Did I ever tell you about the time I gave up red meat? I was actually super strict about it for a couple of years. When I first started losing weight, it was one of those easy swaps that was easy to make, and for the most part, I still stick to lean poultry and fish, but I’m not so sure red meat deserves the bad rep it seems to get.

I had never even eaten skirt steak (to my knowledge), but we went out a couple of weeks ago for my step-dad’s birthday, and I ordered this salad with skirt steak and avocado. It had other things, but I can’t even tell you what they were. For me, it was all about the skirt steak and avocado.

It was so bold and flavorful that I immediately became obsessed with the idea of recreating my own at home. I’d also been dying to try a fruit salsa. A lot of people make them with strawberries, but I hate strawberries almost as much as I hate pineapple. I know, I’m so weird about the fruits I hate.

Anyway, I have a pretty serious blackberry obsession. Specifically blackberry jam on wheat toast with an egg white omelet whenever I go out to breakfast. Something about that perfect combination…I crave it. As soon as I sit down, I check to see if blackberry is in that little stack of jams. I’ve also recently put it in pancakes, muffins, and now….salsa. Weird, right?

If by weird you mean DELICIOUS, then yes. It’s totally weird. This is one of those instances where the flavors just magically work together. You can’t really explain it, it just works.

It was really easy to make. The longest part is marinating the steaks, but you just need to do it. You can totally do it in the morning before work, or even begin the night before, but the steak and the marinade need to become BFFs for at least an hour, preferably more. Give them time to fall deeply in love, which if you saw Les Mis, you will know it can happen unconvincingly after about 90 minutes of far more interesting exposition.

So, moral of the story: marinate your meat. Longer is better. In the end, the star is going to be the blackberry avocado salsa anyway. It’s sweet, citrusy, spicy and creamy from the avocado. It’s pretty much the thing dreams are made of.