Salad Season is Anytime of Year

by Jan Drexler

We live in a beautiful place.

I know I say that often - probably too often for our regular readers - but it's true. We have mountains, vast valleys, and gorgeous skies.

One wonderful thing about living in the Black Hills is that we're an island in the prairie. Look on a map:

Satellite view of the Black Hills!

We're surrounded on all sides by National Grasslands - Thunder Basin, Oglala, and Badlands. They have a beauty all their own.

Last week, we drove to Wall, South Dakota, to pick up our side of beef. (When you live in ranch country, you buy yourself a freezer and purchase your grass-fed beef from your favorite rancher!) The drive was absolutely breathtaking.

We drove home on the back roads through Badlands National Park. We hadn't been to this end of the park before, and were amazed. We'll have to take this route again.

One reason we took the opportunity to drive the back roads is because we've been enjoying a mild winter for the past six weeks. After a few promising snow storms in November and early December, we've had weeks of 40° degree weather, sunshine/clouds/sunshine, and very little snow.

With spring-like weather, my appetite turns to salads!

I know I've mentioned that we have trouble getting fresh produce here in the winter, but that's one perk of the mild weather. The romaine in the stores has been in great condition, and I've been enjoying it!

I wrote about these Salads in a Jar nearly five years ago, and I felt it was time to revisit them...and get out my canning jars to prep for the coming week of lunches!

Salad in a Jar

We writers never stop writing. So every shortcut we can find is like gold.

Less time cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc. means more time to write. More time to write means more books. More books = happy readers.

Yay for shortcuts!

Writers also spend WAY too much time sitting (or standing) in one place. We all know what happens to sedentary people, and we want to be happy, healthy writers.

One solution? Salad in a jar!

This is an easy-peasy way to make sure you're getting your veggies, even when the rest of your life is crazy busy.

So what do you need?

First, your favorite veggies - -

And did you notice there are some protein sources among the veggies? Protein is what turns your rabbit food into a powerhouse complete meal that sticks to your ribs well into the afternoon.

Second, some one quart canning jars. Five is a good number - the salad will stay fresh in your jar for about five days, so five jars will give you an entire week of salads.

Those plastic reusable lids are perfect for things like this!

Next, sort your ingredients by weight. You want the heaviest and wettest ingredients in the bottom of your jar, and the lightest at the top. Think of the salad we made in the cafe a couple months ago- Ginger's Salad - where we layered the ingredients in the bowl. With the jar, we're going to layer ingredients in the opposite order. So your dressing and toppings go first, and the lettuce or slaw last.

One note before we begin - since I work at home, I opted to leave a few ingredients out of the jars. I'll add them in on the day I eat the salad. The ingredients that will wait until later are salad dressing, slivered almonds, cheese, avocados, and chopped apples. They'll be better fresh.

Let's start assembling our salads!


This one is a Chef-style salad, without the lettuce.

The layers are:
sliced boiled egg
sliced black olives
chopped mushrooms
cooked, diced chicken breast
chopped broccoli/cauliflower mix
shredded cabbage (I use the cole slaw mix)


Here we have a classic salad:

1/4 cup canned garbanzo beans (chick peas)
cooked, diced chicken breast
sliced carrots
sliced radishes
chopped mushrooms
diced red onion
sliced pickled beets
chopped broccoli/cauliflower mix
chopped lettuce



This low-fat salad is going to be filling:

1/4 cup canned garbanzo beans (chick peas)
1/4 cup cooked, diced chicken breast
1-2 Tablespoons dried cranberries
cabbage slaw to the top of the jar


This one is also low-fat:

1/2 cup canned garbanzo beans (chick peas)
sliced carrots
sliced radishes
chopped broccoli/cauliflower mix
cabbage slaw to the top of the jar


And this last one:

1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
sliced carrots
sliced radishes
chopped mushrooms
chopped red onion
chopped broccoli/cauliflower mix
chopped lettuce to the top of the jar


Remember: If you're taking your salads with you to work or school, you'll want to put your favorite salad dressing in the bottom of the jars before layering in the other ingredients.

Stick the jars in the fridge, and you have a week's worth of salads to eat at home or to go!

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There's nothing like a salad to make a writer lean and healthy, is there? What is your favorite salad combo?

Jan Drexler is an author by day who is addicted to counted cross stitch and sauntering through the Hills with her dear husband and their goofy corgi puppy, Jack. You can find Jan's books and other fun things on her website: www.JanDrexler.com.