Is there anything more soul-lifting than staring down a big pile of spring leaf lettuce, and imaging all the different things you can do with it?

After a long, brisk winter of settling for root vegetables and heartier leafy greens like cabbage and kale, I don’t think so.

I’m not knocking cold-weather veggies here, because without them, preparing many of the comfort foods associated with winter dining would be a slog.

It’s just that once spring finally shows its sunny face, there’s something incredibly satisfying about digging into a salad made with fresh, seasonal greens like butterhead and baby Romaine.

Not only are these loose, round- and oval-shaped heads wonderfully sweet, with a light, refreshing crunch, but you just know you’re doing your body an incredible favor healthwise by eating it.

Because it’s primarily water, lettuce is extremely low-cal. (One cup has only around 7 calories.) It’s also a good source of vitamins A and K, which promote bone and eye health, and contains antioxidants as well as digestion-boosting fiber.

Thanks to its vibrant shade of green, lettuce is also beautiful heaped in a bowl or spread out on a plate — a definite plus when you eat first with your eyes.

But the real bonus of spring lettuce is that it’s a surprisingly versatile vegetable, and often among the more economical purchases at farmers markets or in the produce section.

Using the leaves as a base for salad or as a vegetal garnish for hamburgers and your favorite sandwiches is just the start. Hardier leaves like Romaine can be grilled, seared, braised or sauteed. Shredded, lettuce leaves also can be baked into a frittata or stirred into a cheesy, creamy risotto to add ribbons of green.

Because of its high water content, lettuce makes a good addition to soups and juices and can also team up with fruit in a good-for-you smoothie.

Trying to cut down on carbs? Use soft, sturdy Bibb lettuce leaves as cups or wraps instead of bread or a flour or corn tortilla for any number of flavorful fillings. Or simply slice and saute it as you would cabbage, kale or spinach with a little olive or sesame oil for a simple side dish.

The four recipes that follow prove lettuce can be much more exciting to cook with than you might think.

The best part is that all can be prepared fairly quickly, leaving plenty of time and energy for where most of us really want to be spending time come spring — not in the kitchen, but outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine.

Pasta with Lettuce Pesto

Pesto is most commonly made with fresh pesto leaves. Its name comes from the Italian verb pestare, which means “to pound or crush.” But the fresh, pounded sauce can be made with almost any fresh green you happen to have on hand, including lettuce.

In this recipe, I used big handfuls of mixed spring greens (which includes baby lettuces) to make the sauce, with some fresh basil mixed in to round out the flavor. I didn’t have any pine nuts — a classic choice for pesto — so I used toasted almonds instead. For a less garlicky sauce, use fewer garlic cloves.

This sauce is great on pasta but also can be dolloped on pizza, spread onto sandwiches or used as a garnish for grilled meats and roasted vegetables.

INGREDIENTS

4 packed cups of lettuce (spring mix, Bibb or Romaine works well)

Handful (about 1/3 cup) fresh basil

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1/2 cup toasted almonds or pine nuts

1/2 teaspoon salt

A good squeeze of fresh lemon juice

1/4 – 1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

16 ounces cooked pasta

DIRECTIONS

Place lettuce leaves, basil, garlic, nuts, salt and lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor.

Pulse until well chopped.

With the food processor running, drizzle in 1/4 cup of olive oil and pulse until combined. Add the Parmesan cheese, if using, and pulse to briefly combine. For a smoother pesto, add more olive oil.

Toss with cooked pasta, then serve immediately.

Serves 4.

— Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette

Lettuce Smoothie

Kale smoothies are incredibly popular so why not experiment with lettuce? I pureed Romaine with some spinach, apple and a frozen banana to make these vibrant green drinks. It sounds crazy, I know, but it actually tastes incredibly fresh, and healthful.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup chopped Romaine lettuce

1 cup baby spinach

1/2 apple, chopped

1 frozen banana, broken into chunks

Juice of 1 lemon

1 cup water

1 tablespoon chia seeds, optional

DIRECTIONS

Add lettuce, baby spinach, apple, banana, lemon juice and water to a high-speed blender. For a thicker smoothie, also add chia seeds.

Blend on high until smooth, then pour into two glasses and serve.

Makes 2 smoothies.

— adapted from realfoodwholelife.com

Lettuce Risotto

You almost won’t notice the shredded Bibb lettuce in this creamy risotto, which was adapted from a recipe by Lidia Bastianich. It wilts into thin thread-like strands. But it’s a great way to avoid waste when you’ve tired of salad, or bought too many greens to use right away.

You can serve this risotto either as a main dish with a simple salad and crusty bread or as a side dish.

INGREDIENTS

7 cups or more hot chicken stock, preferably homemade

Kosher salt

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 shallots, finely chopped

2 cups Arborio rice

1 cup white wine

8 ounces outer lettuce leaves (Romaine, Bibb, etc.), shredded

2 tablespoons butter, cubed

Finely grated zest of 1/2 small lemon

1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Grana Padano

DIRECTIONS

Bring chicken stock to a simmer in a medium saucepan and season with salt.

