Life has gotten very busy around here.  Having our house on the market has meant less time in the kitchen and more time ensuring the house is in showing shape every time we leave the door.  Spending less time at home hasn’t been all bad though.  Last weekend we were away from the house most of Saturday and Sunday.  We filled those days with 6 month pictures, lots of time at the park, and visiting with friends.  After feeling like Matt and I needed to be very productive during every second at home it was so nice to have an excuse to have to be out of the house and to have lots of family time together.

I skipped making salad jars last week.  I didn’t know that I would miss them as much as I did!  So this weekend I grabbed all of the supplies to re-do my favorite salad in a jar – Greek Salad!  If you’re looking for a salad with more of a cohesive feel this is a great one to try.

I’ve made these with chicken or vegetarian with chickpeas.  Both are excellent!

Greek Mason Jar Salad

It is really important to make sure your jar and all ingredients are dry before layering so you don’t end up with a soggy salad.  I used the wide mouth quart-sized jars.

Ingredients:

Marinated, cooked and chopped chicken breast
Pitted green olives
Cucumber, chopped
Red onion, chopped
Pepperoncini peppers
Grape tomatoes
Greek salad dressing
Feta cheese

Directions:

1.  Place chicken breasts in a baking dish and cover with Greek Salad dressing.  Bake in an oven at 350 for 30 minutes or until cooked through.  Let cool before dicing into bite-sized pieces.
2. After all vegetable are washed, cut, chopped and dried layer your salad in this order:
   1. Bottom layer – dressing (seriously – put it on in the jar)
   2. Second layer – all hearty veggies (olives, cucumber, red onion, peppers and tomatoes)
   3. Third layer – chicken (or chickpeas if you are omitting meat)
   4. Last layer – greens.  I typically use a combination of spinach and romaine.
   5. If not eating the salad that day, bring your feta in a separate contatiner to add to the salad before eating.  The first time I made these salads, I put the cheese at the top.  It was acceptable but the cheese had taken on too much moisture by the end of the week salads.

Jack was my helper this weekend.  He kept me company and practiced his percussion skills while I chopped and layered.

If you are meal planning for the upcoming week, make sure to add this to your menu.  What a perfect salad for summer!