Back on St. Patrick's Day, I steered you away from "green" foods and into some of the more traditional dishes. Well, for our Cinco de Mayo fiesta, it's all about the green, kids.

I'm talking avocados, of course -- smooth, delicious and just green enough to make Kermit jealous. A lot of you who don't live in the Southwest may have difficulty finding good-quality avocados, or finding them at all, but help is at hand!

Thanks to modern shipping methods, avocados are available just about everywhere, in every grocery store. However, unless you live in the Southwest or California, the ones you find will probably not have reached their peak of tender ripeness.

TIP: For faster ripening, put the avocados in a bag with a banana or two. The bananas release a gas from their skins that makes the avocados ripen faster. Ain't Mother Nature great?

And once your avocados are ripe, the possibilities are endless. Of course, you'll want to get the yummy green flesh freed from its pebbly black prison, and I wouldn't leave you to your own devices on that. Madness and disorder would result.

WARNING: This method DOES require a sure hand with a large chef's knife. You can also make the first part of the operation happen with a smaller blade, if you're more comfortable with that.

Set the avocado on your cutting board and hold it narrow end up with one hand. With your chef's knife, carefully slice straight down until you come up against the pit. Rotate the avocado against the knife blade until you make a cut completely around the pit.

Grasp each half in one hand and twist them with a smooth, quick snap in opposite directions. A gentle pull and you'll have two avocado halves, one with a pit inside. With a short, sharp swing, lodge your knife in the pit. A well-sharpened blade will sink in about ¼ inch. Turn the pit and avocado in opposite directions and work the pit out.

Now you have two perfect avocado halves ready to be peeled and sliced! I generally make my slicing incisions into the flesh of the avocado, then pop the skin inside-out to release them.

There are also avocado-cutting gadgets out there for those who either don't like trying to hand-cut even wedges or tend to do a lot of them at once. My pal Annie, at TexMexToGo.com, has a great one as part of her new "Gadget Party" collection of wicked good silicone kitchen gadgets. The double-ended spatula will come in handy for putting your salsas together, too.

So, now you've got all that green, creamy deliciousness ready to put to good use. You could always grab a fork (and, for me, some kosher salt) and wade in, but it'd be a shame not to put the avocados through their culinary paces. Here are a couple of recipes that will have the guests at your Cinco de Mayo gathering jockeying for space at the food table.

Roasted Corn Guacamole

You'll probably already have the grill hot for the fiesta. Put those coals to good use!

Ingredients

3 ripe HASS Avocados
½ - 1 red onion
1 jalapeño pepper
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp mayonnaise (Optional)
pepper to taste
4 ears of corn
1 clove garlic
½ lime
1-2 tsp hot sauce (Scott's note: Frank's Red Hot Lime and Chili sauce is awesome in this)
1/8 tsp chili powder
onion salt to taste

Pull back corn husks and remove silk threads, cover corn back up with the corn husks. Place on grill and rotate as ears start to roast, approx 5 minutes a side. Once kernels are tender and golden brown, peel back leaves and cut off corn. Set aside.

Dice red onion. Remove white veins and seed jalapeño and mince. Mince garlic clove. Cut and mash avocados. Add onion, jalapeno, garlic, and corn to mashed avocados. Mix in the remaining ingredients. Season to taste with chili powder, onion salt and pepper. Let stand for 10 minutes so flavors can combine. Serve with chips.

And, if you're feeling adventurous, give this a try. I know you're going to scratch your heads and say "Avocado ice cream? He's been hitting the Margaritas too hard."

Trust me. This stuff is GOOD. It's rich and smooth, and you won't be able to stop eating it.

Avocado Ice Cream

1 large ripe avocado
2 tablespoons orange or lime juice
2 eggs, separated
¼ cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream

Peel and roughly chop the avocado. In a blender, combine the avocado, orange juice, and egg yolks, and blend to a fine puree.

In a medium size bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff and whisk in the sugar, 1 teaspoon at a time.

In a separate bowl whip the heavy cream until it forms peaks. Gently fold in the egg white mixture and the avocado puree into the whipped cream. Pour the mixture into a freezer tray, cover, and freeze for several hours.

To serve, scoop out into a dish and garnish with fruit or mint leaves.

For great Cinco de Mayo drink recipes, head over to Lisa Morrison's Liquid Solutions column. And for everything you ever wanted to know about the holiday, including even more great recipes, try our Cinco de Mayo Special Section!

Got a question? Comment? Topic you'd like to see covered? Large bag of leftover cash? Drop me a line, anytime!