Italian Steak and Bread Salad (Woman's Day Monthly Menu)

Today is the first day of Woman's Day Month, where I am following the posted monthly menu in Woman's Day magazine. I want to see if planning a whole month of cooking really is more convenient, and if it saves money. Too read more, see here.

Today's recipe is for Italian Steak and Bread Salad with a side of grilled corn on the cob.


Italian Steak and Bread Salad
http://www.womansday.com/Recipes/Italian-Steak-and-Bread-Salad

* Active Time: 7 minutes
* Total Time: 15 minutes


Recipe Ingredients
o 12-oz 3⁄4-in.-thick sirloin steak
o 1⁄2 a 1-lb loaf French bread, split
o Garlic-flavor cooking spray <-- replaced this with minced garlic
o 1⁄2 tsp salt
o 1⁄2 tsp pepper
o 2 cups ripe tomato chunks
o 2 bags (6 oz each) baby spinach trio (baby spinach, arugula and carrots), or baby spinach
o 1⁄2 cup sliced onion
o 1⁄2 cup crumbled blue cheese - I left this out, I don't like blue cheese
o 1⁄2 cup olive oil (I just used this to saute the onions)


Recipe Preparation

1. Heat outdoor grill or stovetop ridged grill pan. Coat steak and cut surfaces of bread with garlic spray; sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2. Grill steak, turning once, 6 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted from side to middle registers 155°F. Remove to a cutting board, cover loosely with foil and let rest. (Temperature of steak will continue to rise to 160°F for medium doneness.)

3. Meanwhile, grill bread, cut sides down, 2 minutes, or until lightly toasted.

4. Cut bread in chunks; thinly slice steak. Combine in a bowl with remaining ingredients; toss to mix.

My Experience:
The Process-
Well I learned 5 minutes before I was about to start grilling that the barbecue was out of propane so I couldn't use it.  This was disappointing but I decided to just cook the steak on the George Foreman grill and boil the corn instead of grilling it.
Also, the Italian bread I used was a bake it yourself type thing and came out really hard on the outside and soft on the inside.  Since i don't like hard bread, I decided it was not suitable to put in the salad so I served it on the side instead.
The entire cooking process took me a little under 30 minutes, unlike the noted 15 minutes stated in the recipe.  This probably had to do with the fact that I was using frozen spinach I had to boil, and that I decided to saute the oinions.

Also, the corn I had got awhile ago, had shriveled up and did not taste very good, so i was a little bummed about that.  I guess i should have bought more at the grocery store yesterday but I thought the other corn was still good.

One nice bonus however, was that the husband came home early from work so he helped me cut up the steak and pick the tomatoes from the garden.  He could tell I was not in a super great mood today and his help made a world of difference, and now I feel much better.

The Result-

Despite the hard bread and shriveled corn, it was a really good meal!  I was a little apprehensive about cutting up such a nice looking steak and mixing it into a messy salad but the salad was really delicious!  I used spinach and arugula combined instead of the trio mix suggested in the recipe.  It felt so rewarding to have a dinner with fresh greens and tomatoes and onions and that I made it on my own (with a little help from the husband).  I'm actually glad that I left out the bread because I think the salad tasted better that way.  I don't like croutons on my salad, and the thought of the bread getting soggy in it and ruining the fresh tastes and crunchiness of other things makes me go "bleh".

So I give the recipe itself 3 stars because I don't think it would be as good if it had been prepared exactly as stated, but today's dinner 4 stars!  If you take the bread out of the salad I'm sure it will be great for you, too!

The husband also thought the meal was really, very good, and it's rare to get such a descriptive compliment on a meal from him so I think he enjoyed it as well.  Although, I'm pretty sure when steak is involved it would be incredibly difficult to displease the man.