This recipe is a combination of two ideas that came from two different places.  The first is the salad in a jar idea which I discussed a few weeks ago and you can read about here.  The second is an idea for a Chinese chicken salad that I ate in the wee hours of the morning in a diner inside the old Boardwalk Hotel and Casino which used to be on the Strip in Las Vegas just north of the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino.

As I was beginning to attempt my first salad in a jar, I noticed that I had a full jar of ginger-sesame dressing.  That dressing made me think of the Chinese chicken salad I ate many years ago at the Boardwalk.  I thought about the ingredients and decided that if I arranged them correctly, they should make an acceptable combination for creating this salad inside of a quart-sized mason jar.

I began by pouring between 1/4 and 1/3 cup of the Asian flavored dressing into the bottom of the jar.

Next, I added 7 grape tomatoes on the bottom of the jar.

1/4 cup of julienne carrots were evenly distributed on top of that.

1/2 cup chopped cucumbers were next.

1/2 cup chopped cooked chicken

1/2 (11 ounce) can of mandarin oranges in light syrup, drained

1/4 cup blanched broccoli florets broken into small pieces

3 large radishes halved and thinly sliced

2 green onions (white and green parts) thinly sliced

chopped romaine lettuce to fill jar nearly to the top

1 handful of bean sprouts

I placed the  lid on jar and stored the salad upright in the fridge until the next morning when I loaded it upright into my lunch box.  At lunch time, when I was ready to serve my salad, I turned it upside down and let the dressing run through it. Then I dumped the whole thing into a large capacity bowl.

I packed a small bag containing about 1/2 cup of crunchy chow mein noodles with the salad in a jar and sprinkled them on top.

This salad was very good.  It held up well for two days in the fridge.  I don’t know how well sprouts would hold up over several days, so I made only two of these and we ate them quickly.

This makes a very large salad and is good for people with big appetites.  If your appetite isn’t so big, I suggest that you make the salad in a pint jar instead.  Just cut the ingredients in half, or you can do what I do.  I make the salad in a quart jar, and share it with a friend.