Meal templates can help you quickly and easily put together meals that are not only delicious but fast and easy to make. Discover how you can create a delicious, filling entree salad WITHOUT ever needing a recipe again!
What is a meal template?
A template is a pattern that can be followed again and again. You know what the end result will be because you’ve made the item before and know that if you follow the template that it will turn out well again.
Stop and think about pizza.
You know the meal template for a pizza….. take your crust, top it with some sauce, add various topping, sprinkle on cheese and bake. It’s done the same way over and over again. So why doesn’t every pizza taste the same? Because they have varied the ingredients in the template. But the template is still the same over and over again.
How can a meal template help you?
Do you feel frustrated because you are trying to follow a recipe exactly but don’t like some of the ingredients or don’t have some of the ingredient’s available?
Knowing the meal template will help to ease those frustrations because you will quickly know how to replace missing ingredients or ingredients you don’t like with something you have available.
Think you will fail in making something delicious because you feel you don’t have the cooking skills needed?
Then a meal template can help to boost your confidence in the kitchen. The process of making the food item is the same process over and over again. Each time you are successful it will help to create more confidence in the kitchen. And, you’ll become quicker at making the meal too!
Don’t really like cooking?
Then working with a meal template can allow you to put all those prepped foods you find in the grocery store to good use. Many grocery stores now have a wide selection of pre-sliced, diced and chopped vegetables. There are bagged salad mixes, shredded coleslaw and salad green blends available. Let’s not forget about the variety of healthy frozen vegetables, rotisserie chickens and canned foods that can assist you in putting together a meal with a minimum amount of chopping and slicing.
Think you don’t have time to create a delicious, healthy meal at home?
Forget fast food, take out and frozen dinners. These days most grocery stores have recognized that people are looking for ways to save time and offer larger numbers of prepped vegetables, fruits and meats. These can assist you in saving time in the kitchen.
Meal templates come in several basic forms:
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One Dish Meals
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Soups or Stews
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Entree Salads
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Combo Meal
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Sandwich/Wrap
Let’s take a closer look at Entree Salads.
Entree salads are more than just iceberg lettuce with a few other vegetables sprinkled on top. This is a salad that will fill you up.
It starts with a base of some type of greens (lettuce, spinach, arugula, cabbage, etc) and is topped with a variety of vegetables (raw or even cooked), your choice of protein, a bit of nuts if desired and healthy fats in the form of salad dressings.
Entree salads can makes a super easy keto meal or, add higher in carb vegetables, beans, lentils or other higher in carb ingredients and you can create a traditional meal that your non low carb family will love. Go through each category below and mix and match items:
SALAD GREENS
Most salad greens contain essential dietary nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fiber and water. They are low in calorie but high in nutrients. Greens make up the base of your entree salad and will help to keep you feeling full longer.
The USDA recommends two cups of vegetables per day for women and two and a half cups a day for men. It takes two cups of salad greens to equal 1 cup of other vegetables. Eating an entree salad will help you meet the recommended amount of vegetables for the day and it will give your body the wide variety of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that it needs.
You can find a variety of lettuce in your local grocery stores and farmers markets. Here are some of the ones you might see:
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crisphead (also known as iceberg): these are round shaped with tightly packed, crunchy leaves
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romaine: these have long, crisp leaves
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butterhead: this variety of lettuce has loosely packed leaves and looks like a blooming flower. This includes varieties such as Boston, Bibb and Buttercrunch
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loose leaf: this type of lettuce has large, curly leaves found on a central stalk. It can be found with both red and green leaves.
The leaves of many other plants are often included in salads. Try adding in spinach, arugula, kale, escarole, watercress and any of the various leaf or collard greens you find in your area.
Choose 2 to 4 cups of greens to be the foundation of your salad depending upon how big you would like your salad.
You can eat them raw or lightly steam some of the various greens such as collards, spinach and kale. Choose from:
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Lettuce – Romaine, Boston, Butterhead, Iceberg, Bibb, Boston, Loose Leaf and a variety of others that you may find in your local grocery stores or farmers markets
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Endive
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Radicchio
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Frisee
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Escarole
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Arugula
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Mizuna
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Kale
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Collard Greens
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Spinach
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Mesclun/Spring Mix
VEGETABLES
There are a wide variety of vegetables that you can add to your salad. You don’t have to pick raw vegetables. Try adding in oven baked or sauteed vegetables to add a change in flavor and texture to your salad. Some people don’t care for raw vegetables but enjoy them when they are cooked. Check out this post if you are not a fan of raw vegetables and would like to find out other ways to prepare vegetables so you and your family can enjoy them.
Choose 1/2 to 1 cup of additional vegetables to add to your salad.
If you are following a low carb diet limit the vegetables that are higher in carbs (potatoes, sweet potatoes, squashes, corn, peas, etc).
