3 Mins Read
Have any of you made a salad and brought it to work for lunch only to find it’s turned to soggy mush? Yup, we hear you. We have been there MANY times. Not to mention the whole business of putting your dressing in a separate container, thereby clogging up your handbag and (also based on personal experience) causing a major oil spillage risk. What’s a healthy lunch seeking girl to do?
Enter salads in a jar. Whoever it was who first though of this genius idea has our deepest gratitude! What’s brilliant about it is the layering, with the liquid dressing sitting at the very bottom and the easy-to-wilt and turn-to-mush greens sitting at the very top. Say bye-bye to soggy salad! It’s then a matter of incorporating the fixings starting with a plant based proteins (think lentils, beans or tofu), fresh fruits or anything chunky that won’t mind being submerged in dressing (think tomatoes, oranges, etc) and some kind of crunchy veg (think steamed brocooli or cauli). Then in go the rest of your ingredients which can include nuts, seeds, dried fruit for texture. The greens you add at the very end to stay blissfully dry. Seal the jar, take it to work, shake it up when you’re ready for lunch, pour it in to a bowl and voila, you have yourself freshly made salad with the perfect texture.
Us Green Queen girls love to get creative and play around with ingredients- think of this recipe as a guide and do the same. This superfood version includes iron-heavy spinach, lean chickpea protein, vitamin-C-rich grapefruit, heart-healthy cashews, good avocado fats and bone-strengthening fennel- sure to keep you alert and buzzing for the rest of the day. It’s easy, it’s quick, nourishing and unbeatable in the fresh salad department.
Note: make sure to use a squat jar with a large opening- tall jars won’t do for this occasion!
Prep Time:10 mins | Serves 1
Ingredients
- 1tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar or 1 tsp of lemon
- 1 tsp chopped flat leaf parsley
- ½ cup chickpeas, freshly cooked or rinsed from a can
- ½ cup fennel, shaved
- ¼ avocado, cubed
- 2 wedges grapefruit, skinned, chopped in chunks
- 6 cashews or almonds
- ½ cup each spinach & romaine, or substitute with finely shredded kale
- Himalayan pink salt & black pepper, to taste
- goji berries & sesame seeds, to sprinkle (optional)
Directions
- Whisk together olive oil, vinegar, parsley and salt & pepper for the dressing. Pour into the bottom of a glass jar.
- Assemble by layering the rest of the ingredients, starting with the chickpeas, then the fennel, the avocado, the grapefruit, the nuts and finally, the greens. Top with sesame seeds and goji berries, if using.
- When you’re ready to eat, give the jar a good shake and pour the contents in to a serving bowl or plate. Alternatively just mix well within the jar itself and enjoy!
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