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How to build a salad with Main Character energy

If I had to start over, salad season would hit my meal plan twice a week year-round.

But let’s get one thing straight: Salad season isn’t about eating light, or settling for limp iceberg lettuce drenched in slimy ranch dressing.

Salad season is about filling up, fueling up, and feeling good.

This week’s Spinach Salad with AMP⚡️ Balsamic Vinaigrette keeps entrée salads in season year-round.

Here’s the quiet part out loud: Salads got hijacked. Somewhere between undernourished diet culture and ring-light food influencers selling sadness in a mason jar, we lost the plot on the glory of greens.

Salad done right isn’t a compromise, it’s a power move. Salads give you cold fuel when it’s hot. A hearty entrée salad in your biggest bowl leaves you full, yet energized.

No post-dinner crash. No kale martyrdom. No mason-jar malnourishment. Just crave-worthy, cold food that eats like a damn meal.

Spinach Salad & AMP⚡️ Balsamic Vinaigrette

Prep time: 15-30 minutes (depending on how many add-ons you choose)

Cook time: ZERO!

Recipe yields: 2 entrée servings

For the two-portion salad shown here, we load up a 3-quart stainless steel mixing bowl. (Slightly oversized for extra room to mix the greens & add-on ingredients with our scratch-mixed, homemade AMP⚡️ Balsamic Vinaigrette.

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Ingredients

• 1/3 to 1/2 pound raw baby spinach

• 1/2 an apple, stem & seeds removed

• 1 cup carrot sticks

• 1/2 cup grape tomatoes

• 1/4 cup pecan halves

Optional

• 1 cup roasted chicken breast, chopped

• 1/2 cup sliced mushroom

• 1/4 cup pepperoncini

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Instructions

1. Add salad greens to the mixing bowl. I prefer to layer the spinach first, and I prefer lightly chopped baby spinach.

2. Slice & add an optional ingredient like the mushrooms shown here, and half an apple (we refrigerate the other half in a ziplock for next time).

3. Add halved or quartered grape tomatoes and chopped carrots.

4. Add baked chicken breast, chopped to bite size pieces. (Omit chicken for VEG(an). Hard-gainers and Mass-builders can double down on lean protein by adding boiled eggs.)

5. Add an optional ingredient like pepperoncini rings and pecan halves (or chop down to quarters if you prefer).

6. Add your choice of dressing & mix evenly through salad ingredients. (Batch shown uses AMP⚡️ Orange-Balsamic Vinaigrette).

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FASTER, EASIER CHOPPING

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AMP⚡️ Baked Tomato Sauce is your new MVP!

Whether vegan, vegetarian, or protein-packed — this flexible roasted tomato sauce fits nearly any meal plan. Lycopene-rich tomatoes are loaded with anti-inflammatory antioxidants to entice your palate and fuel your recovery.

AMP⚡️ Baked Tomato Sauce is flavorful and super flexible — It can be vegan, or vegetarian with dairy. By the time you plate dinner and pack meal-prep boxes, this scratch-roasted tomato sauce can be as plant-based, protein-heavy, or as carb-loaded as your meal plan requires.

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AMP⚡️ Baked Tomato Sauce

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Recipe yields: 4-6 servings

Start with a flat, oven-safe baking dish — slightly oversized for extra room to mix in vegetables, pasta, and/or protein after cooking AMP⚡️ Baked Tomato Sauce.

For the 4-cup batch shown, we're using a 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish.

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Ingredients

• Extra virgin olive oil to coat the bottom & sides of your baking dish

• 28-30 oz canned tomato purée (or 2 lbs fresh tomatoes chopped)

• 1 tsp garlic powder (or 4 cloves minced fresh garlic)

• 3 tsp onion powder (or 1 small-medium diced yellow onion)

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional, or more to taste if you like the heat)

• 2 tsp AMP⚡️ Italian Herb Mix

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C)

2. Coat the inside of your oven-safe baking dish with olive oil or melted butter

3. Add tomato purée or chopped tomatoes to the baking dish in an even layer

4. Sprinkle evenly across the tomato layer, garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, and red pepper flakes — We like to leave this layer of seasonings on top of the tomatoes for the first 20 minutes of roasting to unlock the flavors

5. Bake uncovered for the first 20 minutes — Remove from the oven, and mix the roasted seasonings into the tomatoes

6. Return the baking dish to the oven and resume roasting for another 20 minutes

7. Stir again to incorporate the olive oil and leave the AMP⚡️ Baked Tomato Sauce to cool while you cook your favorite vegetables, pasta, and/or protein to pair with the sauce

8. Adjust seasoning to taste

(If your AMP⚡️ Baked Tomato Sauce is tart at this stage, stir in a pinch of kosher salt. Bear in mind: The vegetables, pasta, and/or protein you'll add next will diffuse the acidity of the tomatoes as those flavors cascade into a delicious balance.)

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CERAMIC BAKING DISHES

BUY BAKING DISHES

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