Salad in a Jar

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Barb

I learned this from my chiropractor the other day.  And thought it was way cool.  I think you’ll love it!

First of all, I love Mason jars.  I think they are pretty wonderful for lots of things.

This shelf in my pantry holds lots of Mason jars.  Just ready to be filled with whatever my little heart desires.

I use them so much that I purchased a whole bunch more of them just the other day.  Love these wide mouth jars!  By the way, “Ball” is just another word for “Mason.”  I use “Puffs” and not “Kleenex” too.  I’m a rebel that way.

This shelf in my pantry holds all kinds of jars filled with beans, oatmeal, rice, more beans and cereal.  So nice to see at a glance what’s on the shelf.

 

I use them for recipes – like this favorite salsa.  Or homemade soups. 

On to Salad in a Jar.  This is just genius.  Using Mason jars for salad.  What a great idea!

I have worked for hours and hours trying to get this picture not to be sideways.  This has never happened on the blog before.  Please turn your head sideways to the right to view this one.  I am tired of trying to fix it.  And no, I did not pour the dressing in from that angle.

Now that we have that out of the way….  you start by making your favorite dressing and pouring it into the bottom of the jars.  This favorite of mine is just 1/4 c balsalmic vinegar, 2/3 c olive oil, 1 tsp spicy brown mustard, a dash of tamari (soy sauce) and a little salt and pepper.  Whisk it together and pour it into the bottom of the jars.  You should have enough with that recipe for about 4 jars.

(And if the rest of my pictures end up sideways, you can just turn your computer on its side.  Wait.  Then you’d have to be able to read sideways.  Technology.  Don’t ya just love it?)

Chop up everything you want to put in your salad.  I use any combination of veggies and fruits that I like.  And I like them all!  This time I used romaine lettuce, cukes, carrots, cauliflower, zucchini and avocado.   You could throw in some diced chicken too.  In other words anything.  Seriously.  Anything you like!  For me, it’s anything I have in the fridge on salad making day.

Then you just layer everything up in the jar.  Start with the heavy things in the bottom.  The things that won’t get all wilty if they soak up some dressing.  I started with the cukes and then added carrots and cauliflower.

See how pretty they are?  Very colorful and appetizing.  I ended with avocado and then strawberries on top.  I know, I know.  A strange combination.  But I like absolutely anything in my salad!  You could also throw in some raisins or craisins.  And I would also love mandorin oranges.  Or some smoked salmon.  You get the idea.  Just layer it up with whatever you like.

Here’s the good part.  When you’re ready to have a salad, you just take the jar out of the fridge…..

And turn it upside down!  All the dressing will run down over all those wonderful ingredients.

Give it a little shake too and get everything all mixed up and coated.

Then just dump the whole thing out onto a plate or into a bowl.  This is actually a large serving bowl.  Notice I made some guacamole too.  I love my guac!

Salad in a jar.  With a side of guacamole.  Yum.  And I ate the entire bowl.  I’m going to have another one today.

And here’s the really, really, really, really, really best part.  They keep forever in the fridge.  And the lettuce doesn’t get brown.  Well, maybe not forever, but at least a week!  And I even cut my lettuce up with a knife – horrors! – instead of tearing it, the way they say you’re supposed to.  And it’s not brown.  Not even a little bit on the edges.  My avocado didn’t get brown either!  I know because I’m eating another one right this very minute.  And those cukes that were soaking in that balsamic dressing for 3 days?  Yum.  By the way, the lid made a nice pop when I opened the jar.  It sealed itself!

So easy to grab one when you want a big, healthy salad for lunch at your workplace.  Nothing spills.  Easily contained.  Dressing and salad all in one place.  Only have to dirty the kitchen one time for chopping and have salad for every day of the week.  Fresh salad.

Salad in a Jar.  Thanks to my chiropractor for the fabulous idea!  Quick, go make one.  Better yet, make five!

Off to figure out what I can put in those 7 other new jars…..
Barb
P.S.  What was up with that one pic?  No problem with any others.  Any of you WordPress users have any ideas?

Posted in food, healthy, recipes | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

Catching Up

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Barb

Everyone who’s tired of green bean fries, raise your hand.   Yes, I see those hands.  Did you think I’d ever get off the green bean fries?

