Home grown Lettuce with Homemade Dressing

Photo by Jerry Apps

As I am cutting lettuce in my garden this morning, my mind goes back to the days when I was a kid, helping my mother with her big garden. Her garden grew just to the north of our farmhouse, along the south side of our 20-acre woodlot.

Leaf lettuce was one of the earliest crops we harvested. I don’t remember that my mother ever bought head lettuce—or if head lettuce was even available in the grocery stores when I was a kid.

Once the lettuce was cut, Ma washed it, put it in a big bowl, made her own special dressing and we dug in. Nothing tasted better, as we had been accustomed to eating the canned vegetables that Ma had put up the previous fall. About all we had eaten fresh up to this time in spring, had been asparagus and rhubarb. Fresh strawberries were next, but that is another story.

For those who grow their own garden, and many do these days, here is my mother’s special recipe. The store-bought dressing is okay, but the homemade type, especially my mother’s home recipe is just the best.

Leaf Lettuce Salad
4-6 cups of leaf lettuce
¼ cup evaporated milk
1 Tablespoon sugar
5 teaspoons vinegar
¼ teaspoon pepper

Wash and dry lettuce and place in a serving bowl. In a separate small bowl, stir together evaporated milk and sugar. Add vinegar and stir until mixture thickens. Add pepper. Pour mixture over lettuce and serve immediately.

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Homegrown lettuce; homemade dressing. The best.

WHERE TO BUY MY BOOKS AND DVDS.

This recipe and other garden recipes are in my book: Garden Wisdom. It, along with my other books, is available at your local bookstore or from the Friends of the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose—a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

If you live in the western part of the state, stop at Ruth’s home town, Westby and visit Dregne’s.. They have a great selection of my books for sale, or order a book by calling them at 1-877-634-4414.