The Virtue of Planned Overs -Steak Salad
Planned Overs are so much more than ‘left-overs’. Planned Overs are: planning + pre-made food from a previous meal= dieting (and mealtime) success.
I find that with planning my daily menus and having pre-made food on hand, I have a lot more success with my diet. Carving out time for initial food prep for a first meal and then knowing what the Planned Over meal will be that you make out of the extra food can be a real game changer.
The Benefits of Planned Over Meals
It makes managing my diet (as well as my time) easier. Of course this strategy isn’t just for dieters, but anyone who would find any of the following things helpful:
- It helps you serve something quickly that is delicious.
- Because you make the main food (usually meat) for the first and second meals at the same time, you spend less time making meals in general. (It takes the same amount of time to bake 6 chicken breasts as 3.)
- It makes it easy to make dinner after working all day because so much of the second meal is finished before you walk into the kitchen.
- You’ll experience savings on your grocery bill, because the food you buy actually gets consumed and isn’t left to fade away in a plastic container in the back of the fridge.
- It also helps prevent spur-of-the-moment jaunts to a fast food place. More savings for everyone in both money and guilt. 😛
- All this success adds up to a sense of well being and control… Dare I say it helps weight loss feel more like a game than a chore? — And I love games!
Planned Overs are usually part of a simpler, 2nd meal made over from the first meal. The steak salad above is an example of that. Once in a while I dress up Planned Overs for company using a recipe like Chinese Pork Lettuce Wraps . These are made from Asian Marinated Pork Chops. They are totally yum.
Next week I will show you a Planned Over meal made from one of my most popular recipes. The recipe for the salad is below. Enjoy! Laura
Steak Salad Planned Over
Steak Salad — Planned Overs
Ingredients
- 2 cups Romaine Lettuce
- 1 roma tomato sliced
- 3 oz. steak thinly sliced (meat left over from a previous meal)
- 2 tsp. Parmesan cheese opt
- 2 T blue cheese dressing opt
- 2 tsp. olive oil
- 2 tsp. butter
Instructions
- Melt butter and olive oil together in a non-stick skillet.
- When oil is hot and before butter browns, add the steak pieces, turning to coat quickly.
- allow to cook only 1-2 minutes, just to warm. Remove from heat
- Make a bed of the torn up lettuce on a small dinner plate.
- Alternate tomato slices and steak slices on lettuce.
- Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
- Serve immediately with dressing on the side.
Notes
Too variable to give a meaningful calorie and carb count. And of course you can use any kind of dressing that appeals. It is also tasty served simply sprinkled with a bit of Provencal herbs, sans dressing.