Composed Appetizer Platter - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 heads fresh cauliflower, washed and cut into bite-size pieces (or 1 head cauliflower and 1 head broccoli, if desired)
1 pint grape tomatoes or 1 pint cherry tomatoes, washed
2 (10 ounce) cans button mushrooms, drained
2 cups baby carrots, washed (and scraped, if necessary)
1 cup pitted california black olives (Kalamata olives can also be used) (optional)
1/2 small red onion, sliced
1 (8 ounce) bottle Italian salad dressing (or your favourite bottled vinaigrette salad dressing)
3/4 lb cooked shrimp, peeled but with tails left on
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and halved
fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation

The night before serving, place cauliflower pieces, tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, olives (if using) and onions in a large bowl.
Pour entire bottle of dressing over veggies and mix well.
Tightly cover and refrigerate overnight, stirring before you go to bed.
In morning, add cooked shrimp to veggie mixture; combine gently but thoroughly; keep covered and refrigerated.
When ready to serve, drain shrimp/veggie mixture well and arrange attractively on a platter.
Arrange hard boiled egg halves around edge of platter, grind black pepper over all, and serve.