Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Lunch in a Jar: 5 Favorite Salads

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When it comes to packing your favorite salads in a jar, the Wide Mouth jar is a must!

If you look around on Pinterest, you’ll find dozens of great ideas for packing salads in wide mouth jars. It’s a fun idea and an easy way to pack nourishment in a lunch box.

As for me, I tend to stick with our family’s salad favorites. I always have the ingredients for these on hand, and even these five salad ideas provide plenty of variety! We’ve been known to eat salad on the soccer field, in the basketball bleachers, and in the mini van going to and fro.

Many suggest putting salad dressing in the bottom of the salad jar, then shaking it up before eating. Genius! Another idea is to pack the dressing in a smaller, separate jar so the greens and other veggies don’t become soggy before you’re ready to eat. These tiny 4-ounce jars are my preference for salad dressings on the side. Quart sized wide mouth jars are my preference for the salads themselves.

—-> Did you see the fun list of supplies and jars I recommend for packing lunches? <—–

5 Favorite Salads to Pack in Jars

Pack any of your favorites, and try a few new ones too! (Don’t forget to pack a fork.) ;)

5 Favorite Homemade Salad Dressing Ideas

When you made your salad dressing at home, you can be sure you include healthy ingredients you feel good about. Plus, homemade salad dressing is tough to beat when it comes to flavor and freshness! Here is a list of my family’s favorites:

Great add-ins to your Salad Lunches in a Jar

We’ve got 10 super fun Lunch in a Jar ideas to share this month – perfect for your Back to School lunchbox! Subscribe here so you won’t miss a post!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Lunch in a Jar: Burrito Bowl

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Today’s “Lunch in a Jar” idea might sound like a strange one. But trust me when I say that a Burrito Bowl packed in a jar and taken on the road or for a work or school lunch is extremely tasty!

It’s also wonderful because it’s a great change of pace if you’re tired of sandwiches or other “normal” sack lunch foods. We’ve found that a Burrito Bowl packed in a jar tastes great hot or cold. So if you have a way to warm up your food at work or school, go for it! But if not, this Burrito Bowl will still taste great as is!

The beauty of the Burrito Bowl is that it can be made per each person’s preference. Not a fan of olives? (Me neither.) Leave them out. Love extra spice? Go nuts with the salsa or hot sauce! Everyone can build their Burrito Bowl the way they love without any extra effort!

Lunch in a Jar: Burrito Bowl

Here are the food items we like on our burrito bar:

  • Salsa Chicken
  • Seasoned Hamburger Meat
  • Brown Rice (seasoned with chili powder, garlic powder, salt, and a splash of lime juice)
  • Black Beans and or Pinto Beans
  • Salsa
  • Guacamole
  • Sauted onions and peppers
  • Mixed Greens or Spinach
  • Shredded Cheese
  • Tomatoes
  • Olives
  • Corn
  • Sour Cream

Each person can fill their bowls or jars any way they like. Stir it together and you’ve got a great meal. Make several jars ahead of time to pull out and pack to go as needed!

—-> Did you see the fun list of supplies and jars I recommend for packing lunches? <—–

Great add-ins to your Burrito Bowl Lunch in a Jar

We’ve got 10 super fun Lunch in a Jar ideas to share this month – perfect for your Back to School lunchbox! Subscribe here so you won’t miss a post!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Lunch in a Jar: Tuna Salad & Crackers

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It’s one of the most basic, simple foods. But still, Tuna Salad & Crackers is one of my favorite lunches to pack in a jar and take on the road.

You might remember that I shared our favorite Tuna Salad recipe last month when talking about these Tuna Salad Wraps. I’ll share the recipe again below, just to make it simple for all of us to quickly stir together tuna salad!

Lunch in a Jar: Tuna Salad & Crackers

Lunch in a Jar: Tuna Salad & Crackers
 
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Author:
Serves: 1-2
Ingredients
  • 6-ounce can tuna in water, drained
  • 3 Tablespoons mayonnaise (I use Hain Safflower mayo)
  • 2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
  • Dash of sea salt
Instructions
  1. Mix tuna, mayo, pickle relish, and salt until well combined.
  2. Transfer to 4 or 8 ounce jars to pack in lunches.

Send along your favorite crackers with the jar of Tuna Salad. Crackers are great tuna scoopers! I love this lunch with a side of fresh fruits and veggies!

Our Favorite Ingredients to use in Tuna Salad:

Best Jars to use for Tuna Salad in a LunchBox:

  • 8-ounce wide mouth jars
  • Or these 8-ounce wide mouth jars
  • Tiny 4-ounce jars for smaller appetites


—-> Did you see the fun list of supplies and jars I recommend for packing lunches? <—–

Great add-ins to your Tuna with Crackers Lunch in a Jar

Not a fan of Tuna Salad? Use this same idea but make Chicken Salad instead!

We’ve got 10 super fun Lunch in a Jar ideas to share this month – perfect for your Back to School lunchbox! Subscribe here so you won’t miss a post!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Lunch Box Scripture Cards FREE Printable!

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Want to remind your family of God’s Truth throughout the day? Yes! That’s why we created these Lunch Box Scripture Cards for you to use!

