Seven layer pea salad recipe - Or how to make new best friends

Seven layer pea salad recipe – Or how to make new best friends

holidays, recipes, salad, Thanksgiving, vegetables, veggies | December 19, 2011 | By Jessi

I have no idea when we discovered (rediscovered?) this salad, but it’s worked its way into being a traditional meal expected at many family gatherings, including Thanksgiving and summer barbecues.

Don’t you just love a dish that isn’t bound by seasons? Or is that only me?

Seven layer salad with peas, bacon, cheese, green onions, mayonnaise and sugar dressing

Again with the “recipes that aren’t really recipes,” I’m really not sure of the amounts that go in, but here’s a good guesstimate for you:

1 package bacon, cooked and chopped (minus the strips used for “taste testing” and “ugly ones that have to be eaten”)

1 head of lettuce (minus all the bits that fly to the floor, depending on who is chopping it)

1 cup frozen peas, thawed in boiling water for about a minute (minus 1/2 if I’m doing it because I really don’t like the peas)

8-12 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese (minus….oh who am I kidding? I have no idea how much actually makes it in the salad)

One bunch of green onions (or red or white or whatever that furry thing in the fridge is that kinda smells like an onion)

1 1/4 cups mayonnaise

2 tablespoons white sugar

Prep and layer all but the last two ingredients. We make multiple layers of each, but you could simply put all of each ingredient as its own layer.

Mix the mayo and sugar together and spread it directly on top of the salad. Create a “seal” with the dressing, if you will, and then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. This is important! This is the type of dish that gets better as it sets, so make it a couple hours in advance. Mix together just before serving.

So is that 7 layers? Nope. There are lots of salads that float around as “7 layer salads",” with all sorts of varied ingredients like cauliflower, broccoli, green peppers, and boiled eggs.

But really, all that stuff takes away from the cheese, bacon, and dressing, don’t you think? The ~~green stuff~~ lettuce and peas are just there as a filler so it can still be called a salad. :P

Also, if you skipped over the recipe, ~~shame on you~~ I was serious about the seal being important. Looks like this:

And while I’m at it, here’s some more pictures from that Thanksgiving, uh, 3 years ago?

From pea salad up top, clockwise, we had green bean casserole , corn on the cob, turkey, mashed cauliflower and gravy, stuffing, and my first attempt at making my own cranberry sauce (hence the tiny portion…I’ve never had good experiences with cranberry sauce, but this was pretty good).

The obligatory green bean casserole….extra fried onion crispies to counteract the green beans.

Yes, I took a picture of the gravy. It turned out the perfect color and consistency. I was thrilled. Shush it.

The pies, pumpkin, pecan, and apple crisp:

And I’m posting these mostly because I was trying to find a good picture of the pea salad on the table.

But what I found was that in every single picture, one of the kids in staring at the food on the table instead of the camera, lol. Love it. I’m sure they couldn’t wait for me to finally put the camera down so we could dig in…I know I couldn’t, hehe. B’s even licking her lips in the first one.

Thanksgiving dinner pictures with all the fixins and kids staring at food with lazer laser eyes

Here’s the originals without the lasers, hehe.

Anywho, yeah, pea salad. Make it. You won’t regret it.

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Carole
March 29, 2013

Jessi, thanks for taking part in the Food on friday fun. Happy Easter.

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