Lettuce wraps recipes

This lettuce wraps recipes suggests no salad is complete without some greens.

Perhaps more specifically no salad is complete without at least some lettuce. If you look carefully in the photo below you can count five different varieties that we are growing in our garden this summer.

Growing lettuce is so rewarding. You just pick a few leaves and it goes on producing for months. Rich in soluble fibre, the stuff that keeps you regular, and particularly in folate, that most important B-vitamin.

A divine salad starts with a bed of lettuce.

This page was last updated by Bernard Preston on 4th May, 2023.

Add to the lettuce your favourites; today I am enjoying apple, avocado for the good fat and hummus for a great vegetable-protein source. Radishes give it a bit of extra zing and of course a few olives for the perfect lunch.

Basic lettuce salad recipe

Notice the balance of this basic lettuce salad recipe. You could have cheese or slices of ham for protein. Remembering that one shouldn't have red meat more than once a day, and that is probably too much, our hummus recipe will enhance the flavour of your lunch; and provide the amino acids we need.

A squeeze of fresh lemon juice, dribble of olive oil and voila, you have had your five obligatory colours for the day. That's if you want to avoid tumours in soft, sensitive places.

How many calories are there in lettuce? Virtually zero, so you can add it to other starches to keep the glycemic index down. Here we have carbohydrate in our apple, radishes and avocado lunch.

They are all low glycemic stuff so you can certainly enjoy a slice or two of bread. The commercial loaf has a high GI, particularly the white slices which you should only eat on high and holy days. Treat yourself at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

That's unless you are obese and seriously trying to get those pounds off, in which case seriously limiting carbs like bread is important too.

Fat is vital in your lettuce wraps recipes; nutritious oils. There are none better than those in avocados, olives and tahini.

Lettuce wraps recipes

Lettuce wraps recipes finds it's a good way to lower the glycemic index of, say, any sandwich.

1. Peanut butter and lettuce

Probably my single best wrap is a bit odd; lettuce on a peanut butter sandwich.

I love peanut butter but it does two things to me. Indigestion heartburn and it sticks to the roof of my mouth, which irritates the heck out of me. But with lettuce it is a winner.

Lettuce wraps with peanut butter.

So here's a simple solution; add a leaf of lettuce. It helps sort out both problems.

More important perhaps is that commercial bread has a high glycemic index, but by adding protein, fat and the soluble fibre in lettuce it brings that GI of your snack back to normal.

Also adding that extra fibre reduces the weight gain associated with refined starches if you have a problem. Your lettuce slows gastric emptying which improves the satiety of the meal; you'll eat a bit less of everything. Bread is a very high calorie food, but in the overall context of a "Salad and Sandwich" lunch it is fine.

Lettuce wraps peanut butter sandwich

Doesn't look that exciting, but surround it a salad and it makes a fine lunch; especially if you also have a tablespoon of hummus.

2. Lettuce and hummus

Lettuce wraps recipe with hummus

Remember, the big sentiment of this site is not pretty meals, but good food made fast; and then eaten slowly, savouring each mouthful. Chewing thoroughly is an important part of any meal. Lettuce and hummus make a wonderful combination, but now add not just tomato but also radishes, spring onions and avocado; and a heap of other coloured salads.

Remember those enjoying eight coloured foods most days have a 35% lower all-cause of death; that's massive.

Seriously most of us just don't make the time, so it is either fast food or some junk thrown together. Putting five leaves of lettuce on a plate and adding a dab of this or that takes no effort at all.

We have homemade hummus virtually every single day, so it is no sweat hauling it out of the fridge. I have just strained the chickpeas after pressure cooking for today's hummus.

Thereafter, I have it down to a fine art; only four minutes to make our authentic hummus recipe.

Tahini

Lettuce wraps recipe with tahini.

Wonderful tahini is a basic to the Mediterranean way. Made from sesame seeds in a jiffy it's both nutritious and very tasty; like peanut butter, only nicer in my opinion. High in the essential amino acid methionine and the important fatty acids, it turns lettuce wraps recipes into winners.

