Giada's California Lettuce Cups

Recently, I watched an episode of Giada at Home, and it was all about California cuisine. I believe this episode was called California Dream. Sometimes, I dream about how much I would enjoy living in California...especially southern Cali. But, I remind myself how expensive it is, the earthquakes, the fires, the population, and I immediately come back down to earth. Sigh. I will just have to admire it from afar. And, enjoy recipes like this one that Giada invented. I have to say as soon as I saw her make this I knew I wanted to try it. It fits in perfectly with the sugar detox that I'm trying (4 more days people)! I saw one review posted where they gave this recipe 1 star, because they thought it was too sour. I don't know. Maybe this person got a sour grapefruit, and if so I can see how that would be true. But, I thought it tasted delicious. I love the heat the pepper gives as well as the crunch from the almonds. For me, this was fabulous. Plus, my pink grapefruit was on the sweeter side so it worked great. I will say this is a messy dish. The juice from the dressing easily seeps out from the lettuce cup, so be sure you have plenty of napkins handy. But, overall this was a hit, and I've made it two other times since! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup lime juice (from about 4 small or 2 large limes)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 red grapefruits
2 avocados
1/2 cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped
1 serrano chile, roughly chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
1 head Boston or butter lettuce, leaves separated, washed and dried

First, take out your grapefruits and make sure you segment them and place in your bowl. I watched this video to learn how to do it, but I'm still not great at it. Anyway, just go with it and be sure to squeeze out the juice from the segmented grapefruit into your bowl before tossing in the trash (or compost). Next, add your diced avocados to the bowl. Then, add the almonds, chile pepper, and cilantro. Take out a small bowl and combine the lime juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Pour this into the bowl with the grapefruit. Toss gently. Spoon the mixture into the separated lettuce leaves, and enjoy!