For this post, I truly went away from my comfort zone.  I would say most times, when I create a recipe I come up with a general concept or ingredient and start brainstorming ideas and I then do quite a bit of research to get inspiration and to further develop and fine tune that idea. In the end, I put quite a bit of planning and thought behind my recipes.  This was a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of recipe.  As in, I was piecing it together in the grocery store….. Not always a good idea.  I am pretty proud of the result, though I plan on re-visiting this recipe to fine-tune it.  I ended up purchasing smoked salmon (Lox) and, to be quite honest, it was a little too “smokey”.  I think next time I will try cured salmon or even a sushi grade salmon for a more pure salmon flavor.  What I like about this recipe is the variety it provides, the different ways you can combine the different components.  The acid in the lemon vinaigrette, the salt of the salmon and the sweet, creaminess of the avocado, cream cheese and/or beets.  It is really a recipe you can have fun with and I hope you do!

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