It’s Thanks­giv­ing week and the offi­cial start to the hol­i­day sea­son. What a per­fect time to look for ways to get through Novem­ber and Decem­ber with your weight and health more or less intact. So I’m kick­ing off my Mon­day blog post with Cook­ing by Num­ber.

Did you ever “paint by num­ber”? You start with a white can­vas that has the out­line of a mas­ter­piece and instruc­tions on how to fill in the out­line with dif­fer­ent paint col­ors. When you’re done, voila! You have a piece of art — well, maybe not, in my case — that’s suit­able for fram­ing. With Cook­ing by Num­ber, you get the out­line of a type of dish, along with sug­ges­tions for fill­ing in the out­line. The end result is a dish that you can serve to fam­i­ly and friends with­out being embar­rassed.

I chose main dish sal­ads for this week because they’re quick, easy, and the per­fect light meal for a calo­rie-heavy week. They also can be quite fill­ing. Here are the num­bers to make sal­ad for four:

6 cups leafy greens (these can be let­tuce, sal­ad mix, spinach, etc.)
2 cups assort­ed raw and cooked veg­gies
8 ounces cooked pro­tein (chick­en, salmon, steak, shrimp, tofu, egg, etc.)
1 cup canned or cooked beans
4 table­spoons crunch (nuts, seeds, crou­tons, bacon bits, etc)
1/3 cup light dress­ing (more on dress­ings in the com­ing weeks)

Serve with a whole grain roll, or toss in 2 cups cooked pas­ta, rice, or grains.

Approx. calo­ries: 350 calo­ries, 450 with roll or grain