Seven Layer Salade

We are going retro today.

I am making a recipe that I have not had since I was a kid.

It was so good that I had to call my mom for her recipe. 

I was a little worried that it would not be as good as I remembered.

It was as good as I had remembered though.
Maybe better.

The board of ingredients:

• A HEAD of Iceberg Lettuce
• Green Onions
• Celery
• Mayo
• Tomatoe
• Parmesan Cheese
• Sugar
• Bacon
• Hard Boiled Eggs
• Frozen Peas

Told you we were going retro.

No bag of lettuce for this recipe.

And it turns out that not every store sells heads of Iceberg in my neck of the woods. 

Anyway, we need to prep the lettuce.

That core is NOT yummy.

We need to get rid of it.

Luckily, it's super easy to get rid of it.

A) Cut it out like the core of a tomato.

B) Press down hard on the core with your hand and then wiggle the core out.

It's kind of a work of art isn't it?

Now we need to cut it down into bite sized pieces.

Start by cutting it into strips.

The cut it on the bias.

Perfect bite sized pieces.

Now we take it for a rinse and spin cycle in the old salade spinner.

I use this spinner all the time since I am not a huge fan of the preservatives in bagged lettuce.

Then spread the lettuce out into an even layer in your serving dish.

Now we get the goodies ready.

I like to give the tomato a little time on a paper towel to absorb a bit of the juice.

But you don't have to do that.

Now, we layer.

I don't know why they call it seven layer salad.

There are more than seven layers.

I counted.

There are ten.

Anyway, sprinkle the celery over the lettuce.

Now we add the green onion and peas.

Next on is the mayo.

I used to HATE spreading the mayo on.

I still do, so I cheat a bit.

Hello baggie of mayo.

Snip!

Ta Da!

Squeeze it all out.

Next we spread it out.

Piece of cake.

I love it.

Now sprinkle the sugar over the mayo.

Tomatoes go on next.

Add.

The.

Eggs.

(We take our eggs very seriously.)

Bacon next.

Confession time.

I made a little more bacon than the recipe called for.

I made a pound of bacon.

But don't worry, we didn't use a whole pound here.

We ate some before we put it on the salad.

By we, I mean my son.

By some, I mean half.

Okay, last layer.

The parm.

I like a lot of parm.  

I used about a third of a cup.

You can add as little or as much as you want.

My mother recommends a lot of parm though.

(She's right.)

And here it is.  

Dig in.

One note, I did pre-cut the portion sizes.  

I don't know if you can see it or if it helped.

I just felt that it was the right thing to do.

My son ate three portions all by himself.

Also, we discovered that two serving utensils was helpful.

Seven Layer Salade

Ingredients:
1 Head Iceberg Lettuce, Chopped
1/3 Cup Celery, Chopped
1/3 Cup Green Onions, Chopped
10 oz. Bag Frozen Peas
2 Cups Mayo
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Large Tomato,  Wedged or Diced
4 or 5 hard Boiled Eggs, Quartered or Chopped
3 or 4 Slices of Cooked, Crumbled Bacon
Parmesan Cheese

1. Spread ingredients out in a 9X13 in the order listed above.
2. Chill and serve.

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