Layer Salad

Google "layer salad" and you will find a couple of million recipes. Here is one more.

Use a glass dish. I use a square baking pan 11 x 8 or so.

• 1/2 head of iceberg lettuce - slice 1/4 inch thick and then cut the long bits to be 2 or 3 inches max.
• red onion - cut 4 or 5 thin slices and quarter
• celery - thinly slice 1 stalk
• bacon - 1/3 pound cooked and crushed, OR 1 1/2 oz bacon bits (bacon bits are vegetarian)
• 8 oz grated Italian cheese - I buy a mixture of mozzarella, provolone, Parmesan and Romana.
• Salt and pepper.
• 12 oz frozen green peas - thaw on a towel so they don't collect water condensate
• 8 oz Miracle Whip salad dressing - You can use plain mayonaisse but its not as good. The Miracle Whip has some lemon or something tangy in it.
• sugar

Chop the lettuce and put it in the pan. Don't fill more than half-way to the top.

Sprinkle the onions, celery, bacon and grated cheese on top to form the layers. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on top of that. Press it down gently to level and compact it.

Next layer is the green peas. They don't need to be completely thawed but try to get them as dry as possible with no ice crystals either. (Keep back three peas to adorn the top later.)

Use the salad dressing to "ice" the salad like a cake. You have to get a knack for spreading the Miracle Whip without exposing the peas underneath. Cover the whole top. It doesn't need to be thick. Just enough to hide the green of the peas. Sprinkle a tiny bit of white sugar over the top of the salad dressing.

Position the three peas in the center as a decoration. Sprinkle a few more bacon bits around to break up the white expanse as in the photo.

Let it chill for 2 to 24 hours to let the flavors blend.