, I was trying to make chocolate and avocado cookies but they turned out more like brownies. But these chocolate avocado brookies were amazing and way better than I had originally imagined, so it was definitely a successful mistake! In hindsight, the fact that the “dough” was more a batter than a dough should have been my first clue, and I should have just spread it in a brownie pan. But I do like the rustic look of these and after I baked the first tray and realised how sticky the batter was, I decided to use a mini muffin pan and make brookie cups, which are adorably bite sized.

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Chocolate Avocado Muffins with Lime

by giraffescanbake // June 6, 2014 // 38 Comments

I have a confession to make, up until a few months ago I thought I didn’t like avocado. It’s kind of mushy and I thought it was bland and I was like no thank you, ma’am. Then I had some guacamole and I was like “hey this is super yummy!” and my love affair with avocado started there. And for a while now I’ve wanted to bake with it, it’s also been a long time since I’ve made muffins so these chocolate avocado muffins happened this week! I added lime to the mix because I love to slather my avocado with lots of lime.

These muffins are packed full of chocolate and have avocado instead of butter, I love the texture that gives them. They’re super moist and have lots of chocolate chips to keep you satisfied. They’re also filled with home made lime curd, giving them an extra tangy zest and really make them stand out from your regular chocolate muffins

I’ve always had trouble getting good muffin tops, they always come out pretty flat. And while they taste good they don’t have that great muffin look and the chewy muffin top! After trying a few different techniques I finally got myself some good muffin tops! They’re puffy, spilling over and just the right amount of chewiness! To finally achieve my muffin milestone, I filled the cups to the top and then baked them at a higher temperature for the first 10 minutes, then lowered it for the remaining baking time and voila, perfect muffins!

I love these muffins a lot, so I am bringing them along to Fiesta Friday 19 – Hope everybody enjoys them. Along with Angie, this week’s FF is being co-hosted by Sue and Prudy. So break out your party hats, it’s gonna be a fun one!

[recipe title=”Chocolate Avocado Muffins with Lime” servings=”12″]
Ingredients

For the Lime Curd

1/3 cup caster sugar
1.5 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 tbsp lime juice
1 egg, beaten

For the Muffins

2 3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 large, ripe avocado
1 1/3 cup whole milk
1/4 cup plain natural yogurt
2 eggs
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tbsp lime zest

Method

For the lime curd, put the sugar, butter, lime juice and lime zest in the top of a double boiler on a high heat until the butter is melted. Mix a tbsp of the lime mix into the egg and whisk. Reduce the heat until the water is lightly simmering, add the egg mixture to the lime mixture and whisk. Cook over the low heat until curd is thickened – about 20 minutes. Leave to cool while you make the muffins.
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F and line a muffin tray with paper cups
Whisk together the flour, oats, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a bowl and set aside.
Using a blender, process the avocado, milk and yogurt until smooth. Pour into a bowl and whisk in the eggs.
Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry, making sure it is all fully combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and lime zest.
Fill the muffin cups half way with muffin batter, then add a tsp of lime zest and top up with more muffin batter. Fill the muffin liners up full.
Bake in the oven at 220C/424F for 10 minutes. The reduce the heat to 190C/375F and bake for 10 more minutes, until skewer comes out clean
Cool on a wire rack

Notes

Store in an airtight container for 3 days
Great served warm!
Don’t tell weirdos who think avocado in muffins is gross, they won’t notice!

[/recipe]