Looking ahead at this week I decided I needed to do some major meal planning/food prep. The end of this week is going to be crazy (I'm starting to see a trend!) and a lot of time spent with family, while an excellent thing, means little food prep time! So at the suggestion of a friend I decided to try salad-in-a-jar! I'm super excited about this, and decided to make salads (and snacks) for not just the weekend but this whole week! I always do better at eating my vegetables when I have a plan in place and have things fixed ahead of time!
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| Salad-In-A-Jar |
From what I've read, this method is supposed to keep your salad nice and crisp for up to a week in the refrigerator as long as you follow the basic method...dressing on the bottom, hearty veggies next (carrots, peppers, pea pods) and lettuce at the very top! I'm super excited to try these salads and see if they truly do stay crisp!
On the bottom row I have Bacon-Ranch salads (with homemade ranch dressing, recipe to follow)
The middle row are Fiesta Chicken salads (with homemade avocado dressing, recipe to follow)
On top is a simple salad with a balsamic vinaigrette (recipe to follow)
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| Snacks-In-A-Jar |
I'm not exactly sure how my snacks-in-a-jar will work out. On the bottom row I have cottage cheese in the bottom, which I can eat with a spoon after I make my way through the veggies if need be. However, on top I have my ranch dressing in the one on the left, and my avocado dressing in the one on the right. These are meant for dipping, but I'm not quite sure how dipping will go...we will find out soon!
I love making my own dressings!
As I've progressed through my journey to healthier eating I've mostly cut out bottled dressings. I stuck to oil and vinegar for a while, but that got a little boring. So I decided to check out some recipes for homemade dressings. I figured they would be labor intensive and perhaps difficult, but likely worth it. Well, I was wrong! It is SUPER easy to make your own dressings (but I was right about it being worth it)! Once you have the basics down you can make SO many variations.
Pretty much everywhere I've read online has said that the ratio for a vinaigrette is 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar(acid). I, however, like a more vinegar-y vinaigrette. So I usually do almost equal parts (still a little heavier on the oil). Here is a good in-depth tutorial on How To: Make a Vinaigrette
Most of the time I just whip up a simple vinaigrette of oil, vinegar, and whatever spices I'm feeling that day. Today, however, I was craving creamy dressings. So I decided to do something a little more in-depth, still both super easy!
Kelsa's Homemade Ranch Dressing
1c. Plain yogurt
1 Tbsp. Mayonnaise (it's got to be Dukes!)
Salt, Pepper, Dill Weed, Garlic Powder, Mustard Powder, Cayenne Pepper-(optional) to taste
Place the yogurt in a paper-towel lined strainer over a bowl for 20 minutes. This will leave you with a nice, thick and creamy yogurt.
Mix all ingredients together, adding spices to taste. Add a dash or two of cayenne pepper for a little kick!
Kelsa's Homemade Avocado Dressing
1 very ripe avocado
Sour Cream
Plain Yogurt
Salsa
Whole Milk
Salt, Pepper, Cumin, Garlic Powder, Adobo-(optional) to taste
I honestly don't know the amounts of the dairy products I added to this. You could leave out the sour cream all together to cut down on some of the fat. Mix all the ingredients together until you have your desired flavor and consistency.
I actually started off with some leftover guacamole I had made (with all the ingredients above except the milk). I added more yogurt, salsa, and the milk to thin it out.
Have you ever made salad-in-a-jar or made your own dressings?
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