I recently got myself a dozen mason jars and set out in my long lived quest to organize our grain collection and provide more options for beautifying and organizing our vegan kitchen.. and our lunches... and our lives. I searched around comparing prices, and the best deal I found was a dozen quart sized jars at walmart for 10 bucks. These are the tall, wide mouthed, large jars and are the perfect size for storage, pickling or a filling up to pack a lunch. Here are some of my inspirations for running out to get a bunch of mason jars! (By the way, you can also reuse jars from products you already use... I do this all the time and therefore we have maybe another dozen of reused and repurposed jars total to use for new things. Save your sauce jars, jelly jars, coconut oil, etc. Even save those itty bitty jars for the small stuff and because they are just so darn cute!)
Salads in a Jar
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| Taken from Buzzfeed.com |
My obsession and drive to get them started back when I found a neat pin on Pinterest. It was about making a week's worth of layered salads in jars and storing them in the fridge for grab and go lunches. The reason it works (besides these being the most colorful and cutest salads you may have ever seen!!) is the science behind layering the ingredients so they don't go bad or get soggy. This wasn't my original idea, so here's a post on the how-to's on making these ingenious salads (plus a bunch of creative salad ideas if you don't even know where to start... if you're a vegan like me though, ignore the salads that incorporate animal products like shrimp and cheese. The other ideas are awesome I promise!) I always figured you could eat the salad right out of the jar after a few shakes to disperse the dressing, but I guess if you want a nice evenly mixed salad, dumping it on a plate or in a bowl when you're ready to eat it is the way to go. You're basically going to layer your dressing, grains, and veggies leaving the greens to be on top so they stay crispy and fresh (try non-lettuce greens too add more variety like kale, spinach, sprouts, microgreens, cabbage, etc.). Don't forget to incorporate those grains and seeds in there to provide you with a nice protein (try hemp seeds, quinoa, rice, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc.) and also plenty of different veggies to make your salad colorful and beautiful. If you like beans and legumes, add some of those too!!! I bet kidney beans, edamame soybeans (out of the pods), lentils or chickpeas would be amazing. If you aren't much of a dressing person, opt for nothing... or try a bit of olive oil, lemon juice, or apple cider vinegar as your first layer. Better yet, try mixing the three together for a good and good for you dressing (the only kind I ever make or use for my salads!). If you love garlic, you can add some of that in the combo as well. Just remember to layer it in there first before any other ingredients! Top it off (below your greens though) with a sweet treat like fruit. Try dried berries, or fresh sliced strawberries, pears or apples. The main rule here is to be creative!
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| Taken from Buzzfeed.com |
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| Taken from Buzzfeed.com |
You can really use a mason jar to store any type of meal or treat for lunch, the benefit here is that glass can be heated up, refrigerated, or frozen with no issue. I always get nervous with plastic tupperware and containers.. when you heat them up or even just store them, BPA and other nasty chemicals may possible leach out of them. Even if you've never cooked them, leaving them in a hot car or outside can be just as bad. Glass is safer, won't get stained from the contents within, and let's also add it's just way classier too! Try using them to pack lunch consisting of other things such as a fruit salad (you can layer it the same way!), pasta salad/layered pasta meal (w/ sauce, veggies, cheese or cheese alternative, herbs, etc.), soup (just pop it in the microwave!), yummy parfait or even leftovers of whatever your dinner was. Way cooler than rubbermaid. Hey did you know you can even make a cake in a jar?
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| Taken from Hello Natural |
Beautiful grain storage
Now my main plan was to store our whole grains so we could see them and display them. I've been getting sick of keeping them in the plastic bags you get from the bulk section when you weigh them, because then they just get stacked up in the cupboard and I can never find anything. So we went to our local healthfood supermarket Wards, and stocked up on the essential grains and proteins for a vegan. (Hint hint- if you're a vegan, or just want to incorporate some more plant based protein into your diet, get some ideas here! These are essentials for a well balanced, healthy, and natural protein packed diet! Kick the processed proteins to the curb and swap out for some of these!) These are some of the grains we bought along with many we already had; all of which we incorporate into our diets regularly., In order to have a well balanced diet, whole grains of all kinds are essential, and a great way to fulfill a plant based lifestyle and diet. Once we restocked on grains this weekend I put them in jars, labeled them, and display in our kitchen so I can see what ingredients we have to cook with. All of the grains we got are also organic. Below is a list of our grain inventory in our household... including many of the protein sources I eat regularly and find essential in a vegan diet. Protein content listed is based on uncooked grains and their dry serving size (grains will expand, often doubling in amount when cooked, and they may lose some protein during the cooking process. It's unrealistic to eat a cup of many of these things in one serving, but the comparison is good to compare in comparable sized portions of animal based protein, such as meat- and you'll see that these plant protein sources have a ton!)
