White Wine Avocado Oil Vinaigrette Recipe

Move over coconut oil!

Avocado oil is here and I think it's pretty darn awesome.

Several months ago I noticed a new type of oil at Costco, avocado oil. It immediately peaked my interest because #1 - I love avocados, #2 - I love trying new foods and #3 - knowing the health benefits of avocados, I knew this oil had to be good for you too.

So I bought a bottle, took it home and started using it.

And it was great. I really like cooking with it.

Then I started doing some research about those assumed health benefits and I went from "really like" it to LOVE IT!!

So let's break it down on what avocado oil is all about and why I'm so enamored by it:

Production

Avocado oil is made from the flesh of the fruit, not the seed. It is cold pressed to release the oil and preserve all the nutrients.

Cooking

Avocado oil is an excellent cooking oil because it has a mild flavor and can cook at higher temperatures than olive oil. The  smoke point of avocado oil is 460-500 degrees F, compared to olive oil at 325-375 degrees F. That makes avocado oil a better choice for high temperature cooking.

Smoke point is the temperature at which an oil starts to smoke and ultimately, degrade. It is at this point that it changes color, flavor and nutritional value (it all goes south). Your basically burning the oil and it's better to just start over than to cook with it.

I have been very pleased with how avocado oil performs at high temperatures.

Health Benefits

Avocado oil is made up of heart healthy monounsaturated fat (76% of the total fat) known for reducing cholesterol and improving (helper) HDL cholesterol. It is also a concentrated source of phytoesterols, a plant compound with a slew of health benefits including antioxidant power and reducing inflammation.

Lutein, a type of carotenoid, is found in the oil as well and is known for promoting eye health by reducing the risk of macular degeneration.

But remember, and oil is an oil when it comes calories -- meaning that you still want to be mindful of the amount you are using. Be careful of "if a little is good a lot is better" mentality. That said, I don't fear fat AT ALL and tend to use a decent amount to help veggies taste delicious. Since enjoying healthy fat is a priority in my diet, other sources of fat (or high calories) move down my totem pole of importance and therefore frequency in my diet.

It's also important to note that when you enjoy avocado oil, you won't get the fiber benefit from eating the actual fruit. So there are good reasons to enjoy both the whole fruit and the oil in your diet.

Beauty Benefits

This might be my favorite feature of avocado oil. Apparently it's been used as a beauty product for a long time but I am just catching on. It's praised for its anti-wrinkle, healing and skin softening properties.  I couldn't find any real research to prove that it does amazing things for your skin, but I can share my personal testimony.

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Let me just back up a minute to say that I have a couple of peeves with the beauty industry.

1. I don't want weird stuff in my beauty products. Now I'm not all crazy about this as it's hard to change everything in your routine (much less afford more natural products -- more on that next). But I do try to find lotion and face products that have more natural ingredient lists. 
2. I get really mad that you have to spend A LOT OF MONEY to get products that work and are more natural. Seriously, I do not want to spend $50 for face cream or $15 for lotion. Not because I don't think it's worth it but because I want to be able to eat this week! Come on, man!

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I've read, and tried, using other oils on my skin before. But I've always HATED how greasy you feel afterwards. It's like it never really rubs in. Yuck! But due to the above peeves with beauty products, I wanted to see if avocado oil could help me out.

Reluctantly (seriously I waited about 2 months before trying this) I rubbed some on my skin one night after my shower....AND.... it actually absorbs in to my skin! Miracle. (Just keep rubbing it on for a couple of minutes and that should do the trick.)

I've noticed that my skin feels smoother and stay more moisturized that even the thickest body butters I've used. And perhaps best of all, this oil is pretty budget friendly. So I'm pretty hooked. We'll see if it's still a good option in to the hot Florida summer months.

{As a sneak peak of future posts, I've also started using avocado oil and olive oil to cleanse my face and I really like it. More on oil cleansing though another day.}

So I give avocado oil 2 very enthusiastic thumbs up for cooking and for your skin. Keep your eyes out for it at Costco, or of course, here on amazon!

How to Use Summary

• Keep a Misto oil sprayer full of avocado oil and use this to spray any pan for cooking.
• Use it in salad dressings like my White Wine Vinaigrette below.
• Use in baked goods.
• Use on your skin as a completely natural moisturizing oil.

And lastly, here's a new salad dressing to try out with avocado oil. You can use any oil you like but I like the mild flavor here because it helps the white wine vinegar really shine through.

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Recipe

Have you tried avocado oil before? Leave me a comment and let me know if you have and what you think. Will you try it now?

Jenna