Lamb with Greek Salad

Some people in my life have been going low-carb recently. During my last year of high school, I was on the Atkins diet, so I know a little bit about cutting down on the carbohydrates. One problem I had with the diet was learning to eat reasonably. If all you’re counting is carbs, you don’t have to worry about eating as much bacon as you want. That’s a huge problem for the inevitable point when you go off the diet and you don’t know how to judge what’s a reasonable meal. For those who want to cut down on carbohydrates, from refined sugars to pre-made pastas to overly starchy vegetables, here’s the simple formula: meat + lots of veggies + good seasonings. The main goal is to use the vegetables in a way that you don’t miss the rice or potatoes. Make the dish feel whole so you don’t realize what you’re omitting from the diet. The same principle applies to low-fat, low-cal and most other diets where you are purposefully removing something from the diet.


For dinner this week I went Greek. Lamb is a tasty meat that is underused by most families. It has it’s own characteristics that set it apart from the “blank slate” meats that need a lot of coaxing to imbue with flavor. The meat itself was flavored simply with some salt and pepper, then cooked in olive oil until it was a healthy pink on the inside. Spinach was sauteed in the juices afterwards until it was wilted. The last component was the Greek salad made from sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, feta, and a little bit of Italian dressing to help meld the flavors and textures together. To plate it, I decided to build upwards so that my focus was on the main stack and not on a lack of carbs. Salad, topped with spinach, topped with sliced lamb. Everything tasted good and I felt filled in stomach and fulfilled in mind, all because I did not focus on what I was missing and let the dish languish. Instead, I made sure to utilize the ingredients I still have available to their fullest.