Next Post
Brown Sugar Peaches and Cream Grilled French Toast.
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
Here’s the thing about salad… and Mondays.
Yes, they are typical to put together, BUTÂ the way I do it is it a little different than the way some may do it.
Monday’s can be pretty rough (at least for me), so instead of a salad with boring lettuce and a dressing that lacks flavor, you know, the ones that make you wish it was Friday again and eating the cheesiest of pizzas. The way I do a salad is worthy of a Friday night meal…but still healthy!
Because in my opinion, that is the only way to do salad. And Monday.
Deliciously!!
This salad has some of my all time favorite flavors. Especially now that it is summer, Thai food just screams summer food to me.
I mean can we just look at the beautiful colors going on in this salad for a second? Gosh, I just love the colors. They make me smile.
So, there is kind of a lot going on here.
Let’s just start with the salad base. I was at the grocery store and they had this huge box of baby kale with an even huger (is that a word?) mark down sticker on it. Of course I had to go check it out. You guys, this baby kale was the cutest. Not a bad leaf in sight. Obviously, I snatched that box up before anyone else even knew it was there.
But then, when I got home, I didn’t know what to do with the baby kale. I thought “Oh NO! I have all this cute baby kale. What do I do with it?”.
From there I just decided to throw it in a big bowl and stare at it for a while. Then I went to the pantry, grabbed a handful of my all-time favorite Thai ingredients (my homemade sweet Thai chili sauce included – because I cannot get enough of it) and started mixing things. Then I knew I was going Thai all way with this one.
I had also bought some flank steak at the store, so that was going in too. Aside from the steak there had to be tons and tons of veggies. I can never get enough veggies and fruits – love them, but I bet you already knew that.
I also threw in some hard-boiled eggs because I had some in the fridge since my little sister Asher eats like six a day. NO JOKE. The little five-year old loves hard-boiled eggs. Honestly, she practically survives off them. We better hope those little chickens of ours can seriously crank out the eggs. We shall see soon…
Once I had all the veggies and kale in a bowl, I just looked at it. It seemed to be missing an element. Then I remembered the edamame in the freezer. YES. Just what the salad needed.
FYI, I recommend buying the shelled edamame. I think I spent thirty minutes of my day shelling edamame. So boring.
For the dressing I wanted to keep it simple and light, but still somewhat creamy. I went with a tahini based dressing because I never use tahini and wanted to do something a little different. So glad I did, this dressing is one of my most favorites. It is so good. If you are a dressing lover, I highly recommend doubling it. You are going to want it all for yourself.
As for the cashews? Well, I think every salad needs a good crunch factor and nuts are my go to. Especially cashews, they are my favorite. So to top it all off, I took my cashews and went and added some sesame oil, chili powder and lime to the mix. Pure perfection atop a salad if you ask me.
Wow, I am realizing I just talked your ear off about this salad. And on a Monday too! Ugh. So sorry, I am clearly very excited about this meal. It’s a new favorite and I know it may seem like it has a lot of ingredients, but I promise the recipe comes together so quickly. TRUST ME. You have to try this one.
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
I can guarantee it will spice up your Monday!
Looks fab! Just wondering as I didn’t see it in the ingredients-what kind of steak did you use?
Bone-in Rib-eye. Hope you love this!!
Super beautiful salad. And those cashews! What a fabulous out of hand snack, too!
Thanks Brenda!
I agree Thai food and summer are made for each other!
Right?!? You totally get it! 🙂
So how much flank steak ? 3/4 cup of each basil, cilantro and mint or 3/4 cup total?
Oh my, this looks SO GOOD. I’ve been slightly obsessed with tahini lately. I can go through a jar in a week using it in recipes, dressings, or just with a spoon straight from the jar. It’s going a little overboard, so I keep not letting myself by it anymore, but then I see delicious recipes like this… and a jar ends up in my home again.
Haha I am right there with you! 🙂
Thanks Jenna!
Hi Tieghan! Wow! What a beautiful salad. Mondays can be rough for me too, and this looks like a great way to make the day better.
Thank you!
your killing me here.. this looks divine! will be making this tonight for sure. thanks for another awesome recipe – i can never go past a good steak salad!
Thank you! Hope you love it!
These pictures are stunning Tieghan!
Thanks Laura!! 🙂
I love a good salad – especially when there’s steak in it!
Thanks Jessica!
This salad looks great, but the CASHEWS look AMAZING! I need to have several large handfuls of them right this minute! I will save some for the kale, though, I promise. 🙂
Haha! I know, the cashews are addicting! THanks! 🙂
I’m so wishing this salad was my dinner tonight because it looks likes the best. Love the chili-lime cashews – I could eat my weight in those!
Thanks Laura and yes, I with you on the cashews!
Do you think making this salad without the lemongrass would be just as good? My mother-in-law isn’t crazy about it but I think she would love everything else 🙂
Yes, it will be great! The lemon grass is just an added flavor, but only if you like. It’s no big deal!
Hope this goes over well! Thanks!
Tieghan, this salad looks amazing and so delicious!!! It screams healthy, summer and savory and I can’t wait to try it. Thanks for posting this!
Thank you so much! Hope you love it!
This is stunning, especially with all the colors. I too am often underwhelmed by lettuce based salads, especially on Mondays 🙂
I know what you mean. Thanks so much! Hope you had a great day!
What a beautiful salad! Love all the colors, texture and rustic look to it. Absolutely beautiful!
Thank you so much! Hope you had a great day!