Salad in A Jar

Liven up that same old salad by layering fresh ingredients into a Mason jar. The Salad in a jar is perfect for a summer party or grab-and-go lunch.  Layered salad jars are jammed packed with flavor and you can have them ready to grab, go and enjoy! Every salad dressing recipe is non-fat, or low fat and is diabetic friendly.

When making Salads in a Jar put the items that have the highest moisture content in the bottom. Separate the greens from the dressing with garnishments.

*Low fat or no fat salad dressings are best to use in the jars. The recipes in the printable files include non-fat salad dressings or you can purchase lite and nonfat salad dressings at the store.

*If you purchase low fat salad dressing at the store that has some oil, the top layer of oil can be poured off the dressing and replaced with water. The printable Introduction file gives more details.

*Creamy salad dressings, like Ranch Salad Dressing, can get stuck in the bottom of jar. Use a rubber scraper or long spoon to help remove the creamy salad dressing. You can put this type of salad dressing in 2 1/2 ounce plastic cups that have lids. I set these cups on the top layer in the jar before closing. I will provide a link below to give you more information what kind o cup to look for.

*When the vegetables are washed in cool water with one drop of dish soap, rinsed and dried they will last longer because the bacteria is removed. If the salad is prepared this way in the jar it will last about a week. Included in the printable introduction file are instructions on how to clean produce.

*If salads include meat products they need to be eaten within 3-4 days. Deli meats will last a couple days longer. I have decided to organize my recipes in chapters according to which meat I put in the recipe. The challenge with putting meat in the salad is combining it with the right dressing and salad ingredients. If you are vegan you can just eliminate the meats from all recipes. A lot of my recipes have other proteins like nuts, beans, quinoa, chickpeas and those proteins can be increased if you remove the meat.

*Some of the garnishments will soften in the moist jar. Garnishments such as nuts, croutons, or rice noodles can be put in a plastic bag. Place the bag on the top layer in the jar before closing the lid.

*Greens to use: Romaine Lettuce, Green or Red Leaf Lettuce, Spinach, Salad mixes, cabbage. Don’t use Iceberg Lettuce because it turns brown too quickly.

*Using a wide mouth canning jar makes it easier to fill the jar and remove the salad from the jar. Regular mouth canning jars are not as easy to work with. All of my files salad jar toppers fit wide mouth canning jars

*Salads in a Jar are portable and are great to take on picnic or camping. Salads can be made a day before going and then jars can be stored in a cooler with ice.
Salad Jar Toppers I enjoyed having a way to label the jars so that I know which salad is in them. Printable files are offered in each chapter and have 6 toppers per page Click here to see an example of the Salad Jar Toppers The Jar toppers can be laminate so they will say clean and can be reused over and over again. I store the salad jar toppers in a coupon organizer that can be purchased at the office supply stores.

Take a Salad in the Jar for lunch I am the type of cook that likes to make one big meal the first night and then change the meal the second night so I don’t have to cook as much the next time. Well.. I like to do Salads in a Jar that way. I Prepare a meat dish the first meal and have a salad as a side dish and also prepare enough meat and vegetables so that salad jars can be made for lunches to be eaten throughout the week. If you put different dressings and garnishments in each jar you won’t have to eat the same salad every day for lunch. Tie the fork on the jar with bakers string or jute cord and its ready to Grab and GO!

Salad Dressing contains oil to allow the other ingredients in the dressing to be suspended in the emulsion, spreading the ingredients throughout the salad. It helps the spices and liquid cling to the salad ingredients rather than drip off and pool on the plate. Oil also gives a rich smooth feeling in your mouth, mellowing out the sharpness of the other ingredients like citrus juice, vinegar, herbs, and spices. How can you replace the magical ingredient if you don’t want all those calories? My answer to that question… I replace some or all of the oil with water and Ultra Gel.

When oil is removed from a salad dressing it becomes runny or has a watery consistency so I started thicken the salad dressing with Ultra Gel. It is an instant modified food starch that can be used in hot or cold liquids. Ultra Gel can be found in most stores that has canning products for sale. I discovered Ultra Gel when I was making non-sugar jam. It is a gluten free product that can be used as a substitute for cornstarch, flour and tapioca in all thickening applications.
The past months my kitchen has been a cooking laboratory. I’ve been trying to come up with an easy formula so that I could easily convert my old recipes that contains oil to a non-fat version. Oil = water + Ultra gel ….. It just hasn’t been that easy.
Every recipe has been different and a time consuming experiment so I will just share my recipes after I come up with the finished salad dressing.

I first found out about Salads in a Jar in 2012 when I was watching Studio 5.. and it changed my life! As I’ve been converting my salad recipes to fat free I decided to publish a cookbook. I will be posting the chapters in a series of lessons so you can enjoy the recipes now. The first 7 pages is the Introduction chapter. I teach classes in Salt Lake and this is the chapter that I use in my class.
Click here for the Printable file on Introduction to Salads in a Jar

Chicken Salads in a Jar is the second webpage in a series of lessons. It teaches how to marinade chicken to grill or bake for the salad jars. Suggestions are also given to purchase cooked chicken. Recipes included have non-fat salad dressing and the files include printable salad jar toppers. Recipes include Teriyaki Bowtie Pasta Salad. Quinoa Salad with Apricots and Lime Vinaigrette, Green Salad with Italian Salad Dressing, Italian Pasta Salad with a Salad Supreme Recipe, Crunchy Asian Salad, Spinach Grape Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette, Chicken Taco Salad, BBQ Chicken Salad, Gorgonzola Apple Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette and a recipe for Cinnamon Candied Walnuts.

Click here for the Chicken Salads in a Jar Lesson

The file below is my old file that I posted in 2013. It has lowfat salad dressings but they are not non-fat. I will leave this 29 page file posted until I get the series of lessons completed

The Salad in the Jar #1 PDF Printable File has 29 pages with Low Fat Salad dressing recipes and instructions on how to make these amazing salads

Italian Tossed Salad
Italian Pasta Salad
Teriyaki Bowtie Pasta Salad
Creamy Tomatillo Salad
Cabbage Chicken Salad
Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
Spinach-Grape Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette
Crab Chickpea Salad
Havana Vinaigrette Salad

6 salad jar toppers for each salad

Salad Jar toppers for a boy and girl baby shower

1 page with printable labels for the salad topper envelopes

Printable labels for the Italian Seasoning package and the Creamy Tomatillo Seasoning package.

Instructions on how to clean salad vegetables and layer the salad in a jar

Instructions on how to cook chicken to put in the salad

Purchase the PDF file $2.00 Payment is processed thru Paypal

Make Salads in a Jar for a party

Decorate the salad jar for a 4th of July picnic

The file has instructions on how to tie the utensils on the jar using blue plaid fabric and star garland

Salads in a Jar make a great meal for a party, such as a baby shower. The salads can be prepared a day or two before the party and stored in the refrigerator until ready to serve. This advance preparation helps take the pressure off all of the last minute party preparations.

This printable file has jar toppers for a baby shower.

Plastic baby items can be found at the party store or dollar store. Tie the decoration on the jar with ribbon.

Click Here for Printable Files to decorate Salads in a Jar