The first time I saw this on Pintrest, I thought it was a BRILLIANT idea and decided I had to make some for us too! The idea originated from My Not-So-Simple-Life.
I figured that if a salad was waiting on me…and nice and crisp and fresh….I woul totally gobble it up for lunch instead of my usual Big Cup of Noodles.
I hadn’t really planned on making these TODAY…but while I was at Farm Fresh this afternoon…on the Canning isle..I found THESE!
I got the WIDE MOUTH, Quart Jars. And let me tell you…you’ll excite people when you put these in your shopping basket. Everywhere I went, people would stop me and go: “OHH! What are you going to can!!!?” True story. Then I got to see the confusion in their eyes when I explained that I’m not actually traditionally CANNING anything besides a salad… LOL! Ah, the looks on their faces.. Anyway.
Next we’re going to wash the jars. And sing “Suds in the Bucket” by Sara Evans.. Why? Because its what I did…
I don’t have one of those dish rack things…I just use a clean towel. …..oohhh, lookit! shiny jars!!
Next we’re going to assemble our ingredients…
I kinda grabbed just about everything from the refrigerator. HAHA. Ok, well only half. At this point, I say use what YOU like, because you might not like it my way. Much better to grab YOUR favorite stuff.
For our salads I grabbed some Romaine, bell peppers, cucumbers, feta cheese, mild cheddar cheese, olives (black & green), grape tomatoes, boiled eggs, chow mein noodles, Bacon bits, grilled chicken, deli turkey and our salad dressings.
Next I seperated everything according to category: Lettuce in one pile, veggies in one pile, meat in one pile, cheese in a pile, etc…
Then I got down to chopping
I chopped egg and tomato and cucumber and bell peppers…
The cucumbers smelled SO good, were SO fresh, I was wondering why in the WORLD don’t I have these growing in my backyard?? Mine for the plucking? Soon.. oh yes….very soon.
By this time during my salad adventure and after sneaking a few bites of cucumber..I WAS STARVING… Kinda forgot to feed myself with all the couponing, and unloading the van and taking pictures and singing while washing jars..
So I made myself a Leftover – Pioneer Woman Meatloaf – Sandwich.
its kind of a Big Deal. I didn’t take pictures of this awesome meatloaf or post the recipe yet b/c it was so late last night when I made it…BUT, never fear, Pioneer Woman is here. Meatloaf Recipe is HERE.
ok, focus…back to SALADS…. eyes away from the awesome sandwich!!
First I put some salad dressing in the bottom of the jar. I normally don’t like ALOT of dressing..just enough to give the salad a flavor boost, but not so much that I’m just tasting the dressing. But with these jars, I figured I’d better put more than just a bit, because you just know once I dump it out into a bowl, most of that dressing will STILL be at the bottom of the jar! LOL
This is for my Chef Salad by the way.. forgot to tell you which salad I was making! And I’m the only one in the house who likes Thousand Island..so these two are MINE. MINE, MINE MINE!
Into the jar went bell peppers, cucumbers and olives.
Then I stuffed in the Romaine.
and topped that with some egg and bacon bits.. I don’t really know if there’s a RIGHT way to stuff the jar… if there IS, I probably messed up, but this is how my illogical right-brain decided to layer everything.
Next, I chopped up some deli Turkey..
Yumm!
I put this on top of the bacon bits and then added a bit of shredded cheese and my chow mein crunchy noodles (HAVE to HAVE those!)
It IS my favorite salad topping next to bacon bits. Yummy!
So this salad is ready! I put the lid on and screwed the top on TIGHT. And labeled like so with my sharpie:
Totally owned it.
By this time, I’m feeling guilty for thinking of only myself, who loves Thousand Island and Hates tomatoes… so I thought it better to make a “Kris-Friendly” salad…
To begin for the GREEK salad: Some Greek Vinegarette on the bottom, tomatoes (ew), cucumbers, bell pepper and olives.
And then I must’ve gotten lazy because I didn’t take anymore pictures of the Greek salad. BASICALLY, I then added Romaine on top of the olives, then some Tyson cut up chicken and some Feta cheese!
You can see the Greek salad on the far right. With all the yummy Feta on top!
I can’t wait to try mine tomorrow! :)
What kind of toppings and dressings would you use for yours?
(FYI- I used 2 bags of Romaine Hearts for SEVEN jars of salad, 1 cucumber, 2 green bell peppers and 1 pkg of deli meat)
Fantastic idea! I’m going to have to try this. My salads will be quite simple, French dressing, lettuce, ham, hard boiled eggs, and a little bit of shredded cheese. For my hubby, I will have to add black olives, some bacon bits, and some croutons. Hmm… maybe the croutons should wait until the salad is served, they might get soggy.
Yes, definately hold the croutons until the salad is served. My little chinese noodles were definately soggy!
Great idea! how long does it keep fresh?