For the biggest nutritional bang keep the phrase “eat the rainbow” in mind and choose a variety of different colored vegetables. Not only does it make for a visually appetizing salad but you will get a variety of antioxidants that your body needs. Each of the differently colored vegetables (and fruits) contain different antioxidants.
Red: red fruits and vegetables often contain lycopene. You can find this in tomatoes, red onions, red peppers, radishes, beets, red lettuce and other types of red vegetables. Red fruits include watermelon, pink grapefruit, papaya and pink guavas.
Orange/Yellow: orange and yellow fruits and vegetables contain alpha and beta carotene. You can find this in sweet potatoes, carrots, yellow and orange peppers, squash and pumpkins. Orange and yellow fruit include oranges, cantaloupe, papaya, mangos and more.
Blue/Purple: blue and purple fruits and vegetables contain anthocyanin. The main blue fruit or vegetable that comes to everyone’s mind is blueberries. But there are other fruits and vegetables that contain this antioxidant but do not look as blue or purple. This is often because they contain the green antioxidant and the color overpowers the blue/purple. You can find this antioxidant in greens that have purplish stalks, eggplant, turnips, grapes, blackberries, plums, purple cauliflower and purple potatoes.
Green: green fruits and vegetables contain lutein. You can find this antioxidant in vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, bok choi, spinach, zucchini and others. Fruits containing this antioxidant include grapes, kiwi, green apples, pears, avocados and more.
White: white fruits and vegetables contain a type of antioxidant (a flavonoid) called quercetin. You can find this in onions, garlic, white potatoes, leeks, turnips, grapes, granny smith apples and many others.
PROTEIN
If you are looking to take your salad to the next level than adding protein in it will help to create a filling meal. Eating protein helps you in many ways. Eating some type of protein with your meal can help you to feel fuller longer. It can help to reduce hunger and controls your appetite. Protein helps to maintain and build muscle mass. As it makes you feel fuller longer and can reduce hunger this can aid in weight loss.
Choose from meat, seafood, eggs or a variety of plant based protein sources such as tofu, tempeh and beans.
Choose 3 to 4 ounces of protein to include in your entree salad:
Beef
Veal
Lamb
Pork
Fowl (turkey, chicken, duck, goose, hen, quail)
Game Meats (venison, bison, etc)
Exotic Meats (ostrich, emu, etc)
Seafood and Shellfish
Eggs (2 hard boiled)
Protein sources that are higher in carbs:
Tofu (1 cup) – higher in carb choice
Soybeans, beans and lentils (1/2 to 2/3 cup) – higher in carb choice
SALAD EXTRAS
Add some of these extra items to your salad to change things up. They help to give your salad extra crunch and flavor. Don’t over do adding in extra items as the calories, and carbs, can quickly add up.
Choose 1 to 3 items to add into your salad:
1 to 2 TBS nuts or seeds
1/4 to 1/2 avocado
5 to 10 olives
1/4 cup berries
1 ounce cheese
STARCH/CARBS
If you are not following a low carb or keto diet then adding in a serving of carbs in the form of vegetables, grains, beans or other legumes can add more variety to your salad, increase the fiber and add a change in flavor.
Choose 1 serving if desired:
1/2 cup cooked grains (quinoa, brown rice, couscous, bulgar, millet, etc)
1/2 cup sweet potato (steamed, baked, roasted)
1/2 cup cooked squash (steamed, baked, roasted)
1/2 cup cooked pasta
1/2 cup cooked beans or legumes
DRESSINGS
People often fear topping their salad with dressing. They see it as being filled with calories. While dressings might be a concentrated source of calories it does many things to benefit your health. Fat helps to make certain vitamins available for your body to use. Vitamins A, D, E and K are fat soluble and need fat to help them be transported through the body. Fat also helps to dissolve and transport the flavor and odor components of food. How many fat free foods have you eaten and thought that they seem rather tasteless? Fat helps to give food a creamy mouth feel. Fat free foods often need to have a variety of starches and sugars added to help given these food a similar mouth feel as their higher fat counter parts. Fat also helps to keep you feeling more satisfied. It slows down digestion and keeps you feeling fuller for longer.
Choose 1 serving:
Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of your favorite dressing to your entree salad. These might include:
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Oil/Vinegar dressings
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Oil/Lemon juice dressings
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Oil/Mustard dressings
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Mayonnaise based dressings
HOW TO BUILD AN ENTREE SALAD
To build a delicious and filling entree salad start by choosing a base of salad greens. Add in a selection of crunchy vegetables, hearty protein, a couple of items from the extras list and a delicious dressing. If you don’t follow a keto or low carb diet then add a higher carb option. Mix it up and you’ve got yourself a filling, hunger busting, nutritious entree salad.
Try this meal template out today and leave a comment below. Tell us which ingredients you used to build your salad.
If you are looking for other low-carb/keto recipe ideas, be sure to check out our growing Recipe Index full of low-carb/keto recipes!
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