Healthy eating must include a wonderful Butter Lettuce with Red Peppers

I would imagine that many people have included eating healthier as one of their New Year's resolutions. I for one have put that on the top of my list. By the second week of January, I usually go back to eating what I like. I must confess however, that many of the things I like tend to be healthy. I've decided to help out with all those New Year's Gotta Healthier resolutions by presenting some of the healthier recipes from time to time. A couple of days ago, you will recall that I presented you with an open face pork loin sandwich, which is a healthier alternative to the norm. Today, let's back that up with a wonderful refreshing salad of butter lettuce, roasted red peppers, chick peas (garbanzo beans), baby deep green capers, grated Parm or Gruyere, and a dressing of olive oil and lemon juice. This salad is refreshing, low calories, low fat, and wonderful fiber. Treat yourself to another one person lunch sometime this week and serve this.

A small head of butter lettuce
1 cup of chick peas (garbanzo beans)
1/4 cup of baby capers
2 medium red peppers
1/2 cup of grated Parm or Gruyere cheese
1/4 cup of olive oil
Juice from one lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Start by roasting your red peppers and then peeling them. It's very easy. Preheat the oven to 400. Place the peppers on the middle rack and roast for about 30 minutes, turning them every 15 minutes. They should have some charred peaks when ready, but please.... not burned to a crisp, you don't want them to look like coal. If they are, just start over, LOL. Remove the peppers from the oven and place in a large bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to sit for about 20 minutes. Finally, remove them from the bowl and with a sharp knife, start at the stem and simply peel. The skin should come right off. Slice the peppers lengthwise into quarters and remove the seeds and stem. Your roasted peppers are ready. Isn't that easy???

Now get your lettuce ready by carefully tearing apart the leaves. With your hands, cut the leaves in half. Don't use a knife, as I have found for some odd reason cutting them with a knife bruises the cut ends and they turn brown. Rinse the lettuce over cold water and pat them dry. I have found that if you have a large kitchen towel, you can place the lettuce in the center, grab all four corners like you're going to wrap something, and then just swing the towel with the lettuce. The moisture is soaked up by the towel by centrifical force. Isn't that cool?

Now add the lettuce, capers, chick peas, and peppers into a bowl, mix your olive oil and lemon juice together, along with the salt and pepper, and pour over your salad and stir gently. Don't be afraid to use your hands, they work pretty well. Finally, serve into two portions and sprinkle the cheese over each to finish. Oh my, did I say two portions? And this was to be lunch for one. Did I mention I was coming over?