Heat olive oil in a large, shallow, straight-sided pot over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add shallots, sauté for 1 minute, then ladle in 1/2 cup hot stock to soften the vegetables.

Cook until the vegetables are tender and stock has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Raise the heat to medium-high.

Add rice all at once, and stir continuously until the grains are toasted but not colored, about 2 minutes. Add wine and cook until the liquid is almost absorbed.

Add shredded lettuce and cook until wilted, about 2-3 minutes.

Ladle in about 2 cups of the stock, stir and cook until almost absorbed, about 5 minutes. Ladle in 1 more cup of the stock, and again simmer until the liquid is almost absorbed.

Continue cooking and adding stock in this manner until the rice is cooked al dente but still with texture, about 15-20 minutes in all.

When the risotto is creamy, turn off the heat. Beat in the butter, stir in the lemon zest and cheese, season with salt if necessary and serve.

Serves 3 as a main dish, 6 as a side.

— adapted from lidiasitaly.com

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Lettuce wraps are easy to make, and a fun spin on the humble taco. I used ground chicken but ground turkey also works beautifully. If you don’t love carrots or water chestnuts, experiment with other crunchy veggies such as bell peppers.

You’ll definitely want to use a butterhead lettuce like Boston or Bibb, as they have tender, sturdy leaves that will easily fold around the filling without tearing.

I added chili crisp for some extra spice, but you could also use sweet chili sauce or sriracha to add some gentle heat.

When serving as lettuce cups, submerge leaves in a large bowl of cold water in the refrigerator. (It will keep the lettuce cold and crisp.) Gently dry with a paper towel before serving.

INGREDIENTS

4 tablespoons teriyaki sauce or hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon chili crisp

1 teaspoon cornstarch

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 pound ground chicken

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger

3 green onions, finely diced and divided

1/2 cup grated or finely diced carrots

1 (8-ounce) can chopped water chestnuts, drained

2 small heads Bibb or butter lettuce

Chopped roasted peanuts or cashews, for garnish

Sriracha sauce, optional

DIRECTIONS

Place teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and chili crisp in a small bowl. Whisk to combine, then stir in cornstarch and set aside.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Add ground chicken, minced garlic and ginger and cook, breaking the meat into small pieces with a wooden spoon until it starts to brown.

Stir in half of the chopped green onions, carrots and water chestnuts, and continue cooking until chicken is no longer pink and fully cooked, another 3-4 minutes.

Add sauce and cook, stirring occasionally, until bubbling and the sauce is warmed through, 30-60 seconds.

Separate the lettuce leaves, rinse under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Pile them onto a large platter or divide among 4 plates.

Transfer the hot chicken mixture to a serving bowl or spoon directly into the lettuce leaves.

Serve with remaining scallions and chopped nuts as a garnish, and eat immediately.

Serves 4.

— Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette

Fresh ideas for dinner can spring from so many places: the pages of a new cookbook or food magazine, a funny TikTok or instructional video on Instagram or (among my favorite sources for inspiration) websites like Food 52, Serious Eats or Smitten Kitchen.

It also can depend on what you happen to stumble upon while grocery shopping.

This week’s recipe hinges on what I was thrilled to find on sale in my local produce section: big bunches of spring asparagus priced at just $1.99 a pound.

I couldn’t resist swooping up two bundles of the tender spring veggie along with a couple bunches of spring onion and two fat cucumbers that were one sale for 99 cents. It’s so easy to get excited about green foods in the spring — especially when they’re so affordable — and I knew I’d figure out how to best put them to good use in my kitchen.

I ended up with this easy stir-fry.

Lots of recipes calls for steaming, blanching or roasting asparagus, and you can also saute it. Here, the stalks are diagonally cut into bite-sized pieces and then cooked hot and fast, gently blistered, in a skillet with oil and salt. Then, they’re tossed in a pan with ground pork that’s been cooked with Asian aromatics — garlic, ginger and green onion — along with soy sauce and Shaoxing wine.

It was incredibly quick, and really hit the spot when paired with a super-simple (and spicy) cucumber salad that also took just minutes to throw together. Both include the gentle heat of chili crisp, which you can easily omit if appealing to tamer taste buds.

When choosing asparagus, look for bright green stalks with tightly closed and compact tips. To keep it fresh in the fridge until cooking, store it upright in a glass or cup with about an inch of water, and cover the tops with a plastic bag.

I generally prefer super-thin asparagus because I believe it’s the most tender, but you can also use thicker spears. Just be sure peel the bottom third after snapping off the knobby ends.

Pork and Asparagus Stir-fry

INGREDIENTS

2-3 teaspoons olive or vegetable oil, divided

1 1/2 pounds asparagus, trimmed, cut on a diagonal into 1- or 2-inch pieces

Kosher salt

1 pound ground pork

6 scallions, white and pale green parts only, finely chopped

5 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 2-inch piece ginger, peeled, finely chopped

2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine (Chinese rice wine) or medium-dry cooking sherry

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1-2 teaspoons chili crisp, plus additional for serving

Chopped fresh cilantro, for serving, optional

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet on high.

