Photo: Thinkstock

Here's how pretty much every dinner starts in my house: Chop garlic. Chop onion. Sauté in olive oil. From there, dinner could go in a hundred directions, but the simple step of heating up olive oil in a frying pan nearly always comes first. Recently, I stumbled upon three very good reasons to give olive oil a time-out:

Avocado Oil: With a mild avocado flavor, this brilliant, emerald green oil can be used the same way you use extra-virgin olive oil: In salad dressing, drizzled on a finished dish, or in stir-frying, frying, sautéing or baking. It's nutty and thick, so a little goes a long way.

Roasted Almond Oil: This healthy oil adds a rich almond taste to salad dressing, pasta, grilled meat or fish, or baked pastries. It's a good substitute for olive oil in situations where walnut oil and hazelnut oil are just too powerful.

Apricot Kernel Oil: Thanks to the subtle fruity flavor in this oil—which is pressed from the dried kernels of the apricot tree—it's delicious in sweet baked goods, from fruit cobblers to biscuits. But it's suitable for frying or sautéing, too, and can even be used to add an aromatic element to homemade mayonnaise.