Daily Digestive: Gaby Dalkin

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Did you know there are hundreds of varieties of avocado all over the world? Gaby Dalkin, a self-described "avocado obsessive," has been infatuated with the fruit (not vegetable) her entire life.

"I've been obsessed with them forever!" Dalkin explained. "Growing up in Arizona, avocados were all over the place. I'd eat guacamole for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and the obsession just snowballed when I went to college and it has just kept going."

Her overwhelming love for "the world's most perfect food," is so earnest, that in April 2013 her very first book, Absolutely Avocados, an entire cookbook dedicated to the avocado, was published.

"The whole idea started as a joke between me and my mom," says Dalkin. "Then I pitched the idea to my agent (who loved it) and all the cards started to fall into place."

Gaby's book features 80 different avocado recipes (plus tips, techniques, and useful facts) that you can serve for breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner, and even dessert! Her recipes include avocado & chorizo breakfast hash, Mediterranean avocado pizza, bacon-wrapped cheesy avocados, a Hawaiian pulled pork & avocado sandwich, and even an avocado-coconut ice cream.

What are some unusual pairings she has successfully combined with avocados?

"I use avocados in desserts!" Dalkin exclaimed. "It's a great substitute for butter and so much better for you."  

However, she's not a big fan of baked eggs in avocados.

"I think it's just a bit too much all at once," she said.

Avocados aside, there's a lot more to Gaby Dalkin. She's a trained chef, recipe developer, and food/lifestyle writer based in Los Angeles. Her food and recipe blog WhatsGabyCooking.com features original recipes and images that inspire and delight even the pickiest of palates, along with anecdotes from Gaby's life on-the-go.

"What's Gaby Cooking is a one stop shop for great recipes inspired by my West Coast style of life," says Dalkin. "Everything is pretty laid back and easy to make so it's do-able for any age or cooking level."

She names Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis as her culinary inspirations.

"I love the flavors from Bobby and the simplicity and elegance from Giada," explains Dalkin.

Dalkin is a regular contributor to Food Network, and her recipes and writing have also been featured on HGTV, the Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, Saveur, Design*Sponge, Glamour, The Kitchn and KNBC.  You also may have heard about her Slutty Brownies as mentioned on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and E! Fashion Police. 

"Oh man, slutty brownies are the ultimate dessert," Dalkin bragged. "I first made them a few years ago when I was still working as a private chef. My client Jessica Simpson talked about the brownies on one of her late night show appearances and about 10 seconds later my website broke because everyone was trying to get the recipe! They've been popular ever since!"

It doesn't come as too much of a surprise when Gaby proclaims her love for Mexican food.

"It's my favorite cuisine and I could and would eat it every day for the rest of my life," she says. "There are some fantastic Mexican restaurants in the Los Angeles area."

She has an adventurous palate, "I'll try anything once ― but I won't promise to love it, especially if its bugs or something weird like that," but will run a mile if you put a bottle of yellow mustard in front of her. "I can't stand bright yellow mustard ― that stuff freaks me out!"

What's next on Dalkin's agenda?

"I just launched a new web series with one of my friends called 'Domestic Partners," explains Dalkin. "It's all about food, drink and everything domestic. We spend more time together than we do with our husbands/boyfriends, so it's a little peek into some of our crazy stories and conversations!"

So what's our nutritionist, Elyse Sosin, going to make of the avocado aficionado's daily diet?  Will it cut the mustard (sorry, Gaby)? Is there just too much avocado? Or is she balancing it out with other nourishing foods? All is about to be revealed...

Click here for Gaby Dalkin's Avocado Chocolate Chip Cookies.

 

Gaby's Food Log

7:00 a.m. ― I'm a smoothie kinda gal so I start every morning with this spinach and banana smoothie with chia seeds and mango! It's my favorite way to start the day. Plus a big mug of ginger tea from Trader Joes.

10:00 a.m. ― Granola and yogurt. Post-pilates I am always famished so I need a little pick me up before I get into the craziness of my day. I have the world's best Pilates instructor, Beth, at the Brentwood, California location of Pilates Platinum! She whips me into shape on a daily basis. I'll try and down a few glasses of water too!

12:30 p.m. ― Lunch! Usually it's whatever I'm recipe testing. Most recently I've been working on a new quinoa salad recipe so it's been making an appearance quite frequently.

