Oh No She Didn't!

Oh Yes! I. Did.

i might as well just tell you right now that this post is about lettuce.

That's right. You heard correctly. Lettuce.

You see I have lettuce issues. I like a good, fresh, crisp salad with lots of goodies on it. Peppers, avocados, tomato, cucumber, jicama, celery, and a few sprinkles of feta cheese and Tours Mix. (if you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and can get your hands on this mix, you won't be sorry...it is very enjoyable!)

Anyway, the base of a good salad is of course lettuce. For the record, I hate bagged salad, with the exception one you can buy at Costco called Grand Parisian which, quite frankly could convert any meat and potato eater into a gen-u-ine rabbit, I guarantee. But I digress...

The thing about bagged salad is that it always seems to go bad, very quickly. And because I eat salads just about everyday, either as a lunch with lots of hearty stuff on it or as a side with dinner, I have to buy several bags to get me through the week. Which means that the first two bags remain good and tasty but the third always ends up slimy and gross, and as you know, my fridge doesn't need anything else slimy and gross.

A couple years ago I started buying one Romaine lettuce and one Red Leaf. The great thing about buying lettuce like this is that you get 3 times as much for the money and it lasts longer. The down side? You have to wash it yourself. Which is a total bummer. ( Don't you feel sorry for me?)

You have to get the leaves dry or else they will spoil in the fridge and I have long said I should buy a salad spinner but, for some reason, I always forget. OK, actually the truth is that I am cheap and when I look at spinners that are $25 bucks I tend to think they are over rated...until I need dry lettuce.

I had seen one of my fave cooking show hosts (back in the cable days) Alton Brown put his washed lettuce in a pillow case and used the spin cycle on his washing machine to dry the leaves. I had decided that I would never do this because, 98% of the time, my washing machine is filled with the clothes a 10 year old boy. Not something I would want to mix with my salad.

Yesterday, I was desperate. I couldn't stand the thought of using twenty-whole-minutes hand drying lettuce using fourteen kitchen towels, because, 1. I just got caught up in laundry and, 2. I could use some of that time to blog this urgent and important homemaker tip to the Internet.

So, I put my lettuce in a clean pillowcase and gave it a whirl in the old Kenmore. And! It! Worked!!

I had to re-arrange it and turn it over a couple of times, but it was so easy! The lettuce didn't crush or get loose in the washer and now it is all happy and crisp in my fridge, just waiting for lunch time!

You know there are things I never thought I would find exciting in the homemakers life, certainly putting your lettuce in the wash is one of those things, but in home making and parenting I have learned to never say never!

La Vida Dulce!