We’ve been enjoying salads in jars lately. They are a good way to transport a meal, as well as storing for a short time. One can make them ahead of time, and then enjoy at ones convenience.

Taco salad in a jar

Serving Size: 2

Ingredients:

for the creamy salad dressing:

  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • ¼ cup white balsamic vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vegetable bouillon powder
  • 1 tablespoon maple or agave syrup
  • ¼-½ jalepeno, de-seeded and minced
  • ¼ cup soy yogurt
  • salt and pepper to taste

for the salad:

  • Mixed salad greens, washed and spin dried
  • 12 Cherry tomatoes, cleaned and halved
  • 1½ cups black beans, cooked and drained
  • 1 cup TVP (textured vegetable protein (also known as soy protein)
  • 1 cup boiling water to reconstitute the TVP
  • ½ cup non-dairy cheese, shredded
  • handful black olives
  • 1 avocado, peeled and sliced
  • 1 cup tomato salsa
  • 3 spring onions, sliced
  • taco chips
  • cilantro or coriander leaves as garnish

Taco salad in a jar

Directions:

  1. to make the dressing:
    1. Mix together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, vegetable bouillon powder and maple or agave syrup.
    2. Whisk to blend.
    3. Remove the seeds from a jalapeño and mince 1/4 of it, or more if you wish.
    4. Add to the dressing.
    5. Add the soy yogurt and again, whisk to blend.
    6. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
    7. Place 2-3 tablespoons of the dressing in the bottom of your jars.
  2. to make the salad:
    1. Place the TVP in a small bowl.
    2. Add the boiling water and allow the TVP to reconstitute for 3-5 minutes.
    3. Layer the various ingredients into the jar.
    4. We placed a layer of clean greens on top of the salad dressing, as the bottom layer of the salad.
    5. Then we added about 4 or 5 of the cherry tomatoes, cut in half.
    6. Next we layered 2-3 tablespoons of the black beans and then the sliced green onions.
    7. Followed with 2-3 tablespoons of the TVP.
    8. On top of the TVP we placed the tomato salsa with a few black olives on top of the salsa.
    9. We next layered the non-dairy cheese.
    10. On top of the non-dairy cheese, we placed some coriander or cilantro leaves, and avocado slices.
    11. We garnished the salad with a few taco chips and had a bowl of taco chips on the side.