Tasty Tuesday: Mason Jar Salads

I am sure you guys have seen these if you are on Pinterest at all, but I really hadn’t paid much attention to them until I got to start actually eating lunch with adults at school again! My friend from work came in with her salad in a mason jar and I wanted to try it! Here it is in steps! I am super excited about this, I used to bring my salads in a plastic bag but this seams way easier with the dressing and everything!

I bought 12 mason jars for less than 10 bucks- I am just using the extra as cups!  Then follow these steps:

  1. Place your favorite dressing at the very bottom: I used Newman’s Own Organic Balsamic
  2. Place something that can be used as a barrier and you wouldn’t mind being soaked in the dressing- I used bell pepper
  3. Layer on what you want! These salads have mushrooms, red onions, cherry tomatoes, craisins, and ½ cup of cooked quinoa
  4. After you have placed in everything you want pile in as much lettuce as you can fit! I used an organic spring mix!
  5. Store and eat. Everything I have found says that they will keep for a week!

Nutrition info in case you were curious brought to you by myfitnesspal

292 calories

58 carbs- if this is too high for you take out the craisins: they have 25 grams

6 grams of fat

7 grams of protein

**Advocare Note: If you make this recipe during your 10 day cleanse you’ll need to count quinoa as your one carb for the day AND for salad dressing you’ll need to use either oil & vinegar or lime juice**

BluePrint Cleanse Recap

As you saw in my April goals #1 was to survive the BluePrint Cleanse. At the advice of my trainer and basically just myself and my sanity, I decided to do a more intense cleanse then I had done before. I can not afford the actual BluePrint Cleanse, where they actually send you everything made because it runs about $75 bucks a day plus shipping so, yea, I’m a teacher, that won’t work. I decided to just buy their book and buy the supplies. The total cost of everything, including a 3 day pre-cleanse and 3 day post-cleanse ran about $110 bucks. Not bad for 9 days worth of food!

The pre-cleanse is basically 3 days of preparing your body to deal with straight juice for 3 days. I know, and you probably do too that when we know we aren’t going to eat or we are going to be “cut off” of things then we cram food. Like maybe decide to eat the most fattening meal ever the night before, well, if you did that and went straight to juice you would die. I didn’t do that anyways but I still wanted to pre-cleanse. This was totally not bad and runs around 1100-1200 calories. I was still able to work out too!

Pre-Cleanse:

Day 1: 2 pieces of fruit, gazpacho, veggies and hummus, veggie tacos (avocado and sprouted corn tortillas)

Day 2:  basically the same but instead of veggies you can have a larabar

Day3:  basically the same but for dinner you eat a big salad with tons of veggies

Prep for the actual cleanse is a little insane and this is where I do wish I had a money tree! Juicing is messy and I cut my finger on the stupid pineapple. I made my juices over two nights because honestly it took me forever. The juice will keep for the 3 days if you do it all at once!

Here is what you drink

1-     greens with apple

2-     watermelon

3-     greens with blueberry and apple

4-     pineapple and mint

5-     greens with apple

6-     milk drink (basically ground cashews, coconut oil, water)

Day 1: I started the actual cleanse on a Thursday and had to work. I teach so this made me extremely nervous. I even freaking spilled my green drink at my desk! I almost cried! Also I am essentially trapped in a room for hours at a time with very short breaks to actually go the bathroom. It really was not too bad though. I did have to go to the bathroom at least once an hour just due to the increase in liquids. But I mean nothing bad that I’m embarrassed to say 🙂 I chose the second level of cleansing because I have done cleanses before and figured I could handle it.

See the spill?

Day 2: This day really was the worst, I just really wanted to chew, but was not that hungry! I did not like the “milk” drink you take at night and couldn’t drink it. It’s made with ground cashews so instead of drinking it I just ate a handful. I don’t think I actually ruined anything with this but who knows – the chewing just might have saved me. I did have to take “smooth move” tea, because I really wasn’t going #2 haha! That worked out well!

Day 3– I actually really did feel awesome. I was full, my joints weren’t hurting, not even in my knees, and my eyes no longer really had bags under them! I felt really good and still do even today! I ended day 3 with my last green drink and right before bed ate some more cashews.

Honestly I was not hungry. I actually didn’t even want to drink all of the juice sometimes because I didn’t feel hungry. The drinks do not taste bad, the green one takes some getting used to, and if I actually liked coconut I would have liked the “milk.” At this point, I am not 100% sure how much weight I lost. On the second day I was down a full 5 from the last time I weighed right before, and today at the gym, 2 days after the cleanse is completely over, I was down 8 pounds total. Not bad, the weight is awesome, but I also for the first time just feel really good!

Just my advice:

–          Drink lots of water and green tea- so much so that you think you will pop

–          Buy smooth move tea – it doesn’t taste bad and works

–          Learn to love Apple Cider Vinegar and drink it if you are hungry (mix with a little honey and drink warm) it’s the least gross way!

–          Plan!! And don’t do this when you have to go places, its annoying to carry a cooler – I took one to school and it annoyed me with all the ice!

–          Your kitchen will be a holy mess, so if you are crazy like me learn to breathe!

Beware of weird questions! Liiike – What the hell is that? Is that gross? What are you doing? Why would you do that? That’s weird. (Oh and evil sideways stares at the grocery store because your buggy has far too many fruits and veggies)

-Teal