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To encourage healthy eating habits at home, I include greens in our diet by making salad in a jar meals. Although I’m not a salad person, I started serving my husband and my kids hearty salad dishes. It’s not always on a daily basis but at least we’re getting a head start toward our health goals. While searching for salad recipes, I discovered a fun and efficient way to store them.
There’s a good reason (reasons – make that plural) why your salad should be kept in a mason jar, especially if you’re planning to keep it for quite a while. Once you learn how to make salads in jars, you wouldn’t have it any other way.
- Salads stay crisp and fresh for several days inside the refrigerator (no wilted leaves!)
- Salad to-go! Grab a jar and eat your healthy lunch at the office or somewhere else
- You can make ahead and retrieve a salad jar anytime you want
- Eat right out of the jar or pour the contents in a bowl or plate
- They make great gifts
- It’s a healthy meal/snack substitute
I ordered two 16oz wide mouth Ball Mason Jars for PhP 400 from Kitchen Counter MNL. The jars were repriced at PhP 150 just recently. The first recipe I tried is a tangy Korean Sesame Salad from Salads To Go by Arnel Ricafranca. I found the eBook on Kindle.
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tbsp distilled white vinegar
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- baby carrots
- onion
- cucumber
- sugar snap peas
- orange bell pepper
- cherry tomatoes
- lettuce
- red cabbage
- Combine all 'Bottom Layer' ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to make dressing.
- Chop and cut veggies into desired sizes.
- Layer in an airtight mason jar and keep in the refrigerator.
- You may blanch vegetables first to soften them a bit.
The key to keeping salads fresh for days is layering. The website TheKitchn.com shows a step-by-step guide on How to Pack the Perfect Salad in a Jar. The dressing goes to the bottom, next is the hard vegetables, then beans, grains and pasta, then cheese and proteins, then softer veggies and fruits, then nuts, seeds, and lighter grains, then the greens on top. The dressing (bottom) shouldn’t touch the leafy greens (top) because they’ll get soggy. You may blanch vegetables first to soften them a bit if you want.
Save this infographic as your guide to making layered salads in jars.
I’m sharing with you my own salad recipe that my family very much enjoyed. It’s a random spur-of-the-moment recipe I thought about when I was in a grocery store. My husband prefers a sweet dressing so I bought a bottle of strawberry vinaigrette.
- strawberry vinaigrette dressing
- ground black pepper
- baby potatoes
- snow peas
- sweet onions
- schublig sausages
- parmesan cheese
- tomatoes
- corn kernels
- grapes
- peanuts
- lettuce
- Chop and cut veggies into desired sizes.
- The strawberry vinaigrette dressing goes to the bottom of the mason jar.
- Put in all other ingredients in this order: ground black pepper, baby potatoes, snow peas, sweet onions, schublig sausages, parmesan cheese, tomatoes, corn kernels, grapes, peanuts, and lettuce.
- Keep inside the refrigerator.
- You may blanch vegetables first to soften them a bit.
My Fruity Green Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette in a bowl. This is a different batch with ham instead of sausages, minus the snow peas.
I’m glad that I’m opening myself up for a healthy change. I hated salads before because they contain mayonnaise and I haven’t thought about sampling other dressing alternatives until now. Next time I would try sesame oil, balsamic vinegar, and lemon-yogurt dressings.
Kitchen Counter MNL
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Published: 2014-06-09 09:00:53
thanks for sharing these!!! looks fun to do! and of course, definitely healthy! 🙂
Yes to healthy eating! Thanks for the visit! 🙂