What Can I Do With Extra Lettuce From My Garden?

1. I love me some salad, but I’m also kind of a big baby when it comes to eating them.
2. Turn ‘Em into Juice or Smoothies.
3. Use Them in Sautés & Stir Fries.
4. Make ‘Em into Slaw.
5. Make Lettuce Soup.
6. Get Fancy & Make Lettuce Sauce.
7. Make Lettuce Wraps.

What can I do with lettuce waste?

Salvage leafy greens before they go bad.
If your household is a fan of smoothies, use an ice cube tray to turn salad mix into ice cubes. If smoothies aren’t your favorite, turn the greens into a quick sauce like Pesto or Palak ka Saag [both recipes are in the book].

Can you freeze lettuce?

Can you freeze lettuce? Not if you want to make tossed salad with the thawed out product. But for cooking and flavoring uses, yes, you can freeze lettuce. The reason you won’t be able to use the frozen lettuce to make salads is because the freezing process causes ice crystals to form in plant cells.

How do you use fresh lettuce from the garden?

Any sandwich or wrap can use some lettuce, or you can use individual lettuce leaves as wraps for cold salads or Thai-style spiced meat or tofu mixtures. You also can cook excess lettuce in soups, on the grill, or you can try garlicky stir-fried lettuce, which works especially well with butterhead types.

What can you do with lettuce besides salad?

10 Ways to Eat Lettuce Besides Salad

• Soup. Lettuce and soup?
• Juice. We all know that lettuce contains a lot of water, so take advantage of that and throw it into your next juice blend or smoothie.
• As lettuce wraps.
• Seared or sautéed.
• Grilled.
• Braised.
• Topped like a cracker.
• Layered into spring rolls and wraps.

How do you preserve lettuce?

To store a full head of lettuce, wrap in a damp paper towel and put the head inside a plastic bag. Store in the refrigerator. If you’re storing individual lettuce leaves, spin them dry after washing and place in a lettuce keeper in the fridge. A container is best to avoid bruising and bacteria buildup.

What can I do with too much salad?

Four ways to use leftover salad

1. Put an egg on it. When in doubt, put a fried egg on it.
2. Blend it into a soup. I love blending leftover salad, transforming it into a hearty soup.
3. Make a grilled cheese. Serves 1.
4. Go kuku! Turning a salad into a kuku is perhaps my very favorite way of embracing leftovers.

How do restaurants keep their lettuce so crisp?

But removing the air is exactly the opposite of what lettuce needs. Lettuce actually needs a good amount of airflow, in addition to a bit of moisture, in order to stay crisp. That’s why restaurants store their lettuce in special perforated bins that allow for air circulation while it’s held in the fridge.

Should you blanch lettuce before freezing?

It is possible to freeze lettuce, but you’ll need to blanch it before putting it into the freezer bag. This will help it retain its color and texture. Despite this, it will likely still be slimy when thawed. It will still work well as an ingredient in meals like stir-fries.

Can lettuce be cooked as a vegetable?

Most people wouldn’t think of iceberg lettuce as a vegetable for stir-frying, but its crunchy texture when raw, yields a wonderfully cooked vegetable. Because they’re porous enough, the leaves will take on any flavoring or sauce you might use.

Should lettuce be washed before storing?

When you buy bags or boxes of loose-leaf lettuce, such as spinach, arugula and mesclun mix, it’s typically pre-washed and sorted. However, it’s a good idea to pick through the lettuce and remove any damaged leaves, then give it a good rinse to wash away dirt and potential harmful bacteria (such as E. coli).

Is homegrown lettuce safe to eat?

Heads of lettuce are still susceptible to contaminants that enter through their roots, however. hydroponically grown greens (greens not grown in soil or fields) are safer, as long as the water used to irrigate them is clean. Organic produce is a safer choice, but not free from risk.

Can you cook garden lettuce?

It might sound strange if you’re used to eating fresh greens in salads (and most of us are). But there is absolutely no reason not to grill or cook your lettuce. Heartier varieties—like romaine, escarole, and endive—stand up just fine to a little heat.

Can you cook lettuce like spinach?

Sautéed Lettuce
You can use any type of salad greens for this recipe that you happen to have in your fridge: romaine, spring mix, iceberg lettuce, baby spinach, you name it – it will work with all types of lettuce! Super easy recipe, you’ll love it! It will taste similar to sautéed spinach!

What can I do with a lot of iceberg lettuce?

Iceberg lettuce recipes

1. Iceberg salad with Roquefort dressing & bacon.
2. Iceberg wedge salad with blue cheese dressing.
3. Iceberg with yogurt dressing.
4. Stir-fried lettuce.
5. Green salad with buttermilk dressing.
6. Ginger turkey lettuce wraps.
7. The big double cheeseburger & secret sauce.
8. Ginger beef lettuce wraps.

Can dogs eat lettuce?

In general, yes. Lettuce of the romaine, arugula, and iceberg variety do not contain anything that can really harm your dog. After all, it is 90 percent water. It’s also a low-calorie snack that could be a good training treat for an overweight dog.

Can you freeze a bag of lettuce?

Can you freeze bagged lettuce? Yes, it is possible to freeze pre-packaged lettuce that you have purchased at your local grocery store.

How do you dry lettuce?

Place a clean dish towel or paper towels over a rimmed baking sheet (or just right on your table). Spread the leaves over the towel and let them air dry for about half an hour or or so. That’s it. If they’re extra wet, you can blot them a bit with another towel before leaving them to air dry.

How do you wash lettuce and keep it crisp?

WASH OR DON’T WASH ROMAINE LETTUCE
If you prefer to wash it before putting it away, separate leaves from the heart. After a gentle rinse, pat the romaine dry, tightly seal in a plastic bag, and store in the crisper drawer.

What happens if you eat too much lettuce?

One benefit of eating extra lettuce is boosting your fiber consumption, which is important because most Americans only consume about half of their recommended intake. But you should add fiber gradually. Suddenly eating more than your body is used to digesting can cause stomach pain, gas, bloating and diarrhea.

Can you dehydrate lettuce?

Yes, you can. Especially if your oven has a dehydrating feature. The thing to watch out for in a regular oven is getting the temperature low enough as to not cook or burn the lettuce, but to dry it out.