
VEGETARIAN BLUEBERRY COBB SALAD IN A JAR
This fresh and delicious vegetarian blueberry cobb salad in a jar makes the perfect grab-and-go lunch for work or picnic or any adventure!
Ingredients
- 1 cup mixed greens
- 1/3 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup canned corn, drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup blueberries
- 1/4 large hass avocado, cubed
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons feta cheese, crumbled
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
Dressing Ingredients
- 1/2 cup blueberries, frozen
- 1 naval orange, juiced
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Instructions
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Heat a medium sized pot filled with water over medium-high heat. Add in your egg and bring the pot to a boil. Once boiling, take off heat, cover, and set a timer for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, drain the pot and rinse the egg under cold water. Crack your egg and carefully remove the shell. Chop into pieces.
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While the egg is cooking, blend together your Blueberry-Orange Balsamic Dressing in a blender. Blend on high until smooth.
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Add about 1-2 tablespoons of your dressing to the bottom of a large jar. Top with chickpeas, corn, blueberries, avocado, feta, hard boiled egg, salt, pepper, and lettuce (in that order.)
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When you are ready to eat, either shake up the jar and eat it, or pour it into a bowl.
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EAT UP.
I’ve been thinking about my body a lot recently. Which usually isn’t a good sign for me. Generally I can gauge my mental health by the amount of time in the day I spend thinking about my body. And I’ll admit that there have been quite a few times this week where my old negative mental cycle reared it’s ugly head, but for the most part this week I’ve started to think about my body differently.
I am currently reading Women Who Run With The Wolves : Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés. It’s not a book I’d recommend for *everyone* – I just don’t think all people will connect with they mythos of the book. But if you’re a woman (especially a highly creative one) there is the chance that this book will change your life. It’s currently changing mine.
I just read the chapter titled “Joyous Body : The Wild Flesh” and it sent me on a tailspin of thinking about bodies and ancestry and women and the ways in which our society tries to rob us of pride in our lineage. I am going to do a poor job of expressing to you just how powerful this text is, and how it has shifted my thoughts. So I thought I’d just share with you two of my favorite passages from this chapter of the book.
“We tend to think of body as this ‘other’ that does its thing somewhat without us, and that if we ‘treat’ it right, it will make us ‘feel good.’ Many people treat their bodies as if the body is a slave, or perhaps they even treat it well but demand it follow their wishes and whims as though it were a slave nonetheless.”
This quote spoke to me because I think it’s highly diagnostic of the problems within our health and wellness world. We (generalizing here) feed our body good, organic produce – maybe even a splash of been pollen here or there – and we expect it to conform. Conform to a size, a weight, a build, a lifestyle. We demand that our bodies produce and mold for us. But our body has a history of it’s own, long before we were born. My hips are my grandmothers hips who were probably her grandmothers hips. My jiggly arms are the same arms my mother hugs me tightly with. And I’d never ask either of those women to squeeze into a shape that wasn’t made for them. So why do I ask that of myself?
Pinkola Estés combats this societal misshaping with what she believes the body is meant for:
“There is no ‘supposed to be’ in bodies. The question is not size or shape or years of age, or even having two of everything, for some do not. But the wild issue is, does this body feel, does it have right connection to pleasure, to heart, to soul, to the wild? Does it have happiness, joy? Can it in its own way move, dance, jiggle, sway, thrust? Nothing else matters.”
To me this is health. That is the imagery of a healthy body. A healthy body isn’t made in the gym. It’s made in our soul. A healthy body isn’t one that shrinks in compliance with our wishes. A healthy body jiggles and dances and connects us to our hearts. A healthy body reminds us of who we are and where we have been.
In some silly way I started to compare the way society asks us to mold into certain shapes with the “jar salad” trend. You take a wild, unkempt salad – topped with anything and everything your heart wishes – and you force it to fit into a (probably too small) jar in perfect layers. I’m not saying that the Vegetarian Blueberry Cobb salad in a jar isn’t beautiful (it is.) And I’m not saying that it doesn’t make it easier to handle (it does.) But I am saying that it loses some of it’s wild beauty when you force it into compliance.
Our bodies are like that. They can be beautiful and easy for society to handle when we force them into (probably too small) jars. But there is a wildness hiding inside that is ready to spill out. There is a messy, unruly, and beautiful self that is just waiting for someone to see. So dump your jars out – spill your salads onto bowls or plates or right into your mouth. Notice the wild beauty. Eat it up. xoxo.
Olivia says
Love this post! And I’m gonna try the salad (but probably not in a jar).
Haley says
YAY! I hope you enjoy the salad in all of it’s wild glory, you beautiful wild woman. xoxo
Sandra Hunt (Gramma) says
What a joy it is to have your thoughts and your creative spirit right here with me through technology! The salad is beautiful, and made up of ingredients I keep on hand. Love it!
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Haley says
Thanks so much, Grandma! I love getting to connect with you through the internet. (You’re so hip!) I hope you enjoy the salad, and I love you to the moon. xoxo
Roshni says
Oh boy, this was so beautiful to read. I’m right there with you – I’ve been slipping this week and letting the negativity have a voice in my head, so this perspective was exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Haley says
Oh my goodness, of course! I’m so honored that it could help someone else to read this. It’s nice to have a support system when negative thoughts start playing in your head, and I’m so thankful I could have been apart of yours. xoxo
Michelle || Hummingbird High says
i love this. i think women are way too harsh on their bodies, and that book/you are right — there’s a long history that shapes every one of us, and it’s silly to try and conform them to the beauty ideals that are standard today. xo
Haley says
YES. Women are so so hard on themselves, and there is so little room in our society for different shapes and sizes. I find so much comfort in having other women next to me who support a different beauty ideal. We gotta stick together! xoxo
Kimberley says
Beautifully said! And yes to this salad. I love it.
Haley says
Thank you, Kimberley! That means so much to me. xoxo
bella | ful-filled says
I was hungry before reading this post and now I am really hungry! Love the gif Haley!
Haley says
YES GIRL! Getchu some salad! xoxo
Christiann Koepke says
This is so colorful and fun – perfect for summer!! -CK
Haley says
Yes yes yes! I love the colors of summer! xoxo