Spring is in the air! Today was a picture perfect day for gardening and I spent the morning planting radishes, spinach, arugula, peas and several other early spring crops. In just a few weeks, we’ll be eating salad that we grew ourselves. After our seemingly endless northeast winter, I’m really looking forward to the rebirth of my garden.
I had dinner a couple of weeks ago with my friends Taryn and Lisa. Taryn had just returned from vacation where she had been served a salad in a canning jar. I love that idea! Jars are reusable and travel well. No plastic containers to discard. And, since I’m a fanatical canner, I have tons of empty jars taking up space in every drawer and cabinet in my kitchen (from last year’s pickles, chutneys, sauces…which we used throughout the winter). So, I figured I’d give salad-in-a-jar a try…
I remembered that my favorite canning site, Food in Jars, had written a post about a handy insert that separates a canning jar into compartments, so I ordered one from Amazon figuring that I could use it to hold the salad dressing. Here’s my early spring salad – in a regular wide-mouth Ball jar and with the dressing in a Cuppow BNTO lid insert.
The only thing better than this will be when the salad and veggies come from my own garden! Just a few more weeks to wait.
Happy gardening and happy eating!
Spring salad in a canning jar, with a Cuppow BNTO insert to separate the salad and dressing.