It feels a bit weird to be posting this recipe after being a plant-based blog for so many years. I know I haven’t talked much on here about incorporating meat back into what I eat, but this is what most dinners look like for Greg and I these days. Animal protein, lots of veggies, all whole foods and little to no grains. This exact meal is so, so good, but is also very easily modified. Let’s talk about it:
Greens:
Use any type of salad greens here that you’d like: spinach, mixed greens, any type of lettuce, kale, arugula, etc. Anything would be good!
Toppings:
For this version we used: cucumber, thinly sliced red onion and sunflower seeds. I don’t usually like raw red onion, but when sliced thin enough, it adds amazing flavor to this salad. For the sunflower seeds – I like to have something with a crunch on my salads. You could also use any kind of nut here. We used cucumber because we have a ton of garden cucumbers right now, but any other veggie addition would be wonderful in this. I highly recommend avocado – we just didn’t have any the night we took photos of this.
Dressing:
Homemade dressing is the way to go! This is a super basic, super easy to make homemade honey Dijon dressing. You just add a few ingredients to a jar, and shake it all together. It is so, so good and so much better than store bought.
Protein:
You could really use any protein on this salad that you’d like, but the combination that we used – hard boiled eggs and steak is so, so good. I used two small flat iron steaks, seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked for a few minutes on each side, until they reached 140 degrees. I let them rest 10 minutes before slicing and they were just right.
Assembly:
This makes a big difference to me when it comes to salads – rather than topping all the salad ingredients with dressing, I like to add most of my salad ingredients into a big bowl, then toss well with the dressing so that everything is coated in dressing. For this salad, I tossed the spinach, red onion, cucumber and sunflower seeds with the dressing and then topped each serving with the steak and eggs.
I’m going to type up more of a recipe below, but for me, the key to salads is just having a variety of ingredients and textures, with everything tossed together with a homemade dressing. Meals like this taste amazing and make me feel amazing, so I hope that this inspires you to make something like this, too.
Summer Steak and Egg Salad with Honey Dijon Dressing
Ingredients
- Greens (could be spinach, kale, lettuce, etc.)
- Cucumber
- Red onion
- 1/3 cup Sunflower seeds
- Hard boiled eggs
- 2 flat iron steaks
For the dressing:
- 1/4 cup avocado oil (or other mild-flavored oil)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
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Prep your vegetables: slice cucumber and thinly slice red onion.
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Make the salad dressing: combine all ingredients in a jar and shake well until combined.
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For the steak: Let steaks come to room temperature. Season each side well with salt and pepper. Cook over medium high heat, about 3-4 minutes each side, until internal temperature reads 140 degrees. Remove from heat, let rest 10 minutes. Slice for salad.
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To assemble the salad: In a bowl, toss together greens, cucumber, red onion, sunflower seeds and dressing. Place on plates and top with hard boiled eggs and steak.