Side dish or main dish, this salad is a winner

With warmer weather on the horizon, it's time to think about all those great outdoor gatherings that will pop up during the next few months.

In addition to holidays, like Memorial Day and Fourth of July, there is usually a host of graduation parties, bridal and baby showers, church picnics, family reunions and just good old get-togethers.

With that in mind, it's a good idea to always have a tasty, crowd-pleasing recipe on hand that's easy to make and feeds a lot of people.

This salad, which was another of my mom's great recipes, fills the bill.

Not only is it great as a side dish for a large crowd, it could also serve a family of four as a main dish.

You can easily increase or decrease the ingredients, depending on how many people you are serving.

Just figure two cups of lettuce per person on average. The dressing stores well in the refrigerator.

Crowd-Pleasing Salad

For the salad:

Makes eight servings

16 cups of a mix of lettuce, combining loose leaf, iceberg, romaine and escarole, washed and torn into bite-sized pieces

2 cups grape tomatoes, halved or regular tomatoes, chopped

1 can black olives

1 cucumber, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1/2-1 cup sweet onion, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1/2 pound swiss cheese, julienned

1/2 pound deli ham, julienned

1/2 pound hard salami, julienned

5-6 hard-boiled eggs

Toss all the ingredients together, except for the hard-boiled eggs, into a large salad bowl.

Add enough dressing to coat, but don't drown the salad.

Dressing:

1 cup oil

cup white vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon basil

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese