Mighty Mason Jar Salads

These small but mighty mason jar salads are an easy lunch or snack idea you can prepare at home before your busy week begins. Each jar packs in 13 grams of protein, 13 grams of fibre and 450 calories (of high nutritional quality). With endless opportunity for ingredient substitutions, I am interested in hearing what you all come up with! Be sure to check out the PCOS Powers listed at the end of this post (there are a lot!).

Ingredients (makes 5 mason jars):

• 1 cup dry quinoa
• 2 cups corn, frozen or canned
• 1 can kidney beans (I plan to add more next time)
• 5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 5 tbsp seeds (pumpkin, hemp, flax, sesame, etc)
• greens (spinach, kale, etc), organic if possible
• veggies (beets, carrots, etc)

How to:

1. Cook 1 cup of dry quinoa.
2. Rinse and measure out your corn and beans.
3. Once quinoa has cooled, begin layering your salad by adding 1 tbsp of olive oil into each jar, then evenly distribute the beans, corn, quinoa, & seeds (really pack it down to fit everything in).
4. Finally, distribute greens and veggies (I had spiralized beets sitting in the fridge so I threw those in but you can get creative!).
5. Store in fridge up to 5 days. When ready to eat, remove from fridge 30 min before eating (this will allow olive oil to liquefy again), shake jar, pour salad into a bowl and dig in!

PCOS Powers:

• spinach = high in calcium which helps alkalize acidity caused by inflammation and impaired glucose tolerance, high in magnesium which some women with PCOS are deficient in
• kale = anti-inflammatory, high in fiber, & high in calcium which is important for egg maturation and follicle development
• kidney beans = high in fiber which helps prevent heart disease, good source of iron and magnesium
• quinoa = high in fiber, gluten-free, helps manage insulin resistance and high blood pressure
• flax seeds = contain lignans which may increase sex hormone-binding globulin and therefore lower blood testosterone levels, may reduce blood pressure
• beets = anti-inflammatory, helps lower blood pressure, shown to reduce cancerous tumors in various animal models
• extra virgin olive oil = anti-inflammatory, studies show 1-2 tbsp a day can lower risk of certain types of cancers
• low glycemic = helps to stabilize blood sugar levels and energy

What plant-based lunches do you make? Share your ideas with me in the comments below and have a great week! 🙂