Saturday, March 1, 2014

Jar Salads



I've seen these around a couple of places and apparently they are all the rage on Pinterest (although I've never seen them on Pinterest)...  Let me introduce you to jar salads.

The idea behind these babies is that you can prepare a weeks worth of healthy meals in one day.  I was/am a bit skeptical about the whole thing but supposedly if you assemble salads in these jars the "correct way" they'll keep.

The "correct way" is as follows:

Layer 2 tablespoons of your dressing at the bottom of the jar, put hardy veggies on top of that followed by your protein and then your lettuce.  
The most important step... everything needs to be dry.  Meaning, you will need to wash and cut your lettuce and dry it.  
Keep the dressing and moist (I know this is one of the most hated words in the dictionary but it doesn't bother me so I'll use it...moist, moist, moist) items away from your lettuce or it'll wilt and turn nasty.  Because I no long have a salad spinner this meant it would take a bit of time.  
I chopped some romaine, washed it, shook it out and then laid it on some paper towels until it was dry.  

If you've got the time, these seem to be worth it, but by the end of the week I'm sure I'll never want to eat another salad again.

There are many recipes out there and of course you don't need a recipe to throw together a lettuce salad but I've looked through a few just so I can have variety.

The first salad I've tried is a Cobb salad with a homemade greek yogurt bleu cheese dressing.  You can find the recipe for both the dressing and the mason jar salad below.

A few things about this particular salad... I do not like blue cheese dressing I've discovered.  What a strong flavor!  However, I have chosen to make my own dressings to be a bit healthier.  You can find recipes all over the internets and they really are so easy to throw together.
I'd also like to mention that the original recipe I looked at said their avocado didn't turn brown because they spritzed it with some lime juice.  I did the same thing and my avocado is already browning... add at your own risk.

All in all these seem to be a great idea and I've really enjoyed them these first two days.  Pull a jar out of the fridge, shake it and throw it in a bowl.  Easy peasy and now I don't need to think about lunch the rest of the week!

Low Fat Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing

Gina's Weight Watcher RecipesServings: 8  • Serving Size: 2 tablespoons • Old Points: 1 pt • Points+: 1 pt
Calories: 
Calories: 46.8 • Fat: 3.0 g • Protein: 2.8 g • Carb: 2.2 g • Fiber: 0.3 g   Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
  • 6 oz fat free Greek yogurt
  • 1 tbsp light mayonnaise
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
In a small bowl, mash blue cheese and yogurt together with a fork. Stir in mayonnaise, lemon juice, vinegar, and garlic powder until well blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes 1 cup.


Chopped Cobb Mason Jar Salad

Ingredients
  • 5 wide mouth quart size mason jars (I made 7)
  • 10 tablespoons yogurt blue cheese dressing (Made my own)
  • 1 quart cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 5 mini cucumbers, sliced (I used one, regular-sized, fat one)
  • 1 small to medium red onion, chopped
  • 5 hard-boiled eggs, chopped or sliced (left out because I don't like)
  • 2 avocados, chopped
  • 5 slices cooked crispy bacon, crumbled
  • 5 slices, thinly sliced turkey, cut into pieces (I used chicken and bacon as the meat)
  • 5 slices, thinly sliced ham, cut into pieces
  • 5 cups chopped romaine lettuce (I used 3 Romaine hearts)
Instructions
  1. Divide ingredients among mason jars. Start with dressing then add tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, egg, avocado, bacon, turkey, ham, and ending with romaine. When ready to eat, shake, then pour into a bowl.

Notes
These salads can be made up to 5-6 days ahead of time.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1 mason jar Calories: 400 Fat: 20 Carbohydrates: 29 Fiber: 8 Protein: 27



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