The best salads start in the laundry room. Temperatures outside are rising and kitchens are heating up all over America. It’s time once again for those crisp green salads to dominate our dinner plates. I always tell people that the key to getting more veggies into your diet is to be prepared, and the tip I’m going to give you today will quite possibly knock your socks off.
As much as possible, I much prefer to grow my own lettuce or to purchase my greens from a local farmer’s market. And, if you are eating as many greens as you should be, you go through a lot of lettuce!
I have a trick that allows you to prepare enough lettuce for two weeks, all at one time. Not only that, but it’s going to stay fresh in the fridge for as long (or longer!) than those bagged salad mixes, and you will know exactly where it came from. This method will allow you to keep large lettuce leaves intact so that you can use them for wraps (whether you’re gluten free, paleo or a low carber, this is a great faux wrap trick!)
Now, here’s how it’s done.
1. Fill the sink with cold water.
2. Remove the leaves from your heads of lettuce, discarding the cores and putting the leaves in the cold water.
3. Swish the leaves around a bit and help loosen the dirt. After a few minutes, the dirt will start to sink to the bottom.
4. While the leaves are soaking, go and find your mesh laundry bag that you use for washing bras and other delicates. Seriously. Go get that.
5. Gently place the lettuce leaves in the laundry bag.
6. Place the laundry bag in your washing machine and close the door.
7. Turn on the spin cycle and let the washer do its thang.
8. Place the perfectly dried lettuce in zipper bags with a piece of paper towel inside the bag to absorb any moisture (this prevents your lettuce from wilting).
9. Remove from the refrigerator as needed!
Who would have thought you had the World’s biggest salad spinner right there in your laundry room all this time? Spinning lettuce this way gets it much dryer than your kitchen salad spinner will, and it also allows you to spin more at once.
More from dinner diva leanne ely at SavingDinner.com.
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