Things to have with salad.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Thanks to a combination of depression, steroids for lymphocytic colitis, lockdown and my own inability to turn down any calorie that presents itself, I am the biggest I have ever been, and get breathless walking.

But now the warmer weather is coming (though I live in Scotland, so this is optimistic in the extreme), I am planning to eat lots and lots of salads over the summer, and hopefully lose a few stone - but I need some ideas of things to have as the protein part of the meal.

Things we already have and like include seafood (prawns, hot smoked salmon, smoked mackerel), ham, boiled eggs, cold cooked chicken, cold roast beef - but that isn't enough to allow me to ring the changes over the summer - so I am asking you all for inspiration!

Thanks in advance.

I often have a big salad with other small bits to make it interesting...home made sausage rolls, falafels, the pastry bits from M&S like chicken empanadas etc. I know these aren’t all protein but for me I consider it a healthy balanced and salad virtuous meal.

Chicken, bacon & feta, all tossed in pesto over a salad.

Hoisin duck & spring onions, sesame seeds.

Homemade crustless quiches too.

www.delish.com/uk/cooking/recipes/a29843193/mediterranean-chickpea-salad-recipe/

A veggie soup. Homemade veggie pasties. A hummus wrap.

www.comfortbites.co.uk/2013/04/5-argentinian-salads.html?m=1

More here on Argentinian salads

lechoufou.com/salad-argentina/

Crustless quiche/Spanish omelette/tortilla.
Mozzarella cheese (fresh one sliced up).
Bean salad.
Chickpeas with light dressing.
Green beans in dressing (I like small amount olive oil ground up with garlic, lemon juice and dried chilli flakes. Packs a punch!)
Any lean meat. Ring the changes through different marinades/herbs/spices so even if you have chicken twice a week it tastes different.
Poached salmon, trout fillets, fresh mackerel fillet, or smoked haddock fillet.

Jersey Royals.

We have salads most days with one meal, but alongside other stuff.

Last night caramelise onion and blue cheese quiche with two different salads. A beetroot, green bean and walnut, and tomato, cucumber and red onion. Two different dressings. Will have same tonight as leftovers of everything.

Grilled chicken, teriyaki salmon, baked potatoes.

What do you normally eat? Can you half the portion of that and half with side salads? Ie if you have lasagne, have 1/2 normal portion, then salad as other 1/2 of plate.

You can’t just live off salad alone

Watching with interest. I've just a salad with chorizo, hard boiled eggs and Napolina five bean salad.

Also don't just stick to English style green salad every night.

Have a Greek night, Spanish night, and there are amazing Caribbean salads.

If you are doing this to aid weight loss then be careful with salad ingredients, they can be surprisingly calorific in the wrong quantities.
M&S do trays of prawns and chicken that have a nice flavour and are good to add to salads.

Likewise they do nice salmon, mackerel etc pieces

Theres no goodness in ham, it's just salty processed meat. Avocado and some fruits make a lovely salad, 3 bean salad with dressing, taboulleh, home made hummus, red pepper hummus.

Ooo, I love a thick slice of ham 😋

An omelette with mushrooms and small amount of grated Parmesan, baked portobello mushrooms with goats cheese. A small baked sweet potato with baked cherry tomatoes, garli,chilli and balsamic vinegar. Cottage cheese and slices of avocado.
I'm doing Noom at the moment and these are my favourites with salad. Good luck with your weight loss.

Home-made hummous/cannellini bean dip/beetroot dip
Ricotta-stuffed peppers
Roasted chickpeas
Halloumi
Roasted sweet potatoes/aubergine
Griddled courgette slices/spring onions/asparagus

I know I'm veering away from the protein stipulation a bit with the above list. Also worth flagging that it's VERY easy (I speak from experience!) to whack a load of delicious stuff on a plate, add some lettuce and cucumber, and call it a salad...🤣 I have fallen into this trap before!

You might like to look up the blog called Dinner A Love Story, OP - she (Jenny Rosentrach) has some good ideas for saladising things.

Also, lentil/bulghur wheat/wheatberry salads are nice as a base, for a change from lettuce, tomato, cucumber etc.

And slow-roasting baby plum tomatoes instead of just adding sliced watery tomatoes to a salad is a game changer.

Just to point out - you don't need to eat salad for every meal to lose weight! It's more helpful to track your calories and aim for about 1500-1600.

If you want to eat salad though then go for it

I really like "chopped" salads, their menu has some combination ideas. They basically take a load of stuff, chop it all up and mix together and put a bit of dressing through it. It's so tasty :)
www.chopped.ie/menu/

Honestly, what you have listed is already a great variety of different protein options. When I was more strictly low-carbing they were my staples, plus egg-based dishes like omlettes and crustless quiches filled with ham, fish, cheese etc .

One mind-shift I had to make was to see food as fuel, not as exciting or a treat or particularly interesting. It's just what you put in your body to keep you going in a healthy and sustainable way.

My DH has lost about 4-5 stone over the last 9 months. For lunch, every single day, he has a bowl of home-made muesli, dried / fresh fruits, nuts and seeds, plus homemade kefir drizzled over. It is super healthy and he eats it happily every day. It's just food. It doesn't excite him or feel like a treat etc, it's just fuel. He doesn't even need to think about it beyond making sure he has all the ingredients.

I wish I could be that zen! But a bit of that mindset might be helpful, rather than looking for variety every day which does get tiring.

Most salad dressings are highly calorific.

The best favour you could do yourself is to totally ditch sugar. Sugar is poison. Sugar makes you fat. Eliminating it from your diet is a bit tough at first as it's like an addiction and the body craves it when it's gone. But then the cravings pass and it's a bloody relief I can tell you. Death to sugar!!!

Tinned tuna

Lots of things in pinch of nom books go well with salad my fave is the cheese crisp bread.

As a child we would have had a host of meats and salad

Anything you would usually have potatoes and veg with usually works great with a lovely salad instead.
Chicken Kiev
Steak
Pork chops
Lamb cutlets

Etc