What a delicious dinner....it doesn't get much better (or easier) than this! Balsamic Marinated Chicken, Gorgonzola, Grape and Sweet Pecan Salad.

I can hardly call this a recipe, it is more like an ensemble cast of ingredients with a few helpful pointers, but here goes anyway...
First marinate the chicken in your favorite Balsamic Dressing. I do like the Newman's Own variety. You can Marinate it for just 10 minutes to overnight. It is really fine either way. Once the chicken has marinated you can grill it or pan fry it. While it cooks throw some chopped pecans in a frying pan (preferably not your nicest frying pan - the nuts really eat away at the non-stick coating) and toast for a minute or two over medium heat. Stir constantly. Dump in just a bit of brown sugar and heat for a minute more. Add the tiniest bit of water - to get the sugar to adhere to the nuts. Stir over heat for just 30 - 45 seconds. Turn the heat off and wait for them to cool. (These are wonderful on salads, or for snacking!) Now you just need to assemble your salad - greens, crumbled Gorgonzola, grapes, chicken and pecans. I recommend drizzling it with a little more of the balsamic dressing....but a number of salad dressings would be nice...mostly those on the sweet side.

"Dave's" Salad

I like to call this Dave's salad because he is the first one to make it for me, but I know it is not uniquely his. It is in fact a very traditional Argentinean salad and it is scrumptious! The tomatoes and avocados are sliced so thick that it gives them an almost "meaty" and very satisfying quality.
This recipe could feed two as a side dish - or as I do it - one with crusty bread for lunch.

1 perfectly ripe avocado
1 large, ripe, but firm, tomato
chopped parsley (approx 2 T.)
finely sliced red onion (approx 2 T.)
fresh lime juice
salt & pepper
olive oil

Slice the tomato and avocado into wedges and place in a bowl. Squeeze with approx half the juice of a small lime. Drizzle with olive oil. Throw in the chopped parsley and red onion. Toss together, let it sit a few minutes to soak in the flavor, then sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. The avocado, if perfectly ripe, will lend itself a bit to the olive oil and coat the tomatoes. It is lovely.