With summer approaching here in the Southern Hemisphere now that we are past the Vernal Equinox, it is time to start thinking about foods that take us out of our winter long hibernation.
Salads are a great dish with which to do that, but how many of you have made up a salad only to find that after a few days it goes limp in the fridge or doesn’t transport very well.
Well never fear, Kim to the rescue. Yes, Kim has found a solution that will fix all your salad woes. It’s Salad in a Jar!
In this post, I am going to step you through the process of making one of these most excellent salads.
Firstly select whatever vegetables you have in the garden or fridge. Chop them up into bits ready to complete your salad.
Cook up some organic pasta and allow to cool.
Grab a few 950 ml (1 quart) mason jars and make sure they are thoroughly clean.
Add 2 Tablespoons of your favourite dressing.
Add the hard vegetables first like onion, celery, cabbage, and carrot.
Then add cucumber, red and green capsicum (bell peppers).
Add your cooked pasta and some sweet corn kernels.
At this stage we add some cooked meat tossed in a separate dressing. You can add chicken, salmon, prawns, crab meat or if a vegetarian, you can add chickpeas, lentils, or beans.
Then add lettuce leaves, sliced avocado, and grated cheese (homemade of course).
Once the jar is fully packed, screw on the lid tightly and store in the fridge until required. They will last up to a week like this and still maintain its freshness. No limp leaves or soggy capsicum! I have no issues when transporting this meal to work in my backpack.
To use it all you do is turn it over top to bottom a few times to mix through the salad dressing, then pour out onto a large plate and eat. Brilliantly simple in its execution!
Kim estimates that by using a light dressing the total energy for this balanced meal is around 550 calories (2300 Kj). Pretty good, and these meal are already helping me to shift my excess winter weight as well as extra walking.
What do you think? Will you or have you given salad in a jar a try?