Layered Salad with Creamy Herb Dressing

My mom makes a layered salad that I crave every now and again. I didn't have her exact recipe, so I kinda made up my own version. I used a salad dressing recipe that I found in a Taste of Home cookbook, and it turned out divine. I had my mom and brother over for dinner, and i seriously think my mom had three helpings of this salad. I had one serving, and I would have had more, but there was so much ridiculously delicious looking food on the table that I couldn't bring myself to stuffing my belly with salad. It is a nice alternative to a bag of salad and a bottle of Ranch dressing.

Layered Salad with Creamy Herb Dressing:

1 head torn romaine lettuce
10 oz frozen peas, thawed
1/2 c chopped celery
1/2 c cucumber, sliced and quartered
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

Dressing:
1 c mayonnaise
1/4 c + 1 T milk
2 1/2 T cider vinegar
2 t dried oregano
1 t dried basil
1/2 t sugar
1/2 t salt
1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 t pepper

Layer the torn lettuce in a 9x13 pan.

One thing- this salad feeds about 12 people. if you have a smaller group, half the ingredients and put it in a 9x9 pan or another smaller dish.

Sprinkle the peas and chopped celery onto the lettuce.
Add the chopped red onion and cucumbers.
Combine all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine. Pour the dressing over the salad. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit overnight.

Well- you don't have to do that. I was going to, but I realized that I didn't have enough mayonnaise to make the dressing. Off to the store I went with a list of other ingredients I was going to need for dinner the next day. Zombie-like, I walked around in the store and got everything from my list. I drove home. As I pulled into the garage, I realized that I forgot to buy mayonnaise. Dag gummit! I was too exhausted to go back, so I asked my mom to bring some the next day when she came. I mixed the dressing ingredients together a couple of hours before we ate and put it on the salad. It was still tasty as tasty can be.

After the dressing is poured on and spread from side to side, sprinkle it with cheddar cheese and the crumbled bacon. My mom uses chopped hard-boiled eggs and water chestnuts in hers as well, and those are good additions to make. It's your call.

Here is the top of the finished salad. It was great. I can't wait to eat left-overs tomorrow.

Another option, do a salad with romaine, chopped avocado, chopped apple, mandarin oranges, candied pecans and blue cheese crumbles. Yum! Dang... I just might be a culinary genius. The possibilities really are endless with this. Go crazy!