Sunburst Avocado Salad

INGREDIENTS
4 whole wheat tortillas (10-inch), warmed
1/2 pound chicken, cut into cubes
1/2 cup of my mom's vinaigrette dressing (see below)
1 1/2 tablespoons cocktail sauce
2 blood oranges (or 1 grapefruit), peeled and sectioned
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
1/8 cup chopped toasted pecans
1 bag (about 8 ounces) salad greens

DIRECTIONS
Heat the oven to 400°F. Line 4 (7-inch) oven-safe bowls with 1 tortilla each. Place the bowls onto a baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes or until the tortillas are golden brown and crisp. Let the tortillas cool in the bowls on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove the tortillas from the bowls and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Stir the chicken, half the dressing and the cocktail sauce in a medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Stir in the blood oranges, avocado and pecans.

Divide the greens among the tortillas. Top with the chicken mixture. Drizzle with the remaining dressing.

Mom's Vinaigrette
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange muscat champagne vinegar (tj's)
1 cup oil

Spicy Steak Salad

One of my favorite things to make almost weekly is a hearty, steak salad. You can really be creative and make this salad with everything you love and customize it to fit your families needs. Last week I made this steak salad with organic mixed greens, sliced cucumber, baby pearl tomatoes, red onion, marinated mushrooms, crumbled sheep feta and of course spicy tri-tip. We used a balsamic dressing from Trader Joe's but one of my absolute favorite stand by dressings is just sprinkling rice vinegar and sesame oil over the salad. It gives it a nice, subtle Asian kick. I wish I could remember who first introduced me to this easy dressing because I would probably kiss them. The way I like to marinate mushrooms is to heat up some olive oil in a pan and add the mushrooms in to cook for about 3 minutes. After the mushrooms soften, add some generous splashes of balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic powder or fresh minced garlic if you have it. Let the mushrooms continue to cook and simmer down. Go ahead, walk away and even forget about them for 15 minutes until the aroma in your house is undeniable. The come back in turn them off and add them warm with the juices into your salad. Your husband will thank you....at least mine did.