10 facts about salad:
1. Salad comes from the Latin word “herba salta” or “salted herbs,” so called because such greens were usually seasoned with dressings containing lots of salt.
2. Lettuce is a member of the sunflower family.
3. The lettuce we see today actually started out as a weed around the Mediterranean basin.
4. Christopher Columbus introduced lettuce to the Americas.
5. The original wild lettuce “Lactuca serriola” was known as “prickly lettuce” and grown for medicinal purposes as it contained a milky sap which has mild sleep-inducing properties.
6. Lettuce is the second most popular fresh vegetable in the US behind potatoes.
7. The average American eats approximately 30 pounds of lettuce each year, which is five times what was eaten in 1900.
8. Lettuce was first eaten by the ancient kings of Persia 2,500 years ago.
9. The ancient Greeks and Romans thought that eating lettuce helped you to have a good night’s sleep.
10. In ancient Egypt, lettuce was considered to be a powerful aphrodisiac and was thus sacred to the fertility god Min.
Ingredients :
9 lasagna noodles
4 boneless chicken breast, cut into small cubes
12 oz. bag frozen broccoli, thawed
8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 C. grated Parmesan cheese
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp. plus 1 T. salt
1 C. chicken stock
1 1/2 C. whole milk
1 tsp. dried basil
2 T. olive oil
5 T. butter
5 T. flour
DIRECTIONS:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add in 1 T. salt and the noodles. Cook for 7-8 minutes until tender. Drain, run cold water over them to keep from sticking and set aside. In a medium skilled, heat the oil and sauté the chicken till cooked through, add in the broccoli, onions and garlic and cook till onions are translucent. Remove from heat and set aside. In another pot, melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Cook for 1 minute and add in the chicken stock and milk, whisking until the sauce begins to thicken. Cook until the sauce heavily coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in the basil, salt, parmesan cheese and 1/4 C. of mozzarella cheese. Add the chicken mixture to the sauce and combine well. Assemble...In a lightly greased 9 x 13 pan place a layer of the noodles, spoon an good even layer of the sauce mixture over the top and sprinkle with 1/4 of the remaining cheese. Repeat for a second layer ending with a top layer of noodles and then spoon any remaining sauce of the top and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