I can hardly believe it’s been almost two full months since I’ve posted a thing on this blog.  I’ve been way overwhelmed by life these days.  And blogging just wasn’t at the top of the list.  But I’ve missed it so much.  I’ve missed all of you!

I considered just totally catching you up in one big blog post.  With all 12,698 pics that I’ve taken over the last two months with blogging in mind.  But somewhere along about pic number 3,486, I figured I’d lose you.  So instead I think I’ll stretch them out over multiple days.  Providing that I don’t get overwhelmed by life again.  Which could happen at any moment.

The day after I returned from Canada, my Dear Daddy went into the hospital for 5 days.  Then he was home for a couple of weeks and then back in the hospital for 3 more weeks.  Somewhere in there my Dear Sis from Illinois, Dear Niece and Dear Great-Niece and Nephew came for a 2 week visit.  I have pics of all the fun we had in between hospital visits to sit with Dear Dad.  Maybe you’ll even get to see some of them!  Provided overwhelming life doesn’t come in and take over again…. yada, yada, yada……

Somewhere in the midst of all those pics are some from a very special baby shower.  Here’s a sneak peak at the Mama-to-be as she opened her gifts…..

Brooke was so cute and the shower was fabulous.  I can’t wait for you to see the pics of the food!   As well as all the fabulous gifts and the beautiful ladies who attended.  I’m really hoping to show you all the festivities before the baby arrives.  I think I still have a month.

This week I had planned to be in Canada with Dear Hubby again.  But sweet Miss Kitty is sick!  And I just couldn’t expect my cat sitter to give her a pill every day.  I wasn’t sure I could handle that one myself.

We are bonding, Miss Kitty and I.  This picture is actually an older one.  Taken about 3 months ago and before she lost way too much weight.  Perhaps as much as 5 lbs.  She had pretty much stopped eating for some reason.  But the Vet couldn’t find anything seriously wrong.  So, crazy cat lady that I am, I’m feeding her with a syringe.  To try to jump start her back into eating again.  And we are having a great time in our Kitty Animal Hospital, better known as My Home.  And we are seriously bonding.  When Dear Hubby comes home, she quite possibly might look at him and say, “Who are you?”

Considering that she hissed at me for a whole year after Dear Hubby brought her home, we’ve come a long way.  You can see more pics of MK (and Boo) here:

Inside or Outside

Or just click on the “Miss Kitty” category in the right column.  I know she’ll love knowing that you all are thinking about her.  And saying a quick prayer that she will be OK again soon.

If you’re in the neighborhood, feel free to stop by the “hospital” for a visit.  Boo says, “Bring catnip.” 

He’s just sure that’s exactly what Miss Kitty needs.

Glad to be back in the blogging saddle again,
Barb

Posted in just stuff, Miss Kitty | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Snack Time!

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Barb

Timbits on the plane on the first leg…….

image

…and now green bean fries in Atlanta airport.  I’m eating my way home.

Traveling hugs,
Barb

Posted in just stuff | 8 Comments

Stars, Timbits & A Last Weekend Outing

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Barb

It’s my last day in Montreal and I’m packing.  Ready to head home and not ready all at the same time.  I’m sure Boo and MK feel forgotten although they’ve had a very good sitter while I was away, who reported on all their antics.  I am blessed with great friends.

How is it that two weeks can fly by so fast?  It feels like I just got here.  Of course, the fact that I fervently stitched 4,379 stars while I was here ought to give me a clue as to how long I’ve been here.  My fingers have been flying!

Here’s a first look at the stars being stitched together.  I took this picture Monday night so more have been added since then.  I’ll keep you posted on the progress.  I am loving Inklingo and hand stitching these stars.  I think I’m becoming a hand piecing snob.

Sunday afternoon Dear Hubby and I headed a few miles north to the small ski town that we visited the first time I was here.

Here’s what the ski slopes looked like when I was here in April…….

……and here’s what they look like now.  Just a wee bit different, eh?  Love the green of the grass and the trees.   Everything so full and well…. green.

Driving toward Saint Sauveur the hills get bigger and bigger.  Nice blue sky, isn’t it?  It was a really great day for a drive. 

Please disregard the bugs on the windshield.  There are not big funky birds in the sky.

As you cross the bridge and pull into town, the church steeple stands out from the buildings and the trees.

Here it is up close.  Such a shiny, silver steeple.

There are loads of flowers everywhere.  Love the bright pink color of these.

