Thanks for sharing your recipe.

Ingredients: 1 small head romaine lettuce, washed and cut 3-4 ounces salami (salame) sliced medium thickness 1 small red onion, thinly sliced 1/2 cup pitted black olives 1 small jar artichoke hearts, drained and quartered 3/4 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half 1/2 cup sliced green bell pepper Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to taste (I like a lot) Your favorite Italian Dressing Instructions: # Combine all ingredients except the dressing in a salad bowl and refrigerate until serving time # Toss ingredients and dressing together # Salt and pepper if desired # Plate the salad and garnish with Parmesan cheese

There are lots of different variations out there. Here is an easy one I particularly like... 1/4 cup mayonnaise 1/4 cup sour cream 1/4 cup olive oil 3 tbsp red wine vinegar 1 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated 2 tbsps milk 1 1/2 tsp fresh oregano, minced 1 1/2 tsp fresh parsley, minced 1 clove garlic, minced salt and pepper to taste You can add more milk to desired consistency, and substitute or add basil or tarragon for the herbs.

Funky, You can use any preserve in that first dressing, as a variation. I don't think the red pepper jelly is terribly sweet; and I suppose one could easily adjust it if they did. I am a fanatic about how a salad is dressed --- 90% of the time I feel they are overdressed. If you dress very lightly and toss, to me the dressing is rarely too sweet because the dressing doesn;t over power. The only bottled dressing I buy is Ken's 1000 Island. My son likes it, and he knows how to make it from mayo, ketchup and relish, but TBH it tastes about the same. I do buy ranch packets, mainly to make dip. Other than that, I make my own. It lasts fairly long and to me it tastes a zillion times better. I have tried all of the fancy bottled ones, and they just don't cut it for me. As far as going bad ..I mean, the vinaigrette has vinegar ... a preservative. And the dairy based ones; you can usually smell if they have turned. I make half batches. FWIW:The "shelf life" of salad dressings varies somewhat. Generally, vinaigrettes can be kept refrigerated for up to 2 weeks. Dairy-based dressings, like buttermilk, and dressings made with fresh ingredients, like chopped onion, fresh herbs, tomato sauce and chopped hard-cooked egg, will keep up to 1 week.