grilled flank steak salad with cilantro lime dressing

My bride-to-be diet involves a lot of salads. It's about 9 months until my wedding and I have been avoiding dress shopping like the plague. But I'm a few pounds  lighter now and made an appointment at a bridal boutique in 4 weeks. Yikes! Where is Jillian Michaels when I need her?

I've mostly been working on cutting back the sugar (this is difficult for me) and just doing what I can to make better, healthier choices. Nothing crazy.

By the way, please never take diet advice from people. One time someone told me, "You should do the hummus diet. I ate nothing but hummus for 2 weeks and lost so much weight!"

Umm... yea. Just listen to your body. I know it's not telling you to only eat hummus for 2 weeks.

My body is tired from the exercise I've been doing (or trying to), so it's been craving vegetables and protein. This salad fills the craving, plus it's so flavorful you won't even miss the pasta.

I took a flank steak, punctured both sides with a fork to tenderize it, and then let it soak for an hour in lime juice, honey, vinegar and lots of garlic. It was so fresh, bright and full of flavor.

I served the yummy, juicy steak over a salad tossed in a homemade dressing. I combined lime juice, honey, dijon mustard, olive oil and tons of fresh cilantro. It's so great served with this steak, they compliment each other well since the ingredients are similar. The fresh lime flavor really stands out in this dressing, which tastes slightly sweet.

Last week, Michael and I played tennis for the first time this year. We love playing tennis together and it's a great way to get exercise. Please don't judge us. I swear we aren't country club going, sweater-over-the-shoulder wearing, pretentious folk. It's more like a Serena Williams thing. You understand.

So playing tennis that day revealed to both of us how incredibly out of shape we are. I am 23 and Michael is 29... but we felt 90 years old after 30 minutes of hitting a tennis ball back and forth.

You might be seeing some more healthy stuff on this blog for awhile... but I can't resist the sweet stuff sometimes. A girl's gotta indulge herself from time to time. I think I will be making a lot of these.

I hope you enjoy this salad!

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Grilled Flank Steak Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing

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For the salad:
1 1/2 pound flank steak
Lettuce greens
Tomatoes

For the marinade:
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lime, juice and zest
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup water
Salt and pepper

For the salad dressing:
juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a small bowl, whisk together. Take the flank steak out of wrapping and puncture both sides with a fork repeatedly to tenderize. Place steak in a gallon baggy and pour marinade over it. Shake it around until the steak is coated with marinade, and put it in the fridge for 40 minutes to an hour, but no longer.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. When the steak is ready to cook, place it in a screaming hot oven-safe skillet over high heat coated with oil to sear. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side until a crust forms. Place skillet in the oven at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes, or until the internal temperature reads 145 to 150 degrees.

Let the steak sit after cooking to let the juices redistribute. While the steak is resting, combine all the salad dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together. Make salad out of lettuce greens and tomatoes. Pour dressing over salad, to taste.

Cut the flank steak on a slight angle into thin slices. Place steak slices over salad to serve.

Serves: 4