Review of Raspberry, Feta, Pumpkin Seed Salad

You know how I promised a review of the Raspberry, Feta, Pumpkin Seed Salad on Thursday? Well, first of all, I forgot that was Christmas Day, but no worries, I was gonna post anyway, as we have a very laid-back Christmas Day in our household.

However, the real problem was that my ENTIRE family fell prey to some kind of sickness. SuperBoy had an icky cough. Just before Christmas, LoveBug had a 48-hr flu, which turned into an icky cough, for which we are going to the doctor this afternoon. My hubby got sick on Tuesday; he went to Urgent Care on Friday and was diagnosed with the flu  and put on meds; he is weak but recovering slowly. And me, hacking cough on Tuesday night turned into full-blown sinusitis and drippy drainage, which landed me in Urgent Care as well, because I couldn't attempt a breath without coughing! I'm on safe-for-pregnancy meds now, but it's a slow recovery process in this household. Ugh.

So THAT is why there was no post on Thursday; I was completely wiped out. Still am a bit. :(

So now, back to my review of the above-pictured salad. Tasty! The greens stayed fresh and crisp. The Craisins added a hint of sweetness, while the feta cheese chunks provided some tang.

In the future, I would have replaced the pumpkin seeds with chopped pecans. For me personally, I think that I prefer pecans or walnuts to pumpkin seeds. But at least, I gave it a shot, right?

What types of ingredients could you combine to create your own mason jar salad? In fact, what would you want to see me try? I'll gladly be your Mason Jar Salad guinea pig.

Lastly, this will be my next post until next year - don't worry; it's just around the corner. See you all next Monday.

Raspberry, Feta, Pumpkin Seed in a Mason Jar

This week's lunch is a Mason Jar Salad. Remember how I made the Healthier Cobb Salad and the Kale Slaw Salad. The beauty of a mason jar salad is two-fold: you can make an entire week's worth of lunches at one time, AND they stay fresh and yummy throughout the week. Plus, the combinations are practically endless.

This time, I made what I call a "Seasonal Salad". "Seasonal" because it incorporates toasted pumpkin seeds (the Autumn and Thanksgiving times of year) with the green and red colors of the Christmas season. Mason jar salads are pretty easy to make; here's how I created this one.

In the bottom of a quart mason jar (or clean pasta sauce jar), I placed about 2 Tbs. of a lite Raspberry dressing.

Next, I dumped in a handful of diced celery. This hearty vegetable prevents the dressing from soggifying (yes, I made up that word) the salad greens. Because who wants soggified salad later on in the week, right?

Next, I topped the diced celery with a large handful or two of salad greens. You can use any lettuces that you'd like. This week, I found a $5 tub of kale and spinach-type salad greens, so that is what I used.

A small cheery handful of Craisins adorn the salad greens, promoting the holiday feel of this particular salad.

Next, my favorite cheese with which to top a salad - feta! I crumbled up a bit, placing it atop the Craisins.

Lastly, a nod to the seasons passed (Autumn and Thanksgiving) - toasted, cinnamon-sugar pumpkin seeds provide a crunchy finish.

So there it is - a Raspberry, Feta, Pumpkin Seed Salad in a Mason Jar. On Thursday, I will give you my review. Hope it tastes as good as it looks!

Review: Healthier Cobb Salad in a Mason Jar

So I promised my review on my Healthier Cobb Salad in a Mason Jar. Here it is ... Oh yum!

The extra veggies made the salad that much more crisp and crunchy. The chopped, hard-boiled egg and a sprinkle of bacon were the perfect amount of protein! The feta cheese, instead of Bleu cheese, was delightful.

And the best parts? I discovered that the Hidden Valley ranch that I was using...
(1) Was a light dressing, and you couldn't even taste the difference.
AND
(2) I didn't need all of the 2 Tablespoons of dressing that I put into the mason jar. Next time, I would probably stick with 1 Tablespoon, because I could always add more, if necessary.

Mason Jar Salad: A Healthier Cobb Salad

One of my favorite salads is a Cobb Salad, which traditionally consists of iceberg lettuce, onion and tomatoes as the veggie portion. It is then topped with tons of protein - chicken, hard-boiled egg, bacon, sometimes even ham and turkey. Plus then there's the fats - avocado (yum!), Bleu cheese and a creamy dressing. While this salad is not a bad thing on an occasional basis (all things in moderation), I couldn't justify eating this deliciousness for lunch ALL week. So, I healthified it a bit ...

First, the dressing - I picked Hidden Valley ranch dressing, which is - in my opinion - the best ranch dressing ever. Sometimes, you can't skimp on the good stuff.

Next, a hearty vegetable, though actually it's a fruit - cherry tomatoes.

Topped with broccoli florets. Not normally in a Cobb Salad, but I wanted to add more veggies.

Some sliced carrots. Again, not in a traditional Cobb salad, but a great addition to my healthified Cobb salad.

Iceberg lettuce salad mix - a traditional Cobb salad ingredient.

Baby spinach leaves - a healthified ingredient. Yummy!

Topped with chopped hard-boiled egg and chopped bacon. Normal Cobb salad ingredients, but in reasonable amounts.

Lastly, since I don't like Bleu cheese, I added crumbles of feta cheese to top off my delicious, healthified Cobb salad. On Thursday, I'll share my review about this yumminess.

Review of Kale Slaw Mason Jar Salad

On Monday, I showed you how I made Kale Slaw Salad in a Mason Jar. Today, I'll give you my review of the salad.

Two words: OH YUM! Yeah, it was THAT good.

Crunchy cabbage. Crisp greens. Delicious dressing. Taylor Farms definitely gets my vote for delicious salad that keeps well!

I am SO excited that this has been lunch all week! And with minimal prep at the beginning of the week. So yummy!

Kale Slaw Mason Jar Salad

Lately, I've been craving the Eat Smart Sweet Kale Salad Kit that you can find at Costco and some grocery stores. But we currently don't have a Costco membership, and a bag from the grocery store wouldn't provide very many lunches for me.

 So ... I made my own in a Mason Jar!

Here's what the ingredients that I used:

Craisins

Chopped almonds

Brianna's Poppyseed Dressing

Brussel sprouts

Dole Coleslaw mix

Trader Joe's chopped Kale

Taylor Farms Baby Spring Mix

First, I placed about 2 Tbs. of Brianna's Poppyseed Dressing into each glass jar. This dressing is delectable! It might be my new favorite!

Next, I added a few small handfuls of Dole coleslaw mix to each jar. The cabbage in the coleslaw is the hardiest of any vegetable in this mix, which is why I placed it on the bottom.

Next, I began shredding the Brussel sprouts with my mandoline. At first, I begin by running a Brussel sprout over the mandoline blade a few times. This makes it flat enough for the next step ...

... Where I use the food holder (real original name, huh?) to finish the slicing job. This prevents me from slicing my fingers on the sharp mandoline blade.

Doesn't that look pretty?

So then I added the shredded Brussel sprouts to each of my Mason jars.

A handful or two of Taylor Farms Baby Spring Mix ...

A few handfuls of Trader Joe's yummy kale ...

About a quarter-cup of craisins. So colorful.

And sprinkle of chopped almonds ....

And I have 5 Mason jars lunches of my own Kale Slaw - one for each weekday this week. On Thursday, I'll let you know how it turned out. Stay tuned!