I've said it before and I'll say it again...

Food bloggers have the best recipes.

I stole this one from one of the best.  I made a few modifications to suit our tastes, but that's fair, right?  

It starts with one of my favorite things....flank steak.  I think flank steak is treated like the poor, ugly step-sister of the steak family, but I L.O.V.E. it.  So much flavor and so easy.  I make one every couple of weeks for Charlotte and I and it will feed us for at least two or three meals.  So when I saw this recipe for a Chili-Lime Steak Salad utilizing flank steak over at Our Best Bites, I was all over it.  Sounded like a perfect Sunday afternoon lunch for Mr. B and I.

It called for a super easy spice rub for the steak and a really tasty cilantro-lime creamy dressing for the salad.  

Like I said, I made a few modifications to the spice rub....just to kick the heat up on it a little.  We like things spicy around here.   Click on the above link for the original recipe.

Here's mine:

1 tablespoon ancho chili powder

1 tablespoon pimenton (smoked paprika)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground corriander

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

juice of one lime

1 tablespoon olive oil

Mix this all together with a fork and rub all over the meat.  Let sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes.  Grill according to your taste.  I like mine medium rare so it takes about 4-5 minutes per side.

Remove from the grill and let rest for 5-10 minutes and slice thinly against the grain.

Then assemble your salad. Here's the recipe from Our Best Bites:

1 recipe Creamy Lime-Cilantro Dressing
1 large head romaine lettuce
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half
1 red onion, sliced thin (I didn't have a red onion in the house, so I skipped this)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed in cold water
1-2 avocados, sliced (the only avacados at Publix would not have been ripe until sometime next week, so I eliminated those this time. Will definitely put in the next time.)
cilantro for garnish
optional: fried tortilla strips

You know how to make a salad, right?? Start with a nice bed of cold, crunchy lettuce, top with tomatoes (cut in half), sliced onion, black beans, avocado and smother it in the best dressing ever. Sprinkle on some cilantro and fried tortilla strips if you're in the mood (in the mood for tortilla strips, not for, well...ya know) Oh ya, and don't forget the steak like I just did while writing this. It's kind of important. I like it warm, but you can use leftovers and have it chilled too. Yummy yummy.

Creamy Lime-Cilantro Dressing

1 pack (1oz) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix (regular or buttermilk)
ignore directions on the packet
1C mayo (I used low-fat)
1/2 C milk (or buttermilk depending on which packet you buy)
1 lime
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 C roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 C green salsa (I used a small can of salsa-verde...that's the same thing, right?)
hot sauce

This is tough folks. Place milk, mayo, and ranch mix in a blender. Juice the lime in there too, you should get about 2T juice. Toss in the garlic, cilantro and green salsa. Blend 'er up. Sample it and add hot sauce to taste. Make it several hours ahead of time to allow it to thicken.

This was a huge hit with Mr. B.  Thanks, again, to the ladies at Our Best Bites.