This Week's Healthiest Food - ROMAINE LETTUCE

[rockinrobin]

http://www.whfoods.com/index.html?PH...68e93580e

Love it! I buy the hearts, they come in a package of 3. So easy to clean. It is the bulk of most of my salads. Even when I make a salad using European greens or baby spinach, I always throw some romaine in there. It's also great for tuna wraps. And turkey breast wraps.

6 calories for 2 cups. And relatively inexpensive. I mean, come on. It's great stuff. I couldn't imagine living this healthy lifestyle without it.

[meowee]

It's my second choice for salads -- baby spinach comes first -- but romaine is great.

[nelie]

I used to eat a lot of it but found it was easier/quicker to just use precleaned baby spinach.

[Fat Chick B Gone]

I love Romaine - it's my favorite! Generally not that expensive either - win win!

[LLV]

This is a newfound love of mine. I used to DESPISE any lettuce except iceberg. And I especially hated romaine because I just couldn't get past the sticky-uppy 'ribs' down the center of each leaf. I still don't like the real dark and leafy pieces, but I love the hearts. I too buy them in the packs of 3 and use that as well as baby spinach (which I've always loved) for my salads. I still also love iceberg and mix some of that in as well. But at least my salads now are a mix of lettuces instead of all iceberg.

[Czarria]

i love romaine. I need to dig up this recipe I have for rosemary grilled chicken on romaine.. it's amazing. I loathe iceberg, but will eat it in a pinch, and I hate endive. Ugh. But romaine..hmm..

[friendlykat4u]

I love all leafy greens, but I gotta say romaine is one of my favorites. Like rockingrobin says, I can't imagine living w/o it.

I use it on wraps, salads, shredded on top of vegetarian chili, I make a couscous salad with shrimp/cilantro/romaine that's out of this world. And let's face it, there would be no ceasar salad w/o it!

Here's a quote from WholeHealthMD:

"As a general rule, the darker green the leaves, the more nutritious the salad green. For example, romaine or watercress have seven to eight times as much beta-carotene, and two to four times the calcium, and twice the amount of potassium as iceberg lettuce. By varying the greens in your salads, you can enhance the nutritional content as well as vary the tastes and textures."

[cbmare]

I've found that it can be bitter depending on the time of year. It's starting to come in around here. I paid 69 cents for a huge head of it. Up until last week I bought the prepackaged stuff because a head of it was around $3!

Fit Day says that 2 cups shredded is 16 cals. That is quite a bit of shredded lettuce for only 16 cals.

[retiredone]

My aunt used to cook the outer dark green leaves just as you would greens. I've never had it cooked but use it all the time in salads and sandwiches. I have 2 bunches in the frig right now with lots of outer dark green leaves. Maybe I'll cook a few to try it out. I'll get back with the results.

OK, this is tomorrow and I've cooked the outer leaves of the Romaine lettuce just to see how it tastes and turns out and I'm pleasantly surprised. It's very nice as cooked greens-mild and the stems are still a bit crunchy. I steamed it for a few minutes and had it with my dinner. See the attached picture.

[cbmare]

Whenever I have a lot of lettuce that is on the last legs, I'll steam them with some garlic with a bit of chicken broth. It makes a nice side dish. I used to braise an entire head of lettuce for my familiy to have as a different side dish.

[BlueToBlue]

Iceberg will always be #1 with me, but romaine is a close second (along with arugula). I like the fact that it holds up well with dressing on it, whereas some of the other non-iceberg varieties of lettuce can get a little wilty pretty quickly.

[LLV]

And never fear, iceberg lettuce ISN'T as nutritionally deficient as everyone would like to believe. I too am an iceberg junky.

http://www.dietdetective.com/content/view/3164/3/

[friendlykat4u]

Originally Posted by retiredone

My aunt used to cook the outer dark green leaves just as you would greens. I've never had it cooked but use it all the time in salads and sandwiches. I have 2 bunches in the frig right now with lots of outer dark green leaves. Maybe I'll cook a few to try it out. I'll get back with the results.

OK, this is tomorrow and I've cooked the outer leaves of the Romaine lettuce just to see how it tastes and turns out and I'm pleasantly surprised. It's very nice as cooked greens-mild and the stems are still a bit crunchy. I steamed it for a few minutes and had it with my dinner. See the attached picture.

Wow, I'd have never thought of doing that. I'm going to have to give it a try. I have seen on TV where they grill it, I bet that is good too, I love anything grilled.

[BlueToBlue]

Originally Posted by LLV

And never fear, iceberg lettuce ISN'T as nutritionally deficient as everyone would like to believe. I too am an iceberg junky.

http://www.dietdetective.com/content/view/3164/3/

Ha! I knew it! I've always said that even iceberg lettuce is roughage, so it couldn't be completely devoid of nutrition. And it's 95% water; water is good for you. Finally my iceberg lettuce habit is justified! Thanks, LLV, I'm definitely going to bookmark that page.

[LLV]

Originally Posted by BlueToBlue

Ha! I knew it! I've always said that even iceberg lettuce is roughage, so it couldn't be completely devoid of nutrition. And it's 95% water; water is good for you. Finally my iceberg lettuce habit is justified! Thanks, LLV, I'm definitely going to bookmark that page.

You're very welcome. I was happy to read that as well, since all the time people are saying, "Why oh why do you eat iceberg lettuce, it has no nutritional value whatsoever!"

Well, yes it does. And even when I thought it didn't, I didn't care because it was something I could pile high and make a meal out of with very few calories.