Salad in a Jar

I love my new mason jars! I’ve been using them constantly, especially for my new smoothie obsession.

One of the main reasons I got them was to try out this salad in a jar idea that I had seen on Pinterest a few times. I get bored quickly of making lunches everyday so the idea of making a few healthy ones at once that you can store in the fridge got me excited. The main idea is that you can put your dressing at the bottom of the jar then layer heavy ingredients between the dressing and the salad, pack it up, then just shake it right before you want to eat to prevent your lettuce from getting soggy.

This idea is extremely versatile and I can’t wait to keep playing with it. This time I kept it pretty simple with some veggies, beans, quinoa and my go-to simple dressing and it worked wonderfully. But I’m already thinking about different combinations I want to try out. Definitely a Greek Salad soon then maybe a strawberry, pecan, goat cheese salad with balsalmic vinagrette….Endless possibilities!

Ingredients (makes 3 quart size jars)

1 can black beans

1 can chickpeas

1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped

1/2 orange bell pepper, chopped

1c cooked quinoa

2 persian cucumbers, chopped

3 marinated artichoke hearts

15-20 pitted olives

Crumbled feta

Mixed greens

9T of your favorite dressing (I use Aunt Trish’s Salad Dressing from the Pioneer Woman)

Directions

Pour 3T of your dressing into each jar.

Layer black beans, quinoa, chickpeas, cucumbers, bell pepper, olives, artichoke hearts, feta, greens.

*Make sure to pack it tight so all the layers stay put and don’t move around!