I have had requests to post the preparation for this party trick a couple of times, so here it goes. This idea is by no means my original idea, although the recipe is. No, I stole this ‘salad in a jar’ trick from someone who admittedly stole it from someone else, and neither of us can remember the name of the prior source. Oh well, I am sharing it with you now so that more of us can take better charge of our own health and even so when out and about.
You will need one of those jars up there ^^.
This salad serves 1 adult as a main meal and 2-4 as a side dish. It takes about 15-20 minutes all up once you are used to the order of preparation. I rinse my leafy greens first and wrap them in a clean towel and put them in the fridge and then I rinse my beans, so they can drip dry a bit whilst I prepare the other ingredients.
When a salad contains many varied ingredients such as this one, you can be assured that it has all required nutrients of a really well balanced meal. This salad is high in fibre, water, essential fatty acids, minerals and vitamins. It is a high energy meal, and so provides the necessary energy for daily activities for a good while.
- 3 tbsp cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
- 1.5 tbsp apple cider vinegar with the mother
- 2 rather generous pinches of sea salt
- 1 crushed garlic
- 2 generous hand full of any type of leafy green (baby kale, rocket, spinach and or lettuce)
- 1/2 Lebanese cucumber, diced
- 1 small to medium sized carrot, peeled and thinly sliced into coins
- 5 cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 5 snap peas, tailed (pulling the fibre string off its belly)
- 1/2 avocado, peeled and diced
- 2-3 strawberries, quartered or halved depending on size
- 1/2 can of legumes (I like red kidney beans or chickpeas), rinsed and drained
- 2 medjool dates, pipped and quartered
- 1 tbsp raw and activated pumpkin seeds
- 1 tbsp raw macadamia nuts
- Put all dressing ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. There is no need to whisk at this stage, just let the garlic marinate whilst preparing the salad.
- Wash and prepare all salad ingredients, leaving them in their individual piles once cut. Either use a large chopping board or a plate or two to off load onto, but don’t mix the ingredients up.
- Grab the dressing bowl and flick out the crushed garlic clove, we no longer want it.
- Whisk the dressing briskly until it forms a thick yellow consistency. Pour the dressing into the jar.
- Now comes the layering. Because this is a takeaway salad with dressing, and we are not going to eat the salad straight away, we want to ensure that only ingredients that can handle the dressing without getting spoiled, are in contact with the dressing. So in layers, drop in the legumes, then the carrot, macadamia, cherry tomatoes, medjool dates, pumpkin seeds, snap peas, cucumber, avocado, strawberries and last the lettuce. You are packing the salad on a sliding scale from the most robust ingredient to the most fragile.
- You may need to gently push the lettuce in at the top so that you can close the lid properly, and that’s fine, provided you do it gently so the leaves won’t bruise.
- Pack your lunch and put it in the refrigerator as soon as you get to work. You can make it the night before, but the nutritional value decreases once you cut and store fruit and vegetables. I think it tastes much fresher if you do it the same morning. When it is lunch time, simply grab a bowl and tip the jar upside down and the entire salad will simply fall in perfect order into the bowl, all dressed and ready to eat…you may need to encourage it out of the bowl a bit.
- You can also do this salad and bring it or a couple, with you to dinners and barbies (bbq).
- ©
Bon Appetit
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