Central American Salad In A Jar

Today we’re tapping into my Central American roots with a Central American Salad In A Jar! Sweet, savory, creamy, crunchy. Serve it as a side when grilling out with family this summer, or pack it up into jars and take it with you on-the-go!

When it comes to healthy eating, it’s all about making easy recipes with fresh and quality ingredients. Especially now that back-to-school season is approaching! Not that I have kids going back to school, or really know anything about the chaos of that season….but it seems that everything just gets busier this time of year! Am I right??

For this recipe, I wanted to find really good and fresh peaches. I actually have a pretty hard time finding fresh peaches (ohhhh the struggles….) because it seems that they’re always super overripe!

I was so happy when I found them in perfectly ripe and fresh condition at Kroger, who also happens to have an amazing selection of locally sourced produced! It’s the best for when you’re needing fresh and local products.

Not to mention they have an awesome rewards program that allows you to download digital coupons and earn points towards their fuel program with any purchase, letting you save on fuel just by buying what you always use! This is super exciting for Cody and I since we have lots of road trips coming up (as always).

While I was there I also loaded up on some road trip snacks! Because, let’s face it, what’s a road trip without snacks? In this case, I prepared for a healthy road trip with delicious energy bars and berries. If you’re going on a road trip soon, head over to Kroger to load up on healthy snacks, sign up for a shopper card, and grab some fresh peaches to make this delicious Central American Salad In A Jar!

So the parts of this salad that I consider “Central American” are the black beans, the queso panela, avocado, and quinoa. Quinoa is definitely not latin (haha), but I used it as a healthier alternative to rice! I grew up eating Gallo Pinto almost every day, which is a combination of those ingredients.

This healthy Central American Salad In A Jar is a little taste of home and sweet times with my family!

I added a little bit of a twist to this salad by creating a peach salsa because SUMMER, y’all! In making this salad, start with the peach salsa. Finely chop the peaches and tomatoes, add the chia seeds, and place them in the jar first. Then add the quinoa, black beans, avocado, queso panela, and finely chopped lettuce. Done! SO easy, right?

Here’s the delicious recipe:

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Print Recipe

Central American Salad In A Jar

Vegetarian, Gluten-Free

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 2

Calories: 525 kcal

Author: Christine McMichael

Ingredients

• 2 peaches2 peaches
• 5 grape tomatoes5 grape tomatoes
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds1 Tbsp chia seeds
• 1 avocado1 avocado
• 1/4 cup quinoa1/4 cup quinoa
• 1 cup Simple Truth Organic™ black beans1 cup Simple Truth Organic™ black beans
• 2 oz . queso panela2 oz . queso panela
• 2 cups finely chopped lettuce2 cups finely chopped lettuce

Instructions

• Finely chop the peaches and grape tomatoes. Add chia seeds to the salsa.
• Cook the quinoa according to directions. While the quinoa is cooking, chop the avocado and lettuce.
• In a jar, layer the salad by filling the jar with the peach salsa first. Then add the quinoa, black beans, avocado, queso, and lettuce.
• Refrigerate until ready to serve. Pour out the salad into a bowl and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 525 kcal | Carbohydrates: 64 g | Protein: 23 g | Fat: 22 g | Sugar: 16 g

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