I’ve become convinced that filling our homes, our cars, our walls, our pockets, and yep, even our lunch boxes with scripture is a huge game changer as we seek Truth and comfort throughout our days.

These scripture cards are completely free, and yours to use in whatever ways you can think of to encourage people. We created them especially for you to put in your family’s lunch boxes so they can be encouraged throughout the day. But I bet you can come up with plenty of other ideas to use them for encouraging people too!

So enjoy! Get access to these (and many other free printables) here.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Super Moist Flourless Brownie Muffins – Perfect for a Lunch Box!

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Would someone please stop me from eating all of these Flourless Brownie Muffins?

Just kidding. I’d actually like to keep eating them.

And also, I can let the kids eat all the Flourless Brownie Muffins they want because there is no reason to hold back on these. Want a brownie for breakfast? Sure! Want three more brownies? Okeedokee. Ran out and need to bake more brownies? Shucks, don’t mind if I do.


It’s been so interesting to me since I posted these Super Moist Flourless Brownie and Super Moist Flourless Peanut Butter Brownie recipes. SO MANY people have had trouble with them turning out dry and crumbly. (This is the opposite of moist – what in the world?! I am baffled.)

I’ve been trying to trouble shoot and solve the mystery of this, because these recipes turn out great for me every single time! Is it my oven? It can’t possibly be that my oven works in these recipes and all other ovens don’t. Is it the temp? The time?

I do believe it’s the time. I shortened the baking time in the instructions, hoping that will make a big difference. I believe the trick to turning out perfect Super Moist Flourless Brownies is to pull them out of the oven when they are slightly underdone. If they bake too long, they will become dry and taste like burned nut butter. Meh.

So during my time of tweaking and trouble shooting, it occurred to me that I should try baking this recipe in muffin cups. Perhaps that would turn out Super Moist Flourless Brownie Muffins, I thought. Maybe if this recipe was baked in muffin cups, we could bake them for less time and avoid drying out our brownies.

Well, as it turned out, once again these Super Moist Flourless Brownie Muffins turned out perfect for me! So perfect, in fact, I had a difficult time staying out of them. “I just want one more. I can quit any time…”

As for baking time on these Super Moist Flourless Brownie Muffins, I’m going to recommend 12-15 minutes. They may look slightly underdone when you pull them out. But this is what will keep them gooey and delicious!

Super Moist Flourless Brownie Muffins

5.0 from 2 reviews
Super Moist Flourless Brownie Muffins - Perfect for a Lunch Box!
 
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Author:
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups (12-ounces) Peanut Butter or Almond Butter
  • ½ cup honey
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
  1. Stir all ingredients together until well combined.
  2. Scoop batter into 12 paper-lined muffins cups.
  3. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. (Remove them from the oven when they are just slightly underdone so they come out moist!)

I felt this recipe was worth sharing in the middle of my Lunch in a Jar series simply because these Super Moist Flourless Brownie Muffins are perfect for your Back to School Lunchbox! They are filling, nourishing, and fun!

Other Lunch Box ideas shared so far in this series:

Great add-ins to your Fruit with Dip Lunch in a Jar

We’ve got 10 super fun Lunch in a Jar ideas to share this month – perfect for your Back to School lunchbox! Subscribe here so you won’t miss a post!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Do You Journal? (These Make Great Gifts!)

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One of my favorite ways to have focused prayer time each morning is to write in a journal. There’s something very special about talking to God in this way as it helps me to stay focused. Plus it has been amazing to look back at past journal entries to see how God continues to do His work!

I’m writing today on behalf of Jofelo.com, a business that supplies handcrafted, vintage, leather-bound journals. Huge thanks to them for sponsoring this post!

I just received their Unwritten Journeys Luxury Gift Set and their Catcher Luxury Gift Set with Pen in the mail. Wow. They are of the highest quality. I am very impressed with how they look and call me crazy but I really, really love how they smell (mmm, genuine leather!).

I love that this one is called “Unwritten Journeys.” God knows our path, has prepared our path, and guides us on our path. Along this journey, we can write in our journals what He’s teaching us and how He is guiding us.

So regarding this, I believe these journals make great gifts for just about anyone. We’re all on a journey, are we not? So these journal gift sets make great gifts for:

  • Teachers as they enter a new school year
  • Students gearing up for a new school year
  • Graduates
  • Anyone who journals, men, women, young adults, and teens!

Seriously, I wish you could smell this journal through the screen. It’s obviously genuine, and I like that the pages are both blank (for sketching) and lined (for writing). They are gorgeous, practical, and beneficial in so many ways.

If you’re into journaling and want to gift others who are too, keep Jofelo.com in mind as a great option.

Here’s to a great new school year full of promise, and journals to help us document the journey!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Lunch in a Jar: Apples & Peanut Butter (And Other Fun Fruits and Dips)

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It only made sense to follow our Veggies with Dips in a Jar post with this Fruit with Dips in a Jar Post. The most basic idea along these lines: Apples & Peanut Butter.