4:00 p.m. ― Avocado toast! It's my go-to snack for any time of the day. Just a bit of avocado slated on a piece of toasted whole grain bread with a bit of lemon juice and a tomato or two! Keeps me going until dinner!

5:00 p.m. ― Happy hour! A handful of my favorite people and fellow food bloggers live in Los Angeles so I love rounding up the girls and grabbing some drinks at the end of the day! Joy, Aida, and Catherine are some of my closest friends so I'll meet them for a margarita or a glass of bubbly at any number of restaurants!

Petty Cash in L.A. has great margaritas as does Oscars in Venice, Ca.

7:00 p.m. ― After a day of recipe testing I'm wiped! Dinner tonight is at my favorite little Mexican restaurant in West L.A., Don Antonio's! It's nothing crazy fancy, but they have the most epic vegetarian burritos that are stuffed to the brim with cheese, guacamole, beans, and lettuce and then topped with a mole sauce. I could eat these every day! Oh, and a skinny margarita too!

9:00 p.m. ― I end the day with a little something sweet :) Today I had a handful of bittersweet chocolate stuffed with caramel. It's sinfully delish!

Elyse's thoughts: Since Gaby is officially absolutely 'obsessed' with avocados; I wanted to share some basic facts about this superfood. One serving size is ~1/5 of an avocado (one ounce or two tablespoons mashed) which works out to be about 50 calories. Avocado provides fiber, folate, potassium, vitamins B6, C, and K as well as other vitamins and minerals.

Avocados are a wonderful source of the good fats — mono- and poly-unsaturated. Fat contributes to satiety and enhances the flavor of the foods you eat. Additionally, avocados can be beneficial for heart-health.

Gaby has an appealing and varied diet, it's somewhat high in fat, but as we mentioned above, this is predominantly coming from good fats. Beans lead the list of high-fiber foods. Gaby's cholesterol intake from food is low since avocado does not have cholesterol and she does not eat a large amount of animal products.

My recommendations:

• Gaby gets off to a good start in the morning with a banana and spinach smoothie made with a mix of different fruit, spinach, chia seeds, and unsweetened almond milk. The smoothie contains potassium, vitamins A, C, and a small amount of omega-3 fatty acids from the chia seeds.
• Gaby is fan of Pilates which, when practiced regularly, produces numerous benefits including body awareness, core strengthening and flexibility, an increased range of motion, enhanced balance, and better posture.
• She next eats three hours later after her intense Pilates class. The ingredients listed in her granola will provide a mix of soluble fiber, some calcium and good fats, potassium, and vitamin A. She's getting additional calcium and protein from the yogurt.  
• Her quinoa salad recipe for lunch is a good mix of carbohydrates, protein, and fat. She's also getting calcium from cheese and lycopene from the tomato, which may help to prevent certain cancers. Quinoa is a whole grain that is primarily carbohydrate, but does contain protein, more than many other starches, as well as fiber. Additionally, quinoa is gluten- and cholesterol-free since it is not an animal product. She enhances her salad with intense flavors such as red pepper flakes, basil leaves, garlic, and a shallot.
• Avocado-time for Gaby begins at 4:00pm on this day with her favorite avocado toast recipe. This makes for a filling and healthy snack. She's getting in good fats (as described above) from the avocados. The toast and tomatoes will provide her with carbohydrates.
• Like most young women, Gaby enjoys a round of drinks with her friend(s) on this particular day. The RDA is one drink a day for women as per U.S. Department of Agriculture: Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010.
• Mexican food is an obvious choice for Gaby's dinners as she'll easily be able to (and does) get her avocado fix from the guacamole in the burrito. Dinner will offer her a fiber, calcium, fat, and protein. Unlike the avocados, cheese contains mostly saturated fat, but is a good source of protein and calcium.
• She ends the day with a small amount of dessert with bittersweet chocolate and caramel. The dark chocolate made from 70 percent cocoa will have some anti-oxidant benefits. Its fine for Gaby to have a treat like this but it's important to limit the amount of chocolate you consume since it is still high in fat and calories.

Disclaimer – Elyse Sosin, Nutritionist, is not engaged in rendering medical advice that should be obtained from a qualified health professional. Acting on any information provided without consulting a healthcare provider is at the reader's own risk.