Quinoa (24 g protein per cup, great source of iron, also great to add in salads, use to make stuffed veggies, or add chopped and cooked veggies to)
Lentils (50 whopping g of protein per cup, great for making lentil loaf or lentil meatballs!)
Nutritional Yeast (2 tablespoons contains 8-10 g of protein (depending on brand) and also a full spectrum of b vitamins including B12, a great alternative to cheese in many recipes)
Sunflower Seeds (29 g protein per cup, great for snacking or as a salad topper)
Pumpkin Seeds (34 g protein per cup, great for snacking or as a salad topper)
Almonds (32 g of protein per cup, great for snacking, baking, making almond butter, and good addition to homemade protein bars)
Cashews (40 g of protein per cup, great for making vegan cheese sauces and cashew butter mmmm!)
Brown Rice (15 g of protein per cup, great for soups, stuffed veggies, or perfect in this delicious Thai style veggies in peanut sauce!)
Flax seeds (31 g of protein per cup, mix 1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds with 2.5 tablespoons of water and put in the fridge for 10 minutes to use as a great binding ingredient in baking and cooking!)
Chia seeds (32 g of protein per cup and good source of calcium and omegas, does best if stored in the fridge. Soak in water for them to fully expand, and they are great in baked goods, smoothies, cereals, homemade kombucha drinks, and homemade puddings)
Oat Bran, or organic steel cut oats (16 g of protein per cup, great for breakfast, baking, or smoothies)
Dried beans (up to 15 grams of protein per cup, dried beans way longer to cook and prepare than canned beans but are good to have on hand and a great addition to just about any meal!)
Amaranth or millet (26 g/22 g per cup, also good iron source, much more commonly known as bird food, not only do I use these both for a homemade organic bird food for our cockatiel Daiya, but they are wholesome grains that are great into burgers, meatballs, soups, anything really!)
Hemp seeds (3 tablespoons = 10 g of protein, You can't always get them in a bulk section but you can get them in a package... amazing on salads, oatmeal, in smoothies, or whatever!)
Spirulina (2 tablespoons = 8 g of protein, this stuff is a MUST for vegans; it's a green powder from a seaweed that is packed with all your essential amino acids, full spectrum of B vitamins and plenty of B12, iron, magnesium, etc. etc... it's amazing! We add a serving to our smoothies every morning)
Need I mention that ALL of these grains are amazing in homemade veggie burgers? You can get creative and make your own recipe out of grains, seeds and nuts and combine them with fresh veggies for the perfect tasty burger yum!
After I prepared the jars, Josh put up these retro shelves we found at Lowes. We were careful to make sure they were anchored enough to hold the weight. Then we arranged the jars, having a few leftover that had to hang out on the countertop. No biggie.. but wow did these jars help clear space in the cabinets but now they are much more easily accessible and they are a good inspiration for cooking and baking ideas!
Pickling/Fermenting
I have an obsession with fermenting vegetables (and kombuca, and nut cheese!) Thank goodness for mason jars which help me do the job. You can make easy 3 day pickles with vinegar... a quick alternative to making pickles and super easy too! If you want to try other types of real ferments to benefit from healthy microbes and probiotics, check out my posts on how to make kimchi, fermented pickles, watermelon rind, and homemade kraut!
Growing Your Own Sprouts!
Learn how to grow your own sprouts in a jar in only a few days on my blog post here!
Decorating
Whether you use your mason jars for one of the above uses, or as a giftwrap for an edible gift (who wouldn't want a mason jar filled with baked goods, a healthy wholegrain, some hot coco in the winter, some cut up fresh fruit, something fermented, or a full made meal??) hint hint- a great gift idea for the vegan or vegetarian or even the meat eater in your life!) why not have some fun and decorate?? Create some fun labels, add some lace or ribbon, or hey; go all out and paint the jar and/or lid. My favorite part about these jars is they are reusable for a million different uses!! Enjoy!
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| Samm Wehman Artwork |
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