Apples & Peanut Butter in a Jar

Just like the veggies, place your favorite fruit dip in the bottom of a small jar. Then put in your favorite fruit (apples work best for something like this!). Place the lid on the jar, pack, and take on the go. So, so simple!

—-> Did you see the fun list of supplies and jars I recommend for packing lunches? <—–

First up, if you’re going to pack Apples & Peanut Butter in a jar, you will need links to our favorite homemade peanut butters!

Don’t be intimidated by the idea of making peanut butter. It truly is remarkably easy! And fresh, homemade peanut butter tastes incredible!

Not up for making peanut butter? No problem. Though I do recommend that you avoid purchasing the varieties that contain hydrogenated oils and corn syrup. Choose a natural brand with few, wholesome ingredients.

Next, let’s talk about fruit.

Apples and grapes transport the best and work best for dipping. Bananas might require an 8-ounce wide mouth jar like this so you can spread the peanut butter or other dip on top. Blueberries are a good possibility too. Fresh pineapple, cut into thin slices, is a great option.

And now for the dips!

Fruit Dip Recipes to Pack in Jars

Great add-ins to your Fruit with Dip Lunch in a Jar

Up next, more “main dish” Lunch in a Jar ideas!

We’ve got 10 super fun Lunch in a Jar ideas to share this month – perfect for your Back to School lunchbox! Subscribe here so you won’t miss a post!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Lunch in a Jar: Veggies with Dip

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Hopefully you’ve already seen this genius idea for putting veggies with dip in a jar and packing it for lunch. This has become one of my favorite ways to eat well on the road!

Do you see that?

  1. You put Ranch Dip or Hummus or any of your favorite veggie dips into the bottom of small jar.
  2. Then you add your favorite raw veggies.
  3. Put on a lid and you’re good to go.

When it’s time to eat, your veggies are already dipped. Pick up a carrot, eat the carrot covered in dip. How can eating well get any easier than this?

—-> Did you see the fun list of supplies and jars I recommend for packing lunches? <—–

Our Favorite Veggie Dips to Pack in Lunches

Our Favorite Veggies to put with our Dips

  • Petite Baby Carrots (so much sweeter and easier to eat!)
  • Sliced Cucumbers
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Celery (ok, not really our favorite, but still worth adding it to the list in case it’s one of yours!)

Great add-ins to your Veggies with Dip Lunch in a Jar

We’ve got 10 super fun Lunch in a Jar ideas to share this month – perfect for your Back to School lunchbox! Subscribe here so you won’t miss a post!

Next up, fruits and dips. Wait until you see all the fun ideas!!

Some of these links are my affiliate links.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Lunch in a Jar: Popcorn Chicken with Ranch

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This month we’re talking about lunches that can be packed in jars to take on the road, to work, or to school. We’re about to get creative. Whose ready to pack some Popcorn Chicken with Ranch Dip?

Silly me. I forgot to pack the chicken in a jar the day I took these pictures. I grabbed a baggie instead. The ranch dip though? Well, it went into one of my favorite little 4-ounce jars. These jars are perfect for transporting dips and dressings!

—-> Did you see the fun list of supplies and jars I recommend for packing lunches? <—–

Here’s the thing about fried chicken: It’s good hot or cold. Therefore, we can make a big batch of Popcorn Chicken, separate it in jars or baggies to send in lunches to be eaten with dip. What a fun lunch!

Our Favorite Dips to Pack in Lunches

These dips can also be made ahead in big batches, then packaged in jars to grab and go. I love how easy this is!

You might remember Popcorn Chicken – one of the first recipes I shared here long ago. I’ll post it for you again here for easy access!

Simple Popcorn Chicken with Ranch

Lunch in a Jar: Popcorn Chicken with Ranch
 
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Author:
Serves: 3-6
Ingredients
  • 3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
  • ¾ cup whole grain flour
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • butter
Instructions
  1. In a medium sized bowl, stir together flour, salt and garlic powder.
  2. Using kitchen shears, cut chicken breasts into tiny bite sized pieces.
  3. Toss chicken in flour mixture to coat well.
  4. Smear a thick layer of butter on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  5. Pour coated chicken into dish, spreading so that they are in a single layer.
  6. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Stir chicken and bake another 10 minutes.

Need your chicken to be gluten free? Use your favorite gluten free flour. (I’ve made these successfully with Brown Rice Flour.)

Need Popcorn Chicken in large amounts (how well I understand!)? Double, triple, and quadruple this recipe without problem.

Want to really get ahead? Make this Popcorn Chicken in huge batches and freeze them. This will make packing lunches so easy!

Great add-ins to your Popcorn Chicken with Ranch Lunch

We’ve got 10 super fun Lunch in a Jar ideas to share this month – perfect for your Back to School lunchbox! Subscribe here so you won’t miss a post!

Some of these links are my affiliate links.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Do You Love the Pineapple?

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Look what just came out at Lilla Rose for August?!

Sizes are selling out quickly, so I wanted to let you now right away. :)

Take advantage of the August special while you’re at it. Lilla Rose!


Huge thanks to Paula at Lilla Rose for sponsorship and always letting us know the latest and greatest!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!