It's all about the lettuce. The art of the simple sandwich.

Like many of you, my wife and I have recently tightened our belts, and to be honest I don't miss eating out (for lunch anyway). Because of this, I have rediscovered the simple sandwich. Eating something similar everyday for lunch is never a good thing, but when you can make it taste better by adding texture, you will get more mileage out of it. Iceberg lettuce cut in such a way provides what I need.

For reasons unknown to me, I stopped buying iceberg lettuce and opted for spinach, romaine, or mixed greens. It wasn't until my wife and I walked into a grocery store with only $19 and needed groceries for a week, that I came crawling back to the iceberg. With a little prep time I had big crunch for the rest of the week.

I have only seen sandwich shops take lettuce off by the layer or dice it up so much that it looks like confetti. Sandwich shop lettuce just felt like a filler, but it does not have to be!

The last thing I want to do is sound pretentious, especially about something as simple as cutting a head of lettuce, but previous to the last few weeks, I didn't take much thought or care into lettuce preparation. First things first, cut off the unpleasantries. 

Halve then quarter the head and store in an air tight container for future use.

For the sandwich, cut about a half inch of the quartered lettuce and keep it in tact as this is what provides the crunch. Add it to your favorite sandwich for a serious upgrade in texture. I would recommend cutting off the sandwich piece of lettuce only before consumption because the lettuce seems to last longer while in tact.