These were all in front of a Christmas store.  Love the fabulous pots and all the bright colors.

Here’s a look from across the street.  Cute little window boxes too.

Lots of art galleries in this little town.  But this one was fermé, not ouvert.  (That would be closed, not open, for you not of the French persuasion.  And do not ask me how to pronounce those two words.  I have no idea.)

The view up a residential street is very inviting.  Lots of different colors of green.  Cute little town with cute little shops.  But I do not want to live there.  (See above reference to signs.)

How about this flower container?  Cute.

And a nice little waterfall and fountain.  And two cute little girls.  Whose Mama was trying to keep them from falling in.

All of the restaurants have outside seating and/or they have big doors that open the whole dining area to the outside. 

Like this one where Dear Hubby and I had lunch.  We sat at the table on the right.

Here’s the view from the inside.  At our table.  Where, as any good blogger should, I took a picture of my plate……

…… after my meal was consumed.  Bad blogger!  It was good, really it was!  Some sort of salmon with cream sauce and pink peppercorns thing.  Yum. 

We also had an appetizer that was called “parmesan fondue.”  Apparently fondue is not the same thing to the French as it is to us in the English speaking world.  We expected bread cubes to dip in a fondue pot!  But we got two hunks of parmesan, breaded and apparently deep fried.  With olives and tomatoes and cucumbers on the side.  They were good, nice and creamy inside.  Just not what we expected.  And the waiter acted like we were silly when we asked if we’d gotten what we ordered.  If I could write with a French accent, I’d tell you what he said.  I don’t know how to spell those words.  Just use your imagination.

Kind of like the picture of my lunch above.

This store intrigues me.  It’s a shoe store.  Apparently it’s a chain.  There is one right down the street from Hubby’s apartment.  Who names a shoe store Yellow?  Is there a Red store too?  Maybe Blue wants equal time?  Are the shoes all one color?  I’m going to have to check it out next time I’m here.

I can just hear it now.  “I’m going to go buy me some Yellow shoes to go with my pink dress.”  “Really?  Do you think yellow is a good color for that dress?”  “No, silly, Yellow shoes.”

You get the idea.

So today was packing day.  Actually yesterday for you.  Since you’re reading this tomorrow.  That’s almost as confusing as Yellow shoes, isn’t it?  Actually as you’re reading this I should be at the airport.  Or depending on what time you’re at your computer, I could be winging my way back home.  Or maybe I’m already home.  How am I supposed to know what time you’ll be at your computer? 

Never mind.

And I did have to make one last stop……

You didn’t think I could head home without one last Timbits fix, now did you?  And a can of TH coffee so I can make it at home too.  And how about that big pile of stars?  4,379 to be exact. 

Give or take a few thousand stars…..

Homeward bound!
Barb

Posted in Inklingo, vacation | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Road Trip!

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Barb

Saturday, Dear Hubby and I decided to take a short drive.  We wanted to see a bit more of Canada.  So we headed off to Ottawa!

Just before we crossed the river and entered into Ontario, I turned back to see this little information center that greets you as you enter into the province of Quebec.  Aren’t the flowers just great?

Across the Ottawa river we went (they have really big rivers here)…..

And into Hawkesbury, Ontario.  I love the way the church steeple sticks out above the trees.

Hawkesbury greets us with flags and a sign.

But this is the sign I was really anxious to see.  And although it might not look like much to you, it was in English!  And that meant the world to me.  Never mind that the sign right behind it was in French.  I was never so happy to see the words “Welcome to” and “More to discover.”

Just a short ways down the road, Dear Hubby laughed out loud when he saw a “For Sale” sign instead of “À Vendre” in the window of a car.  I never knew someone so happy to see a little sign. 

There were flowers everywhere.  By the way, the sun comes up at 5:00 in the morning here.  And sets at about 8:45.  Those are long days and lots of sunshine.  Apparently the flowers really like it.  Well, that and the cooler temps here.  My Texas friends will be envious to know that the temps here have been in the 70’s nearly every day since I arrived!  I’ll try to bottle up some of that cooler air and bring it back to Texas with me.

