How to Cook: Grilled Turkey with Green Salad or Ensiladang Lechon Pabo

Saving money will always be the 'in' thing so eating home-cooked meals must become a habit. Working moms need not change their routine much to be able to squeeze in some cooking time. There are lots of quick and easy to prepare recipes to choose from. In under thirty minutes, a platter of nutritious and satisfying meal can be ready on the table.

Organize the shopping list before hitting the supermarket to buy food. Check out that the kitchen cupboard is well-stocked with vinegar, soy sauce, olive oil, and the usual spices like black and white pepper, garlic, or dried chili.

To make life simplier -- scrap all the spices above. Just bring home the good old jar of mayonnaise or a large tube of pre-mixed salad dressing. Spurting on a per serving basis is more frugal.

Next checkpoint is the refrigerator. Inspect the edible goodies and throw away the going-stale food to make room with the incoming fresh supplies.

Make sure the crisp box is clean and ready to be filled up with leafy lettuce and crunchy cucumber.

• Lettuce was depicted as sacred in the carvings at Senusret I Temple of Karnak during ancient times.
• In ancient Egypt, lettuce was deemed as an aphrodisiac.
• In ancient Greece, lettuce was used as a sleep-inducer herb.
• Lettuce was first cultivated by the Romans.
• Christopher Columbus brought lettuce into the New World.
• The Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans eat lettuce to get better sleep while the Yazidi people in northern Iraq is restricted from eating lettuce.

Lettuce is the leaf vegetable often found in hamburgers and green salads. It is often eaten raw after thorough washing.

A source of folic acid, antioxidants, Vitamins A and K, the lettuce has very low caloric content. The leafy vegetable also absorbs and concentrates lithium. The looseleaf lettuce like romaine and the lettuce with darker leaves taste more bitter but contain more of Vitamins C and A. The romaine and butterhead lettuces are notably richer in folate.

The term lettuce is derived from the Latin word ‘lac’ that means ‘milk’, which refers to milky juice secreted by the lettuce plant.

All types of lettuce contain lactucarium or ‘lettuce opium’ which is a mild substance with opiate-like qualities.

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is mostly green in color although hybrid types are now farm-cultivated to produce leaves with improved taste, shape, and color. Lettuce has different cultivar types but the most common are the romaine, looseleaf, butterhead, summer crisp, and crisphead.

Crisphead lettuce -- or Iceberg -- is also called and cabbage lettuce because it resembles the tight and dense head of a cabbage. This type of lettuce also has more water content and longer shelf life.

Icerberg is the most popular lettuce in the U.S. because most of the bitterness from the leaves have been removed through special breeding method. Butterhead lettuce has leaves with butter texture and popular in Europe.

The crunchy textured Summer Crisp lettuce (also called Batavia) is a cross between iceberg and looseleaf.

Only the Chinese lettuce is cooked. It is also called stem lettuce or celery lettuce (celtuce in English). In Chinese cuisine, the stem of the Chinese lettuce is also used along with the leaves in stews and stir-fried dishes. It has bitter and robust flavor unlike other lettuce types.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Turkey meat, shredded or cut into chunks
• 3 cups lettuce leaves, washed and drained
• ½ cup leeks, sliced thinly
• 1 tsp red chili (optional)

How to:

1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients.
2. Cover and chill inside the refrigerator.
3. Serve with thick slices of whole-grain bread and mayonnaise or salad dressing.

A lettuce sandwich can be made in several ways.

As bread lettuce sandwich, lettuce leaves are stuffed between two slices of bread.

As lettuce sandwich roll (or lettuce wrap), meat or veggie fillings are rolled or wrapped inside whole lettuce leaf. The tomato and lettuce sandwich roll is often included in the vegetarian diet.

The B.L.T. stands for Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato.

The BLT sandwich is known as a bacon sandwich made of 5 ingredients and very easy to prepare.

Just slap mayonnaise on a toasted bread. Add tomato slices, iceberg lettuce, and crisped bacon. Top with another slice of bread. Voila! Slice and serve a sandwich in 10 minutes flat.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1 small whole red onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red chili, finely chopped
• 1 stalk spring onion, chopped
• ½ tsp sugar
• 1 pinch salt and powdered white pepper

How to:

1. Mix all ingredients in a glass jar very thoroughly.
2. Cover and set aside overnight to let all the flavors blend together.