Nothing More Than A Trifle

Oh yes; the lame puns abound. So tonight is the cookout I've organised for the Relief Society. This means several things: running to Sainsbury's last-minute to grab paper plates, pulling the necessary supplies from the heap of stuff I was given the other weekend, and making that layered salad I found on Teh Interwebz and pinned to my Pinterest board. Never let it be said that I just pin idly - oh no! - I actually do the cute crafts and bake the cute recipes I hoard on my pinboards. It makes the whole thing seem less frivolous when I actually use it in real life.

So the recipe I'd found was this one from The Pioneer Woman blog. I'm not gonna lie: hers looks far and away prettier than mine does. No surprises there. That's just how these things work. However, I did take her tip that the layers show up best when you concentrate stuff at the sides of your dish/bowl. What a useful tool Teh Interwebz is: I just wanted to find a nice way to use my trifle dish!

via, The Pioneer Woman

Now let's be honest: salad isn't difficult to make. You throw a few healthy-looking things into a bowl and cover it in dressing. Problem solved. Salad accomplished. That said, since I'm bringing this sucker - and thus, I'll be taking away any leftovers - I wanted it to be the sort of salad I would actually eat...and I'm a shameful vegetable snob. I don't like courgettes (zucchini), or aubergines (eggplants), or tomatoes (at least, not in raw things), or spinach, or kale, or cauliflower, or broccoli (well...sometimes it's alright), or parsnips, or beets, or cabbage of any description. Oh, and though they're not a veg, mushrooms are vile. I'm just laying all my cards on the table here. However, despite my apparently unilateral hatred of this segment of the food pyramid, I like salads. About 80% of my dinners in my senior year of college were salads that I put together in the cafeteria and took back to my room to consume over reruns of House and some light reading on the Reconquista and the Inquisition. And so, without further ado: my version of the Pioneer Woman's layered salad:

behold, your tasty ingredients; thoughtfully prepared in advance.

And there you have it. Now all I have to do is get this, napkins, plates, cutlery, a few 2-litres of lemonade, and Ethan all safely transported in my car. Oh, did I mention I'm driving to Reading and back first to drop off the Husband so he can help with boys' camp? Yeah: tonight is going to be fun. Once we've survived, I'll let you know, because tomorrow we're off to attend Ethan's first birthday party for a friend. This reminds me of the weeks I have to get my act together and put together a little something, party-wise. Not that Ethan will care, so long as he gets some ice cream. I love a guy who's easy to please.