Cajun Beef Southwestern Salad – Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner

I was contacted recently by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.  They have asked several bloggers to be part of “It’s What’s for Dinner Wednesday” challenge.  Each week in September NCBA will share a recipe on their facebook page and the bloggers will create the recipe at home  (or our version of it) and share it on our blogs.  You can also participate and enter to win a cool prize pack from the NCBA by visiting the facebook page.

The recipe this week is Cajun Southwestern Salad.  The original recipe can be found here.  I will say that I altered the recipe quite a bit.  I had a couple reasons for doing this.  First, I have a bunch of grape tomatoes that my sister-in-law gave me and I needed to use them.  Second, the original recipe called for figs and blood oranges.  I wasn’t at all sure I would be able to find those ingredients.  Besides, the closest I’ve ever gotten to a fig is in a Newton.  So, I’ve altered the recipe for the average, non-adventurous family.

Here’s what you’ll need for my version:

• Top loin beef steaks
• Creole or Cajun seasoning
• Baby spinach
• Grape tomatoes
• Almonds
• Red onion, sliced thin
• Gorgonzola cheese
• Garbanzo beans
• Ranch dressing

Sprinkle the steaks with the Creole or Cajun seasoning.  Grill them to the desired doneness.  Slice the meat thin.  I went ahead and cut the meat into bite-sized pieces.  That made it easier for the kids to eat and easier to eat in the salad.  You can toss the salad all together before serving or set it up like a salad bar and let people fix it how they want it, which is what I did.

I didn’t have any Ranch dressing on hand, but I remembered seeing a recipe on Pioneer Woman for Homemade Ranch Dressing.  It was quick and easy to make.  I used low-fat mayo and light sour cream.  I had some parsley growing in the garden, but had to use dried dill, which worked fine.  The result was really yummy.  A nice complement to the Gorgonzola cheese and Creole seasoning.