Beef. It's What's For Dinner Wednesdays. (Southwestern Steak Salad)

I was recently asked if I would like to join a group of fabulous food bloggers (read to the end for their links to see what they came up with for this week) who would be helping promote the Beef. It's What's for Dinner Wednesdays Challenge. Each week, we will receive a recipe to follow or use as inspiration for dinner. This week's recipe was Cajun Beef Southwestern Salad.

This challenge is open to anyone who is inspired to join in! Head over to their Facebook fan page (HERE) for more details. After you submit your take on each week's recipe you could win one of 5 Beef Grilling Gift Bags each week! The gift bags include The Healthy Beef Cookbook, a set of Crate & Barrel Grilling Tools, Sur La Table mini steak thermometers, a reusable shopping bag and other items to help you shop for and cook healthy beef meals. Be sure to check out the full details on how to submit on their Facebook Fan Page!

So, I got the first recipe just 2 days ago and had already done my shopping for the week. As luck would have it, we had some leftover London broil from the weekend. My seasoning was a bit mild in comparison since I had served it to friends and wasn't sure if they would like spice.

To make my steak salad more Southwestern, I decided to use what was in my refrigerator for inspiration. This is what I had for dinner tonight:

From Family, Friends and Food

For starters, I used Romaine lettuce and fresh corn. The steak would be perfect with a Gorgonzola or other bleu cheese as suggested in the original recipe, but I was all out so I used a combination of shredded cheddar and Monterrey Jack cheeses. For the dressing, I combined a tablespoon each of guacamole and medium salsa with 2 tablespoons of Ranch dressing. For a bit of crunch, I added some slivered almonds.

This was a fantastic weeknight salad! A bonus was that I was able to use leftovers from another meal to come up with something filling and tasty. Next week's recipe has already been posted and I'm really looking forward to trying it: East Meets West Burgers! YUM!

Be sure to visit the other bloggers who have accepted the challenge:

Kristen – Dine and Dish
Aggie – Aggie’s KitchenAmy – Dinner’s for a Year and Beyond
Tiffany – Eat at Home
Andy – Dinner’s On Me
Kate – Cooking During Stolen Moments
Oh, and don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY! Go leave a comment on THIS post for a chance to win!