MORE LUNCH IN A JAR

I have a different salad in a jar for this week. You can read my original post here.

I have cooked up some Quinoa (keen-wah)grains for my salad. Quinoa is an ancient grain that is a complete protein and has a very low glycemic rate. It is very good for us and curbs your hunger for a long time.

It doesn’t have a lot of flavor so you need to jazz it up a little with your favorite herbs, spices etc. I toasted mine in a tiny bit of butter first then cooked it with garlic and a dash of salt. This week I used grapes and strawberries as well. I love fruit with feta so that is the white you see in the jar. My usual dressing is EVOO and balsamic vinegar.

 
So have you tried this yet? It is so awesome to grab a healthy lunch right out of the fridge ready to go. Let’s hear your own “recipe” for a jarred salad.

THE TEST RESULTS ARE IN

I have my test results in for the jarred salads I took to work all week. Read that post here.

I had 4 jars ready in the fridge and the lids were kept on. There was some discussion about it needing to breathe in the fridge but there were no problems with wilting at all.

The ingredients stayed fresh and crisp. I look forward to changing them up with different ingredients but one thing I don’t think would be a good idea is using any meat products in there. If you want your boneless chicken or some tuna please keep it in a separate container as I think there is too much of a risk of spoilage with those products.

Let me know if you try this and what layers you came up with.

MY LUNCHTIME EXPERIMENT

I usually make my lunch for work in the mornings while my bread is toasting.

It isn’t hard to fling something together but I still don’t like the rushing around.

I saw something recently that really caught my eye. A make ahead salad that you just grab and go.

How simple is this and yet it is also clever.

You start with a large canning jar and put your dressing in the bottom.

Next layer something that doesn’t absorb the dressing like tomatoes.

Add some more layers. Next time I will be adding some cooked quinoa grains but the choices are unlimited. I have Feta cheese in this one along with the tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, red peppers and spring greens

Just remember to leave the green leafy vegetables for the top row to keep them away from the dressing so as not to wilt them.

When you are ready to eat it you just tip it over and pour it out on a plate and the dressing follows.

At least mine will because it is just oil and vinegar.

If you use a thicker dressing I would tip it over about 15 minutes before you are going to eat it to give the dressing time to mingle.

Now this is supposed to last for 5 days in the fridge so I should be good until Friday. I will let you know if this is an epic fail but I am hopeful that the vegies will stay just as fresh in my jars as they would any where else in the fridge.

LUNCHTIME

I have been back working full time for a month now. I am pleased with myself that I have brought my lunch every day except one and they have all been extremely healthy and low cal.
There are places to buy lunch close by but I have avoided that trap because even if they didn't take so long they are really not healthy.
The only thing I have bought pre-made was a healthy bean  soup from my coffee shop.
Most days my lunch consists of a small container of yogurt, a salad with balsamic vinegar and a piece of fruit. I am not doing it as a diet but just as a way of eating healthy. I come home and have a regular dinner.
The best thing about the whole back to work scenario is my BB Guy cleaned a bathroom this weekend and has done laundry. We had guests over for dinner and things got done between the two of us. I really enjoyed and appreciated that.
How about you? What do you have for lunch at work? Working at home? C'mon...tell the truth.

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