Just a few short miles down the road I saw this sign:

And my heart skipped a beat.  I yelled out, “Quilt Shop!” and Dear Hubby turned the car around faster than I could get the words out.  In fact, I tried to talk him out of stopping!  Whatever possessed me?  But this was our day and a trip to Ottawa was planned.  I figured I could come over here another time, now that I knew how close it was.  But Hubby was insistent that I’d been looking for a quilt shop since my feet hit the ground in Montreal and I had to see the inside of this one.

So inside I went.  Dear Hubby waited in the car and entertained himself with his audio book.  Tracy greeted me (in English!) when I entered and asked if I wanted coffee.  And she brought it to me in a nice mug, so I had to stay long enough to drink it all.  The shop is also a shoe store!  And although it was small, it was warm and inviting (as were all the people there), with a nice classroom and enough bolts of fabric to satisfy my “new fabric on a bolt” fix for awhile.  They invited me to come over and sit and stitch any time.  And I had to run back out to the car to get my stars to show them, etc. etc.  Nice, nice people.  And when we got home that evening I had two emails from them!  I will definitely be going back on any future trips to see Dear Hubby!  Who knows?  I might even need to buy some shoes!

But we were Ottawa bound for this day.  And the blue skies beckoned us to continue our journey.  It was a glorious day for a drive.  And I stitched stars along the way too.

I should mention here that since I arrived, Dear Hubby has been on a mission to find Mexican food.  I think he is missing our great Tex-Mex places in Texas!  So we have been keeping our eyes peeled for Mexican food for several days.  I’m not sure I really want the Mexican food that they might have to offer this far north, but Dear Hubby wanted it and I was happy to oblige.  If we found some.

So Dear Hubby’s face lit up when I hollared, “Mucho Burrito!” as we were almost at our destination in Ottawa.  We went a bit further, but I knew we’d be heading back for this one.  And head back we did. 

Except this is what it looked like inside.  Horrors!  It wasn’t open yet, according to a young man in a shop down the street.  I guess we’ll be making another trip to Ottawa next time I come to town!

So we ended up having lunch at Kelsey’s, recommended by the same young man (who was anxiously awaiting the opening of Mucho Burrito.)  It was a lovely place.

I mean… how inviting is this on the menu to a vegan like me?  And I don’t mean the sizzling fajitas.  So Dear Hubby and I shared a veggie burger and it was great.  It was so good that I forgot to take any pics.  Sorry.  Bad blogger here.

We ate outside, where Dear Hubby intently studied his phone while we waited on our food.  What did we do before smartphones?  I believe he was studying his gps feature here.  Still trying to find Mexican food.

We actually went to Ottawa to see a movie.  A 2 hour drive for a movie guaranteed to be in English.  But we had the added attraction of Ottawa being the Capitol of Canada!  So afterwards we drove around to see if we could find the government buildings and take some pics.

This was our first view as we followed the gps to “Parliament Hill.”

And now for your first of the 473 pics that I took of government buildings in Ottawa, Canada.  I have no idea what any of them are.  I just took pics of all of them and you have to see them.  All of them.  Get ready.  They really are pretty cool.  Of course, as all pics go, things are much better live and in person.  Still, you get to suffer through enjoy the pics, OK?

This one might or might not have been their Supreme Court building.  You decide.

And I think this is the Parliament building.  From the side.  Oh, not to worry, there’s a pic of it from the front too.  And probably the back.

Love the trees all around too….

Church steeples….. or maybe spires?

I don’t know what this building was either, but it was very interesting!  And even though I took this pic looking directly into the sun, I was pleased with how it shows the glass in the building and not just the bright light behind.  And yes, that’s water behind there too.  These buildings all overlook the Ottawa River.

Looking down a street.  With the banners and light poles and pretty flowers lining the sidewalks.  I loved Ottawa!

Flowers…..

Fountains……

Statues.  But I ask you… was it really necessary to put the French word on this one?  They look the same to me. 

Nice banners.

Even the construction scaffolding blends in.

As we walked along one street, I saw this emblem and said to Dear Hubby, “Wait!  Isn’t this our USA symbol?”

Well, of course it was!  And this was the building where I saw it.

The same building from a distance as we drove up the street later.

Parliament building from the front as we whizzed by in the car.

And then we drove over the bridge to the Quebec side of the river, just so I could take these pics of all the buildings looking out over the river.

One more.  Just so you can say you saw all 473 of them.

I loved Ottawa!  We’ll be back for sure…..

Hugs,
Barb

Posted in quilts, vacation | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments