Lunch- Taco Salad or maybe not...

I am recipe challenged. I love to cook, and most people say I am a good cook, but I am completely recipe challenged. What I mean is, I almost NEVER follow a recipe exactly as written. One time, when I was first dairy free, I really wanted to make some ranch dressing for my husband. He grew up on Hidden Valley and couldn't stand oil and vinegar dressings (which I grew up on since my mom has never bought a bottle of dressing ever). I was determined to get him to enjoy salad without smothering it in Hidden Valley (BTW I have succeeded!) So, I went to the recipes I had for salad dressing and began looking for one that might fit the bill. I found one that was a tofu base so I got started. The recipe called for silk tofu. Well, I didn't have any, so I used firm... and from there I don't think I used a single ingredient that was found in that recipe! I either didn't have what was called for or didn't want to use it or found something better. Anyway, when I served it, my husband thought it was passable (he was still stuck on ranch and it didn't taste like Hidden Valley) and he asked me about the recipe. When I was done, he laughed and asked if I had used ANY of the original ingredients, when I confessed that the closest I had come was substituting firm tofu for silk tofu, he told me I only got partial credit for following that part of the recipe...

So what does this have to do with Taco Salad? I took several bits and pieces of several recipes I have tweaked and used and combined them into a yummy lunch.

First, I started with the Cumin Paprika Apple Lettuce Wraps from Raw Melissa's new cookbook Faves. It has all sorts of veggies. I then took what I have learned from Traci Sellers about how to make Almondaise as well as a modification to a sauce recipe found in her cookbook, and made a fabulous chili sauce to add to the salad... yum. Amounts are not scientific in the salad. If you have something else, use it and if you don't like one of my ingredients don't use it. I also didn't use the corn or peas this time but have before and they are yummy.

1 cucumber chopped
1-2 tomatoes chopped
1/2-1 red pepper chopped
1-2 green onions chopped
2 cups garbanzo beans (it is what I had but black beans would have been fabulous)
1 cup corn (frozen works)
1 cup frozen peas
1 avocado chopped
1 head romaine lettuce chopped

Mix the above together. Then scoop into bowls. Crumble a few corn tortilla chips (not the healthiest food in the world but a little won't hurt you) and spoon over chili taco sauce-

1/2 cup almondaise
1/4 cup water (or more or less depending on desired consistency)
1/8-1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp celtic sea salt or Real Salt
chili powder to taste (I used Penzey's Regular Chili powder and my son added more to his bowl since he likes things spicy and the Regular is pretty mild)
Mix well.