Fresh Garden Lettuce

So here's the deal; Nick sets his alarm for 5:30 am and then lets it go off until 6-ish when he gets out of bed.  So I get up at 5:30 and start Breakfast, feed cats, and chickens.  I read and have been told by a friend that I should pick my garden lettuce in the morning before it gets hot.  Supposedly the lettuce is crispier because of the colder night temperature.  I don't know about you but I haven't notice my leaf lettuce being crispy.  Sometimes it's bitter and I find that if I leave it in the fridge over night it will be much better.  I also cut some beat greens because I thought Nick really liked them in his salad or cooked.  He said no it's mustard greens.  Ugh!  I didn't plant any of those!  So now I have a gallon bag of fresh homegrown lettuce in the fridge.  Let me tell you what it's nice to see and all but rather bland.  I usually chop some onions and either add some store bought iceberg or some cabbage to mine to give it a bit of a crunch.  Otherwise I see Nick eating his salad with long teeth and to be fair I can't say I blame him it's mushy and has a gross consistency (to me) without some crunch!  I'd love some suggestions on what I can do to add some more crunch or pizazz to my salad?  Oh, and I usually add some of my homemade salsa to the salad since we don't have ripe tomatos yet.