Layered Salad

1/2 head of iceberg lettuce (washed and drained and broken into small pieces)
3/4 cup of real bacon bits
3/4 cup of bell pepper chopped
3/4 of a purple onion sliced into rings (medium sized onion)
1/2 pound of frozen green peas
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons of sugar

Before you start let me just tell you that this is a very pretty dish! If you have a clear mixing bowl or serving dish to put this in...it will look impressive on your table!

Start by layering your small pieces of lettuce on the bottom of the dish. Gently breaking lettuce is a kinder and gentler way to treat it. If you chop it with a knife it will tend to turn brown around the edges faster. You don't want to serve a dish where the lettuce is getting brown around the edges!

Add your layer of bell peppers and spread them evenly over lettuce
Break your sliced onions apart into rings and lay them on top of the peppers
top that with your layer of shredded carrots
Next will be your layer of frozen peas.
*** Note here about frozen peas: When you buy a small box of frozen peas and open them, often times they will be connected by ice. Put them in a colander and run cold water over them until all the ice is gone. Then let them drain. If you get frozen peas that are loose from each other and not ice connected then that's fine. You can go ahead and make your layer. The point is, if you put icy peas in your salad then eventually that ice is going to melt and run to the bottom of the bowl and cause your lettuce to be sitting in water. YUCK! If you run cold water over them then make sure they are well drained. Pat them with a paper towel if you want to make sure most of the water is absorbed off of them. But don't ever run hot water over them. Remember the main thing is to have raw fresh peas, not half cooked or overly wet peas. This is not hard to do. It's just something I wanted you to know.

Carefully spread your mayonnaise over the layer of peas. Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the mayonnaise. Sprinkle cheese evenly over mayonnaise and then sprinkle the bacon bits on top. (I like hormel real bacon bits.)

Cover and refrigerate overnight if possible but at least for a couple of hours before serving.

*** NOTE*** I look at every recipe as something to experiment with. This recipe originally came to me calling for chopped onions. I would rather ring my onions in a lettuce salad when serving to others in case they want to remove them. You could also ring the bell pepper for easier removal. This recipe is a pot luck favorite!