* Sunshine Salad *

Today I felt like living vicariously through my dinner. This Saturday in Ottawa has been nothing been dark clouds, rain and all-around gloom that I'm not even sure a care-bear stare could break though, but at least dinner is nice and cheery :) Okay, so the name's a little cheesy, I know... but look at how beautiful it is! This is a fun and simple meal to make. If anything, I am happy for yet another outlet for my oodles and oodles of tomatoes. It's hard to tell in the picture, but there's sliced avocado under all of that mess. I took a picture of my husband with an avocado mustache and am debating if I should post it on the blog. Giles' have fun at dinner, what can we say? While I have your ear, I`d like to put a word in about avocado safety. How dangerous can that cute little green vegetable be you may ask? Well, let me tell you. While I was an OT student at a Hand & Upper Limb clinic here in Ottawa, avocado was the only full hand piercing vegetable-related injury I saw over my 6 week rotation. And not only did I see it once, or twice, but THREE times. You'd be surprised at the number of people who use a ridiculously smart knife to try to pry the avocado pit open and end up stabbing themselves through the hand. So, beware. Cut and pit smartly. 


I thought that I'd mention as well that oddly enough, I noticed that I'm posting 2 "toasted nut" variety dishes in a row. Once again, you really shouldn't skip the step of toasting the almonds in this salad. It makes a huge difference in their taste and texture. To make it easy, I just throw in a handful of them into the same pan as the chicken when the later is cooked through. I'm not a huge fan of salad dressing, but you can top this salad off when your favourite. I'm thinking a fruity raspberry or poppyseed might be nice. Bon appétit! 


Ingredients:
Really... this is quite `loose`, you can add anything you want, but, to be specific..


- green leaf lettuce
- cherry tomatoes 
- orange, sliced and peeled
- toasted almonds
- avocado, halved and then sliced thinly
- mango, sliced 
- chicken, diced and pan-fried
- 1 greek-style pita 


Directions:
1. Prepare your chicken by cubing it and then pan frying it with a small amount of olive oil.
2. Prepare your salad fixings... arrange on the middle of the plate
3. Lightly brush both sides of your pita with olive oil. Toast it in your toaster oven or broil it in the oven. Slice in to triangles and arrange around the edge of your dish.
4. When chicken is cooked,  add almonds to frying pan and toast for about 3-5 minutes on medium heat. 
5. Top the salad with the cooked chicken and almonds. Enjoy!


Teehee... here's the picture of Jeremy's avocado mustache .... Shhhhh. Don't tell :)