Ingredient of the Month — Avocado
Savory & sweet (yes, sweet!) recipes
Special announcement! I will be teaching a cooking class and discussion at the Sonoma Community Center on February 21st from 10 am-12 pm. Please join me and spread the word!
This week wrapped up the first Insight into Health Series of 2026 at Vintage House Sonoma, where the theme was Longevity & Healthspan.
We started by exploring what longevity means for you, and then had a “book club” discussion (I did the reading for you!) where I shared my big takeaways from Outlive by Peter Attia, MD.
This week, I demo’d two recipes incorporating the ingredient of the month — avocado — while answering questions and sharing some of my favorite recipe books and websites.
(Full disclosure here, I have done a ton of food demos for friends and family and cooking classes for kids, but this was my first EVER for an adult class!).
Serendipitously, one of my favorite podcasts about food history and science, Gastropod, published an episode this week all about avocados. I learned that the average American eats 70 pounds of avocado each year, 12% of which is consumed on Superbowl Sunday! Take a listen.
While avocados are best known in savory dishes, I took a risk and demo’d a use for them that’s both savory and sweet — chocolate avocado pudding.
If you attended any of the Vintage House Sonoma Insight into Health classes this month, please send your feedback to: allison.mckeanyrd@gmail.com. I’m always looking for ways to improve my classes and would love to hear from you.
I look forward to kicking off the next Insight into Health series at Vintage House Sonoma on February 12th, with the theme Matters of the Heart — a month dedicated to understanding heart health. Register for each class below:
February 12 — Lecture: Understanding Heart Health & Risk
February 19 — Book Club Discussion: Highlights from Brené Brown’s “Atlas of the Heart”
February 26 — Cooking Demo & Taste Test: Heart-Smart Eating
Thank you for being here,
~Allison