Salad To-Go

   First day of school, first day of school!!!!!  I am excited for the kids because they are so excited, but truthfully, I will miss having them around. I really saw them grow up this summer, and so it feels sad watching them drive away on their bus and knowing that the things they are going to learn now will be mostly without me. My kids are gone for 7 hours total, and are only home (and awake) for 4 1/2 hours. That's a small window to feel like I can be a strong influence in their lives. Anyway, I'm just lamenting and sharing my heart a little.

   Anyway, what I'm sharing today is nothing new, but I still wanted to put it out there. The "salad in a jar" phenomenon is pretty awesome (I think). 

   Basically, it's a way to pre-make great, healthy salads that you can just grab and take with you to your job or school. I've made these for camping trips, for day trips we've taken, and smaller versions for Caleb when we're going somewhere and I need to pack him some gluten-free & Caleb approved meals. I'll often only eat a big salad for dinner, so I've made these when I'm prepping veggies for a meal, and can think to the next day or so and know that I would rather have my salad ready ahead of time in order to save time the day-of. 

   So, there is no "recipe" per-se for this! But the secret to this actually working is all in the layering. So, here are the basic rules when assembling a salad in a jar.

1. Put the dressing in first, right down in the bottom
2. Next put in any veggies that won't soak up all your dressing: think carrots, peppers, peas, celery, & onions. It's ok if some of the dressing gets soaked up because it'll make those particular items taste extra-yummy, but you don't want to go dump your salad into a bowl and discover you really have no dressing to speak of :( 
3. Now add meat, hardboiled eggs, or cheese if you want to! 
4. Next put your more sensitive toppings, nuts or seeds, beans or grains, and soaker-upper things like cucumber, shredded cabbage or fruits.
5. Now get your leafy greens in there!
6. To eat, just dump the jar out into a bowl! The leafy stuff will be at the bottom, the toppings, well, on top, and the dressing covering it all! Voila!  

  
So, a few points to remember:

• Dressing in the bottom, leafy greens at the top.
  
• Pack the veggies in to keep them from getting bumped around and smooshed, and also to keep as much air as possible outta there to keep the veggies fresh.
• A half leafy lettuce/half toppings is a good rule of thumb.
• Um....nothing else really....

   Sometimes I make my salad in a jar, but have the meat or hardboiled eggs in a separate container because I want as many veggies as possible in the jar. Then when I'm going to eat the salad, I dump it out of the jar, then put the meat or eggs on top (as you see in the photo above)

   Really, it's up to you! My salads are often just anything I have in the fridge, and other times I make specific recipes, like the ones at Lexi's Clean Kitchen. Some of her ideas include pesto chicken anti-pasto jar, and a cajun shrimp jar. Yumm-o! Go check those and her other ideas out!

   Well, I hope everyone had a great long weekend. We did here! Saturday we had a friend over for dinner and a bon-fire, Sunday we went to a pig roast at the home of an amazing family here in Tweed, and yesterday we went to a carnival Adam's work (Goodyear in Napanee) put on. Honestly, I'm not just saying this because my husband works there, but they put on a great family event. There was a ton of stuff to do! There were rides, a climbing wall, face painting, sparkly tattoos, balloon animals, bouncy castles, tie-dye a t-shirt, pony rides, and wonderful food! Lots of it! And they had porta-potties in different locations so that you were never too far from a toilet. They also had big troughs filled with ice and water bottles and juice boxes. It was a crazy hot day, but we all stayed well hydrated! Seriously, it is really well done, and a lot of fun. It was literally the perfect end to the summer! 

   Well, I know it's still summer and the fall hasn't officially begun, but the start of the school year really begins a new season. The new season for Bushel & A Peck will hopefully include a health & fitness element (as I said it would....way back in June!). I want to include weekly meal ideas, workouts, and my views on different health and fitness trends. 

   So cheers to seasons past and to seasons to come!