Put your fridge in a jar
Mason Jar Salad
I hope you had a wonderful holiday and lots of time for visiting between Christmas and New Year’s. We had both sides of our families over for Christmas Eve and were blessed to be invited over to visit with friends and family. We had cakes and cookie care packages sent home and I begged for a container of turkey with stuffing. It was filling and delicious but now I’m craving salads and soups.
If you’re like me, you have left overs in the fridge that need to be used up, or forfeited. Luckily we don’t have many of the latter. I did find some black beans in a container that had been forgotten and a bag of buns that got green mold spots. What needs to be used up are vegetables. I volunteered to make a veggie platter when we went visiting. Snap peas, celery, carrot sticks, red pepper slices, and cucumber. I made one of the dips I’ve shared, using Greek Yogurt and a dollop of Whipped Dressing. The dip is guilt free if you use low fat Greek yogurt that is high in protein.
This morning I received a recipe from Julie Daniluk called Healing Salad in a Jar. By coincidence, I roast a head of garlic the other day when we were making chicken. I don’t entirely believe in providence, but I didn’t have specific plans for the roasted garlic. The recipe arrived in my inbox while I was planning this week’s meals.
The recipe serves two and calls for wide-mounth jars with lids. I am fortunate to have boxes of jars from making pickles. The changes I made to the original recipe are:
- substitute walnuts for chopped brazil nuts (I eat 2 per day for Selenium)
- add finely sliced celery (left overs)
- substitute black beans and quinoa for shredded chicken (left overs)
- substitute ¼ tsp of rock or sea salt for 3 shakes of Herbamare
- double the Vinaigrette recipe for 2 additional servings
- reduce the amount of honey to 2 Tbs (total)
I made up two jars for lunches, and will repeat the process on Tuesday night. Friday, I’ll finish any left overs from our dinners.
For dinners we are having French onion soup on page 162 of the SparkPeople cookbook (makes 4 servings) as an appetizer. The main dish is mini saffron fish balls that I will bake, not fry from page 212 from the Quick Cook Moroccan cookbook (I picked it up at Dollarama for $3) and quinoa.
Later in the week, I’ll prepare Date, Shallot and Cardamom Tagine, substituting beef for the lamb and serve it over couscous. It’s on page 160 of the Quick Cook Moroccan cookbook. Can you imagine the smells from the carmelized shallots and toasted cardamom? My mouth is watering.
Friday night we both have commitments at 7pm. A fast and simple dish is broiled trout fillets with sautéed bok choy.
What are your plans for lunch and dinner this week? Share your favourite soup or salad recipe in the comments.
