Grapefruit, Orange and Avocado Salad: Lighten up!

For JY, loyal blog reader who sent me a beautiful salad bowl (the one you see to your left)

I've been taking things far too seriously. Everything seems to stress me out as I worry about the craziest things - the state of education, nutrition in schools, for whom will I vote for in 2012, and how much more toilet paper do we have left before I have to buy more? My kids have also started coming into their own, which is just a fancy way of saying that they aren't listening to me anymore. Each morning I mentally prepare myself to do battle with three kids and their wills pitted against mine - and it just stopped being fun.

So I'm lightening up. One of my New Year's Resolutions that I shared with at my small group was, "I will be nicer to my kids." Yes - I know you must all think that I am incredibly NICE to my kids, all the time, making them this delicious food - but I do a fair bit of yelling when I don't get my way. And since I am not getting my way a lot - I'm yelling a lot. But not anymore - I'm trying to get things in balance, keep my perspective (the three of them combined STILL don't weigh more than I do - so I how can I let them upset me so much?) and trying to laugh more. And it's working. I just remind myself that they are still young, still boisterous, and still just having fun.

This salad helps me do that, because as I make the salad, I have three kids who are grabbing my arms trying to get the bits of grapefruit and orange as I put them into the bowl. I need really only one orange and one grapefruit to make it perfectly, but as my kids grab the supremes of grapefruit and orange, I usually end up needing two of each. And it's an act of patience that stops me from yelling, and an act of grace from above that helps me to laugh while my kids are making me nuts.

The only difficult thing about doing this salad is cutting supremes. If you've never done it, here is a video from my favorite hunky Asian chef, Ming Tsai. He does a bit more than the actual supreme, making a salsa, but you can watch the first portion of the video and you'll know how to do it.

This is a great salad to go with any pasta dish.

Grapefruit, Orange, Avocado Salad
Serves 4

1 8 oz bag of spring mix lettuce
1 ripe avocado, cut into slices
1 ruby red grapefruit
1 orange
Half a red onion sliced, very thinly
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

In a salad bowl, put in the spring mix lettuce. On top, add your avocado slices and thin slices of red onion. Prepare both the grapefruit and orange to cut into supremes, by peeling away the peel and the pith. OVER the salad bowl, cut the supremes and and let them fall into the bowl. When you have the "guts" of the fruit left, squeeze the juice into a bowl. (this will become your dressing.) In the bowl with the squeezed grapefruit and orange juice, add 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar and 1/4 cup olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle dressing over salad and serve.

Printable recipe

Isn't it such a beautiful bowl?