Cooperation Salad

Yesterday I was going through my email folders looking for a message. I never found what I was looking for, but instead I fell into a memory.

In 2008 I was part of a group of women organizing an event. Most of the meetings were in the evening, and lasted a couple of hours, but there was one on Saturday that lasted most of the day which included lunch. 

Instead of asking us to bring our own lunch or ordering food in, a couple of weeks before the event the organizer had passed around a sign up sheet for a "Cooperation Salad". The email I was reading was a reminder of who had signed up for what. The recipe theory was that everyone brought one or two ingredients. Just before the meal they were mixed together, dressed, and served. 

At this event the organizer supplied the dressing, bread, and butter. I was in charge of the hard boiled eggs. Our meal also included multiple desserts. I found a similar version of the 'recipe'  here, but the one our group put together contained:

• 1 bag (1/2 gallon size) iceberg lettuce, broken up
• 2 cucumbers peeled and sliced and 4 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 2 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cooked, cut into strips
• 1 pound mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 pound Swiss cheese, shredded
• 1 16 ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and cut up
• 1 bag (1/2 gallon size) Romaine lettuce, broken up
• 1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained
  
• 1/2 pound Cheddar cheese, shredded
  
• 1/2 pound cooked ham, shredded or cut into strips
• 1 dozen eggs, hard cooked, sliced
• 1 bag (1/2 gallon size) fresh spinach, broken up
• 3 green bell peppers, cut into strips
• 2 whole boneless chicken breasts, cooked, cut into strips
• 1 51/2 - 7 ounce box croutons and 2 to 3 cups diced celery
• 1 bag (1/2 gallon size) red leaf lettuce, broken up
• 1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cucumbers, peeled, sliced, and 4 medium tomatoes, chopped plus large bowl
• 1 recipe of the following salad dressing for each 6 people:2 tbsp. tarragon vinegar/1/2 c. oil/2 tbsp. sugar/1/2 tsp. Tabasco/1/2 tsp. salt 
• dessert for 10 (3 needed) 
• case of water (3 needed)