more lettuce

So we're in month 3? 4? of our organic veggie coop (Community-Supported Agriculture program, to be precise). We get a box of organic, locally-grown veggies (and a few fruits) each week. And the warm, superior feelings that do-gooding produces.
In general, it has been fabulous. We've tried a bunch of new veggies (turnips! Mizuna! Kale!) and greatly increased our veggie eating (which was pretty high). I know that our impact on the environment has gone down, and it feels good to support a local farm. It's nice not having to think about what veggies I want at the grocery store. And it's kind of a fun cooking challenge.

Now for the down side. For a while, I thought beets were going to be the Achilles heel of the whole arrangement. I like beets okay. Dyami hates (hates!) them. I would make them and eat more than I really wanted, and he would eat some and grimace. And when you're paying for the box o' veggies, it's a bit expensive, and is a shame to waste the perfectly good food.
But then Dyami tried juicing the beets! Which uses them efficiently and he likes them fine, and I like it okay, and I don't have to roast them anymore! And he's even using a few carrots to boot!

So now that that's solved, my only problem is lettuce.
Lots and lots (and lots) of lettuce. God. The lettuce.

When we first joined, we were getting about three heads of lettuce each week. Big heads. We were having a lot of salads, but I was kind of proud, because we were getting through the lettuce and not wasting it!
Then my newbie enthusiasm waned. Luckily, so did the number of lettuce heads. It went to two. This was fortuitous. We still ate a lot of salad, but not quite as much.

The problem with lettuce is that you can't juice, stew, roast, or stir-fry it. (Well, you can stir fry, it's just not very good. I know because I tried. It tastes like stir-fried salad. I imagine juiced lettuce tastes like juiced salad.) So if we don't finish the salads, we have an increasing lettuce problem.
The problem has come to a loggerheads.
It got this bad because my birthday/mother's day/our 5th anniversary/father's day/Dyami's dad's 60th birthday all happened within a little more than a month. We went out to dinner a lot, and left town for 2 days. The lettuce apparently had babies while we are gone, because we are in the middle of a lettuce glut. I just can't eat any more salads than I'm doing.

I realized how big the problem was when it started causing marital problems. Usually I dutifully eat salad along with lunch, and get a big plate o' greens along with dinner.

Dyami gets a small bowl, when he remembers. (Keep in mind that we usually have other vegetables with each meal, as well).

Last night I realized I was resenting him because he wasn't a big lettuce eater. Damn you! I thought. You always stick me with the lettuce!

I decided it was time to get rid of some lettuce. Before it started affecting our sex life.

So this morning I took a big bundle of lettuce to a friends house, and told her to have it. Well, actually, I told her I was bringing it, and then just left it on the table. I had intended to divvy it up, but forgot. When I was walking to my car, I remembered the lettuce.

And smiled. A big smile. Because I had just unloaded two heads, leaving me only a head and a half at home! Which we might actually manage to consume in the next week.
My warm, superior feelings should be coming back sometime soon.