You can make tahini with either raw or lightly toasted sesame seeds. Both have their merits. But actually it's one of those condiments that is probably worth purchasing from your local Lebanese store.

There are many lettuce wraps recipes. I have dozens more, just visit us again in week or so; good food, made fast.

Growing lettuce

Wanna make top notch lettuce wraps recipes? Consider growing lettuce yourself. Nothing could be easier.

The most difficult decision is which type to choose. I like this butterhead lettuce; you can pick leaves every day and it just keeps on growing.

At least once a month, plant a few lettuce seeds, or a punnet of vigorous young herbs; don't pull it out when your reap, just a few leaves every day.

Lettuce seeds

 The key is to drop some lettuce seeds every month or so into the ground; it's as easy as that. Keep them moist and perhaps if you are totally a greenie and feed them worm wee, then you will be plucking fresh leaves for your lunch food every day within a few weeks.

Is it really that onerous to draw a line in the earth, drop in 20 seeds, cover them and water your prospective lunch food?

Easy composting will give you a few tips; the nutrition of your lettuce wraps will only be as good as the vitality of your soil.

Lettuce seedlings monthly

Cardiovascular homocysteine explains how the folate in lettuce helps to reduce this toxic intermediate from protein metabolism.

Lunch food

Lettuce is lunch food and so is bread too, of course. Did you know that it takes only six minutes to bake a loaf with the aid of an inexpensive little oven? Well, it does then take five hours to cook.

Delicious homemade Panera bread menu recipes are for every home.

Nothing beats a slice of fresh homemade bread, lightly buttered, a few slithers of cheddar and smeared with your own pesto. It's a meal in itself; add a leaf of lettuce too, if you like.

These lettuce wraps recipes go perfectly into any easy lunch recipes box.

Panera bread pan

Add your favourite seeds, like poppy, sunflower and pumpkin; and I always use a tablespoon of freshly-ground flax for omega 3. There are no preservatives or chemicals in our artisan bread, and no heartburn; just a plain low GI fresh loaf every day.

What are lignans is a very important concept to have some understanding of; they help prevent breast tumours and cardiovascular disease.

Lignans in true wholegrain flour are the reason that just one helping per day reduces the prevalence of a malignant breast tumour by a massive 50%[4].

Condiments

Bread and pesto

There are three reasons why I used to find a lettuce salad very dull; the first is that it was never enjoyed with any condiments. Now we flavour it every day with our homemade basil pesto, authentic hummus or just olive oil; and lemon juice.

It takes only five minutes to throw together a delicious nutritious sauce to invigorate your lettuce wraps recipes. 

Sweet basil is my all-time favourite herb, and it's so easy to grow. Seriously, it takes only five minutes to toast a tablespoon of pinenuts and whizz them up with olive oil; and a chunk of feta or Parmesan cheese.

The second reason why I found a lettuce salad boring, was it usually consisted of only Iceberg and tomato; I mean, what could possibly be more dull? Of course, no one enjoys it.

And thirdly, boring wilted lettuce, often days old, is most unappetising. Growing your own greens and a heap of other salads and herbs is the solution. Otherwise it's a serious deficiency of many vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals; that means inflammation, pain and umpteen visits to the doctor. 

Just read about the details at lettuce nutritional value. The improvement in your children's school performance alone makes the green journey worthwhile; dinkum!

Bernard Preston

Bernard Preston is a food lover but, as a semi-retired DC, he's always looking for ways to keep the waistline in trim without sacrificing great taste; lettuce wraps recipes is just one of his many little tips.

Picking perhaps two leaves every day from say half a dozen plants in the garden means you will have a ready source of folate to enable your kids in class every day. They will last for at least 6 weeks and usually longer. Set ten seeds every month.

Lettuce needs to be recaptured from those who denigrate it in the media, ignoramuses who have no idea how easy it is to grow; or how important in the well-being of each of us it is.

The green journey has been one of the highlights of Preston's retirement, and in fact, looking back, his whole life; it started in small ways coming to fulfilment in the latter days.

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