Meat and potatoes can be made healthier by adding greens

Generations of Americans have grown up heralding meat and potatoes as the classic dinner of choice. Who doesn’t love the taste of that time-honored combination, filling our bellies with the comfort of a juicy, fatty steak and fluffy, carby spuds? Just thinking about it is enough to make us pine for the 1950s when this was considered a healthy meal.

I have good news, however. I have discovered that with a little creativity, any main dish can be turned into a salad, scratching the itch without ditching nutrition. So yes, meat and potatoes can be made healthier, and lighter, which is a bonus for summertime eating.

Try my Meat and Potatoes Steakhouse Salad recipe. It stretches just one 8-ounce steak into feeding four people, which means alongside that tasty steak, each person will also be filled up with a slew of veggies. I used filet mignon because it’s a lean cut of beef, and since only a couple of ounces of meat needed per person, the whole dish remains reasonably priced.

Cute baby potatoes on the salad mean you’ll also feel satisfied in a way that frankly only comes from a starchy side. In fact, the entire salad celebrates steakhouse flavors, including garlicky meaty mushrooms, flash-cooked asparagus, tomatoes, blue cheese, chives and a creamy dressing made from Dijon mustard and aromatic tarragon.

It’s like the steakhouse menu itself morphed into a complete meal on a plate. At 322 calories per serving, you might have steak and potatoes a little more often.

MELISSA D’ARABIAN VIA AP Meat and potatoes steakhouse salad