Salad in a Jar with Poppy Seed Dressing

I am definitely jumping on the Salad in a Jar bandwagon! The idea of keeping all of this goodness in a jar and taking it with you is my idea of the perfect snack or meal.

And the icing on my cake is an amazing Poppy Seed Dressing! My friend Brandy, who may be the most creative person I know, hosting a baby shower recently and served a variation of this dressing so I put it all together with some candied pistachios to create the perfect lunch!

I love that these salads can be filled with just about anything. I am obsessed with fruit on my salad so I made sure I had plenty of both!

I started with making the pistachios. I had never even thought about candied pistachios until Brandy served it — now I can’t get enough.

I used about 1 cup of pistachios.

In a small saucepan, heat the pistachios with sugar, butter and cinnamon (instructions are further down in this post).

Transfer the candied pistachios to parchment paper and let harden for 5-7 minutes. You can break it apart once you are done.

The Poppy Seed Dressing is really simple too. This takes a few more ingredients including strawberry yogurt, mayo, sour cream, milk, sugar, apple cider vinegar, poppy seeds and sesame seeds.

I put this all in a blender and mixed it up completely.

I put this in another mason jar for serving. This will need to stay refrigerated when you are not using it.

Then I started putting together my salad. I layered it all in a large mason jar. This allows you to mix it up once you add the dressing to the top.

My bottom layer is fresh spinach.

Then I cut up some red onions. I’m the first to admit that I never liked raw onions but adding this flavor and crunch is perfect for this Salad in a Jar.

If you have ever seen any of my salad recipes, you know I have to have strawberries in my salad.

Then I added the blueberries!

Once the candied pistachios cooled, it’s perfect for the top of this salad.

No salad is complete without a little cheese. I added some goat cheese crumbles for the top. Then I spooned some Poppy Seed Dressing on top and it was ready to eat.

I made several of these jars and refrigerated them. If you do that, make sure you wait to put the dressing on top until you get ready to eat it. The dressing will just make the spinach and fruit soggy.

This is the perfect take it and go breakfast or lunch!

Candied Pistachios

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Pistachios, with the shell removed
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon

Directions:

• In a small saucepan, heat up the pistachios, sugar, butter and cinnamon, stir consistently until all of the nuts are covered with the sugar liquid.
• Pour the covered nuts on parchment paper to cool, this takes up to 7-8 minutes
• Break the nuts sticking together apart
• These are ready to eat once cooled

Poppy Seed Dressing

Ingredients:

• 1  6 oz container Greek Strawberry Yogurt
•  1/4 cup Mayo
• 2 tablespoons Sour Cream
• 2 tablespoons Milk
• 3 tablespoons Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Poppy Seeds
• 1 tablespoon Sesame Seeds

Directions:

• Add all of these ingredients to your blender and mix completely
• Add to a mason jar for storage
• Keep in the refrigerator

**Notes

This recipe is adapted from one first shared by Carisbad Cravings.

As with anything with milk and other dairy, this dressing won’t last forever.  Its safe to use it for about a week.