On
Tuesdays, I like to provide kitchen tool ideas because I find that
there’s always someone out there thinking up new things to make my life
(and yours of course too) easier!
The tool that keeps your salad fresher longer!
Have you ever
heard of salad in a jar? I have to admit that until just a few months
ago, I had never heard of any such thing so of course my curiosity got a
hold of me and off I went looking. The principle of salad in a jar is
that on Sunday afternoons, you take out all the ingredients for that
week’s salad recipe and cut everything up. Line up five “wide mouth”
canning jars (Mason is the name that comes to mind) and fill them up
with your salad ingredients, close them up, remove the air and voilà,
your lunches for the entire week are made!
Now there is an
order in which to add the ingredients. Think that when you empty the
jar, everything that is on the bottom will end up on the top so you want
to have all your wet ingredients at the bottom. These are not only the
ingredients that are wet but also those that can sustain being wet for a
number of days. This means of course that you can add the dressing
right away since it won’t be touching the fragile lettuce.
There are a number
of vegetable combinations that you can make; the choice is veritably
unlimited and ultimately, you want to go with what your taste buds
prefer. We all agree that salads can take a bit of time to make,
especially in the morning, but when you make them all at the same time,
you make the task that much shorter.
Now if you browse on Youtube, you will find a number of videos
with recipe ideas, same goes for Pinterest, however, most of them (if
not all of them) contain ingredients that are not phase 1 & 2
approved. So instead of putting in links here, I decided to add this
picture that tells you how to layer your food. This is a good time to
let your imagine run wild!
OK, so the secret
is in the removal of the air from the jar. I have to tell you that I was
fascinated by this concept. Here is a quick video on how to do it… YouTube
So where can you
find the tools to make this weekly habit easy? Well for starters, if you
already have a vacuum sealer, you are almost there, all you need to
purchase is the jar sealer. You can find this for less than $10 at Amazon.ca.
If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, you need not worry, there is a manual tool that works just as well. Watch this video to see how it works. This manual pump is also available at Amazon.ca for $8.95 along with three reusable bags…
If you have always wanted a vacuum sealer but don’t where to start, check this Costco deal… I don’t think you can go wrong!
You can think of these items as an investment. The idea of having
your lunch already made will make it that much easier to get up in the
morning , especially during the winter months!
Phase 4 tip…
The wonderful part
of Phase 4 is the addition of different ingredients that you can add to
your salads. Think of avocado, cheese and nuts! Both cheese and nuts
offer enough variety to make incredible salads taste different every
time. Maybe you have been a cheddar kind of person, if so, maybe it’s
time to try some new cheeses, same goes for nuts! Get out of your
comfort zone and try new things. The first time I had blue cheese, it
was on a spinach salad with a raspberry dressing and pecans! I will
never forget just how good it tasted! I thought I was having dessert
instead of salad!
The
bottom line is this… salads can be boring or they can be fun! I use
to dislike the idea of a salad for lunch and thought to myself…
“nothing says I’m on a diet more than me having a salad for lunch”! Well
let me tell you that I have changed my mind completely on this! When
you start experimenting you create new tastes that are far from the
traditional tomato, cucumber and lettuce salads. The trick is having the
right ingredients in your fridge and assembling your salads in
advance… By the time you eat them, it will feel as though someone else
made them for you! Enjoy!
