Cold Vegetable Salad perfect for a picnic.
 

1st dish I'm putting up on here, I make stuff up all the time, I used to be a Sous Chef for a country club in Charlotte North Carolina, before I joined the Army. Because I did this professionally in a real working kitchen I didn't really spend much time measuring... I was used to cooking for 360 people nightly so I measured in pounds of spice :P. Hope anyone who tries it enjoys.

Dish is a variant on a German dish I had, cold vegetable salad.

2 cans whole green beans
1 small can sweet corn
1 small can mushrooms
1 small can red bell pepper strips
1 Onion cut in half and sliced
6 strips bacon cut into 1/4in pieces
Heinz (or similar) salad vinegar
Sugar
seasonings to follow.

Put your pan on low, put bacon in the pan and slowly cook rendering the fat for about 8 minutes from the time it begins sizzling.

Add 1/4c vinegar, all the vegetables, and water to just cover the veggies. Add salt, cracked black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder to taste, (I usually add a bit, stir and taste) let it come to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes covered.

After 10 minutes, taste the liquid, add sugar stirring until barely sweet against the vinegar. Cover and cook an additional 20 minutes, taste a green bean, it should have picked up the flavors of the cooking liquid, if not, cook an addition 10-15 mins tasting regularly.

Once done, strain off the liquid and chill. Serve cold, makes enough for 12ish servings.