Mason Jar Salads with DIY Annie's Organics Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

So hubby is on a BIG salad kick lately, like he's been eating BUSHELS of salad!  We make them up days in advance in mason jars. They stay crisp and fresh for about a week this way and they are quick and easy for him to grab one from the fridge in his mad dash out the door in the mornings.  We use lots of fresh organic veggies from our weekly produce box (we use Full Circle) and make super tasty healthy salads, the only drawback has been the dressing was getting pretty expensive.  He likes Annie's Organics Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette which runs about $5 a bottle and we've been going through about 2 a week.  So I decided to make my own today when making his salads.  The recipe is down at the bottom of this post :)

The salads have the following:
2 radishes
1 beet
1 carrot
1/2 a HUGE cucumber (if yours are smaller use a whole one)
2-3 cups of greens
and some thing crunchy on top (I rotate different kinds of nuts or seeds)

I set up all my fixins assembly line style and get to chopping.  You want to put all the "hard" veggies in the bottom of the jars, I usually stack radishes first, then beets, then carrots. 

Once you have all those chopped pour your dressing in until you have enough to barely cover them.  They will kind of pickle in the dressing while they wait for you to eat them over the week, trust me this is a good thing... it's sooo good! Also those are the veggies that won't get all soggy if they sit in dressing for days, you def don't want your dressing to touch your greens.

After you have your dressing in dice your cukes and put those in, then hand tear your greens and shove em it (don't be afraid to mash them in there, they will bounce back I promise!).  If you want to add things like chopped tomatoes, maybe some beans, quinoa or some avocado you have treated with lemon juice put those in BEFORE you put in the greens.  If you want to use grape or cherry tomatoes add those on TOP of the greens and then top with nuts and seeds. 

Then just screw on your tops and store in the fridge.  We have eaten these as many as 6 days after prepping them and they were still crisp and tasty. 

If you've never worked with beets before, don't be alarmed by the bloody hand look you will soon be sporting... and I HIGHLY suggest not wearing your favorite white t-shirt when prepping these unless you are wearing an apron... just take my word for it :)

Five beautiful healthy organic salads to nourish my hungry hubby all week.

The dressing!!

Try to use organic ingredients if possible.

Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette:

2 big ass heads of garlic, roasted for about 30 minutes
1 cup evoo
1/2 cup vinegar (I used plain white)
1/2 cup water
4tbsp lemon juice
1tsp sea salt
2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp parsley
2 tbsp agave
1/4 tsp xanthan gum *I debated putting this in,  but I had it on hand so I did.  It is a thickener and binder and I wanted this dressing to be as close to the original my husband loves.


Once your garlic is roasted squeeze them out of the skins into your blender and then add all the other ingredients and blend. 

This made me 3 cups of dressing which was enough to dress all those salads pretty heavily and fill up the empty Annie's bottle to put back in the fridge.  Now get on with your happy salad eating self!