Balsamic Quinoa Salad in a Jar

I recently purchased a dozen half-pint mason jars that I’m basically going to use to drag food with me to school.

This is a super versatile recipe I stole the idea for it and the quinoa pilaf recipe from theyummylife, but the rest is my own creation! :]! Stay tuned for more recipes borrowed/adapted from there soon, because I’ve been majorly into “in a jar” recipes these days, and even more so, “make ahead” recipes. My goal is to basically be able to make all the food I need for the week over the weekend. :O We’ll see how that goes.

I think I had a pretty darn productive Labor-Day-Weekend-Sunday though, since I accomplished all of the following:

• laundry (washed, dried, folded)
• cleaned the floors of the kitchen/bathroom
• did all my grocery shopping, probably for the entire month
• ran the equivalent of 6.5 miles on ellipticals while memorizing drugs + bacterial anatomy + blood tests
• made a batch of whole wheat banana applesauce muffins
• made a loaf of avocado wheat bread
• made a banana avocado smoothie
• made a bunch of hardboiled eggs
• prepared 5 salad-in-a-jars
• caught up with a couple friends on gchat
• watered my plants
• went over 7 lectures’ worth of material

For these salad-in-a-jar recipes, you can eat them hot or cold (if you eat it hot–about 1-2 minutes in the microwave should do; exclude the greens when heating unless you’re a fan of unhappy wilted greens :/ ). I only have half-pint jars, so I kept the greens elsewhere. These stay fresh for 4-5 days, and you can throw in almost anything you want. You can also freeze quinoa if you made too much or if you just want it to be already made the next time you make one of these. :D!

The dressing is a balsamic vinaigrette. :]

You can probably tell from the pictures that I forgot to mix the quinoa around. ;_; Don’t forget to do that. :X (It was still glorious though, for the record.) Sorry for the not-so-awesome picture quality. I made these all at night, so there was clearly no natural light. And hello, camera phone + easy upload. :D? The greens are not pictured because they were sitting around in the colander. Don’t forget those either! :O

Quinoa Salad in a Jar (Balsamic Vinaigrette)

Ingredients:
(Quinoa Pilaf)

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 tbsp EVOO
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

(Dressing)

• 1 tbsp EVOO
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/8 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/8 tsp dried oregano
• 1/8 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 1 pinch freshly ground pepper

(Salad)

• 1/4 cup corn, patted dry if wet
• 3-4 cherry tomatoes
• dried cranberries
• white button mushrooms, sliced
• mozzarella, shredded
  lean turkey, shredded
• 1-2 hardboiled eggs, chopped
• 1 cup packed greens (romaine lettuce, spinach)

Instructions:

1. Cook quinoa in a rice cooker. (I did 1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups of water.)
2. Combine dressing ingredients in bottom of jar, stirring them with a fork. Add 1/2 cup cooked + cooled quinoa pilaf + use a fork to toss with dressing until well combined. Level out quinoa for an even bottom layer.
3. Layer salad ingredients from bottom up. Put a lid on the jar + refrigerate until you’re ready to eat it.