Steak Salad with Amish Horseradish Cheese

I spent a very enjoyable day in Shipshewana yesterday, which is a large Amish community about 40 miles easts of South Bend, IN.  In the town of Shipshewana there are many quaint little shops showcasing lovely lace linens and tablecloths, homemade jams and jellies, more fresh bakery items than you can imagine and beautifully handcrafted furniture.  Personally, however, I am not generally a fan of Amish food as I find it to be over processed, without much flavor, high in fat and unhealthy, overall.  For example, I was lured into purchasing a fried hand pie from the local grocery store when I asked if the pies were made on site, she replied that a little Amish lady made them in her kitchen every morning.  Under normal circumstances, it does not take any convincing for me to purchase any pie at any time, but at the end of a 10 hour shopping marathon the thought of a little lady rolling out pie crust and filling it with fresh fruit from the garden was even more irresistable that usual.  As I sat down last night to enjoy my black raspberry hand pie with a freshly steeped cup of tea, I was disappointed, though not surprised, to find that the pie did not contain even one piece of fruit!  For that matter, I don't think it contained anything natural at all. The strangely maroon colored filling looked like the goo used for some sort of special effect in a horror movie. It was way too sweet and I am certain it was from a processed bag of "pie filling" filled with artificial colors and flavors.  Very disheartening, indeed!  Anyway, back to the topic on hand, one food item I really do enjoy is Amish cheese.  Certain places allow you to watch to the cheese being made, which is fun, and plenty of samples are available as well.  The cheese are incredibly creamy and delicious.  One of the cheeses I purchased was a Horseradish Cheese which is a cheddar infused with horseradish.  The perfect accompaniment to the steak salad I enjoyed last night.   

I thinly sliced some of the steak which was left over from Friday night's dinner and placed it in a large mixing bowl with freshly rinsed and chopped romaine lettuce.  The bowl, I also added, shredded carrots, sliced sweet onion, plump raisins and a fresh shaving of the delicious horseradish cheese.  I dressed the salad with a fantastic homemade French dressing.  Please visit my dinner entry dated March 17, for the recipe.  I added the salad dressing sparingly so as not to over dress and tossed all of the ingredients together well.  Serve on a chilled plate and it is a delicious and healthy way to use left over steak, or chicken.