Salad

Greek Salad in a Jar

Are you a brown bagger? Meaning do you bring your own lunch to work? I definitely do.

It’s a money saver: $10 a day x 5 days = $50. $50 a week x 52 weeks = $2,600 saved a year (per person).

It controls your calorie intake: you’d have to pack a really big lunch to consume a restaurant portion of food.

It shortens the work day: you’re not stepping out for an hour to find your food and eat it.

And it’s much less wasteful: no oversized portions you can’t finish or carry out containers that end up in the trash.

Most people cringe at the idea of bringing leftovers to work or are not motivated in the morning to make themselves a sandwich before they walk out the door. Because of the work week, the brown bagger has made lunch the most boring meal of the day. This troubles me because food should never be boring.

In an effort to keep things interesting, I’m always switching up our lunch plan for the week. I can’t even remember the last time we had a sandwich! I particularly like to get creative with salads and really enjoyed this one. By layering the ingredients, nothing gets soggy, and it travels in a Ball jar (I love that!). I put this together while making dinner and it was ready for grab’n’go the next morning.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup orzo
  • 1 (15-ounce) can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
  • 1 cup tomato, diced
  • 2 tbls chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 2 tbls red-wine vinegar
  • 2 tbls extra-virgin olive oil, divided
  • 1 cup cucumber, halved lengthwise, cored, and diced
  • 1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, slivered
  • 1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
  • 1 tsp grated lemon zest
  • 3 tbls fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tbls finely chopped oregano
  • 2 to 3 cups coarsely chopped romaine
  • 1 cup feta, crumbled
  • 4 to 8 peperoncini

Directions

  1. Cook orzo according to package instructions. Drain in a sieve and rinse under cold water until cool. Drain well.
  2. Toss black-eyed peas, tomato, and parsley with vinegar, 1 tablespoon oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Marinate, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, toss together orzo, remaining tablespoon oil, cucumber, olives, onion, lemon zest and juice, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl.
  4. Divide black-eyed-pea mixture (with juices) among jars and layer orzo salad, romaine, and feta on top. Add 1 or 2 peperoncini to each jar.

My Thai Salad

I really enjoy making homemade salad dressings for a number of reasons, like avoiding preservatives, using fresh ingredients, and to continuously try new flavors. You can also only enjoy Italian dressing so many times when you eat salad as much as we do.

So it seems very fitting to start this blog with what I consider to be the Holy Grail of salad dressings (the salad is good too). I made this for the first time about 7 months ago and then lost the recipe. It was a horrible one to lose not only because I was addicted to it, but because my husband Erik was too. Although I looked I couldn’t figure out where I got this recipe from or recall all the ingredients and of course I had tweaked the original recipe to my liking. Thankfully, half a year later, I FOUND IT. Time to document so I never lose it again.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

Dressing

  • 3  tablespoons  water
  • 2  tablespoons  rice wine vinegar (but you can use rice vinegar)
  • 1  tablespoon  chopped green onions
  • 1  tablespoon  reduced-fat peanut butter
  • 1  tablespoon  low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1  teaspoon  grated peeled fresh ginger
  • 1  teaspoon  Sriracha (hot chile sauce, such as Huy Fong) – I use Huy Fong Chili Garlic Sauce
  • 1  teaspoon  dark sesame oil
  • 2  teaspoons  dry-roasted peanuts


Salad

  • 2  cups  mixed baby salad greens
  • 1/2  cup  fresh bean sprouts
  • 2  tablespoons  vertically sliced red onion
  • 3  tablespoons  fresh cilantro leaves
  • 6  baby carrots, peeled
  • 6  cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 grilled chicken breast (bone-in or no bone) or a meaty white fish like Mahi Mahi

Preperation

  1. To prepare dressing, combine the first 8 ingredients in a blender; cover and process until smooth. Add peanuts; process 10 seconds.
  2. To prepare salad, divide greens and remaining ingredients evenly between 2 serving plates. Drizzle each salad with 1/4 cup dressing.
  3. Top with grilled chicken or fish as desired

PS I still have no idea where it came from in the first place.