DIRECTIONS

Once the pan is hot (oil will be lightly smoking), add half of the asparagus and a couple pinches of salt and cook, tossing only once or twice so the pieces have a chance to blister, until crisp-tender and lightly browned, about 4 minutes.

Transfer asparagus to a plate. Add another teaspoons olive oil to skillet (no need to wipe it out) and repeat with remaining asparagus.

Reduce heat to medium-high. Add remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil to skillet, then add ground pork, spreading it out in an even layer.

Season with a couple pinches of salt and cook, undisturbed, until meat begins to brown underneath, about 2 minutes.

Break up meat with a wooden spoon and add chopped scallions, garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring, until pork is crisp and mixture is very fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add wine or sherry, soy sauce and chili crisp, and return asparagus to skillet. Cook, turning to coat with pork mixture, until heated through, about 1 minute.

Transfer stir-fry to a platter or large shallow bowl and drizzle with sesame oil. Serve with rice and additional chili crisp, if desired, garnished with chopped cilantro.

Serves 4.

— adapted from bonappetit.com

Cucumber salad

For a less spicy salad, omit the chili crisp.

INGREDIENTS

1 pound cucumbers, sliced very thin

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

1 heaping teaspoon chili crisp

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

1-inch piece of fresh ginger, grated

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds, plus more for garnish

Red chili pepper flakes, for garnish

DIRECTIONS

In a medium bowl, toss cucumber and salt. Let them sit for 5-10 minutes while you prepare the dressing.

In a large serving bowl, whisk together soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, chili crisp, garlic, ginger, sugar and sesame seeds. Set aside.

Rinse cucumber slices with cool water in a colander two or three times to remove the salt, then strain into a bowl. Pat dry with paper towels.

Pour cucumber slices into the bowl with the dressing and toss well to combine. Garnish with sesame seeds and red chili flakes for extra heat.

Serves 4.

— Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette

In the early days of the Twins’ season, they’ve been let down by their own defense too often.

On Tuesday, they were finally on the other side of that. Though hits were hard to come by for much of the night, the Twins were able to take advantage of a couple of Chicago errors and pulled away late, snapping a three-game losing streak with a 4-2 win over the White Sox in the series opener at Target Field.

In the second inning, down a run, shortstop Carlos Correa grounded a ball towards first baseman Andrew Vaughn. Second baseman Lenyn Sosa was unable to catch Vaughn’s thrown, and instead of it being a rally-killing double play, the Twins had two runners on and nobody out.

They got one run out of the situation when Ty France found a hole in the right side of the infield, sending a single to right and tying the game.

An inning later, rookie Luke Keaschall helped make things happen with his legs. After drawing a two-out walk and stealing second, some aggressive baserunning paid off. The next batter, Trevor Larnach, hit a little tapper. But when catcher Edgar Quero’s throw hit Larnach in the back, Keaschall kept running, speeding home from second.

He jogged home the second time around — after another walk and stolen base — scoring on Larnach’s two-run missile to right in the eighth inning, the outfielder’s second home run of the season.

For much of the night, it seemed like the White Sox were going to break through, putting baserunners on in seven of nine innings.

Starter Bailey Ober maneuvered around traffic all night, getting a pair of double-play balls and limiting the damage to just one run in the second when the White Sox loaded the bases.

Ober lasted six innings, giving up eight hits but just the one run, before making way for Griffin Jax. The reliever, who has struggled throughout April, pitched in the seventh inning rather than the eighth or ninth for the first time this season, working around a single to throw a scoreless inning.

Louie Varland, given a high leverage opportunity in the eighth inning, responded by sending down three White Sox hitters in order before Jhoan Duran came in for the save.

After loading the bases with no outs, Duran gave up a run before Byron Buxton made a game-saving catch, verging to his left as he ran back and then diving to corral a ball that would have driven in a pair of runs.

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Bailey Ober (17) delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is set to deliver his annual State of the State address on Wednesday night in St. Paul.

The address will be made to state representatives and senators at 7 p.m. in the House chamber of the state Capitol. Walz said at an unrelated news conference last week that his address will touch on the effects of the Trump administration’s decisions on Minnesota, including potentially large Medicaid cuts, as well as “things to be optimistic about” and ways to “work together.”

“This will be a piece of that,” the Democratic governor said about Trump policy impacts on Minnesota. “We decided to pick trade wars with our allies. We isolated and turned allies against us. We’ve forced many folks into the Chinese sphere of influence on a broader scale, and states are under threat from programs just like this. So I think to try and articulate we’ve got some real decisions to make … I’m also going to focus back that there’s many, many things to be optimistic about.”

The speech will live-stream on the Minnesota House Information YouTube channel.

Related Articles

Will the MN Legislature pass a bonding bill this year?

Joe Soucheray: Cutting the pittance set aside for private schools? Typical

Letters: Seasons rule. We need permanent standard time, not DST

Private schools face cuts under Gov. Tim Walz’s proposed budget

Letters: We won’t take attacks on Social Security lying down