Rice Wine Quinoa Salad in a Jar

Please refer to this post for more information on salad-in-a-jar recipes!

For the record, I don’t actually measure out “1 tbsp  of _____.” I just provide that as a rough estimate. In actuality, I just pour a little of each and if it looks/smells right, I go with it. I don’t tend to enjoy salads that are drenched in dressing, so everything is really up to you, or “to taste” (one of the best blanket terms). I also forgot to throw in the sugar that I meant to add because I’d already put it away…but feel free! It should make it cooler. This will probably taste more “Asian-inspired” due to the sesame oil (and rice wine vinegar). :X

Originally, I was actually going to make a curry one from theyummylife, but I discovered that I didn’t have white wine vinegar (I do have apple cider vinegar and distilled white vinegar though?), but I’ve never made anything with either of those, so I decided to sub with rice wine vinegar. While I was doing that, I figured I might as well experiment and try it with sesame oil. After all, sesame oil is pretty darn magical and makes everything amazing.

Success!

Rice Wine Quinoa Salad in a Jar

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 rice wine vinegar
-1 tbsp sesame oil
-sprinkle of brown sugar
-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
-hardboiled egg, 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.