Monday's Question of the Day - November 9,, 2015

[MoochNNoodles]

What is your go-to potluck dish?

Our church had a pot-luck Thanksgiving dinner yesterday.  It was about an hour and a half after the Sunday morning service. They clear our all the chairs and set up tables in the sanctuary.  I usually sign up for something like pasta salad but when I looked over the list of what others were bringing; I decided on sweet potato casserole instead.  I pre-mixed it Saturday evening and went to my mother's house after service to mix the topping and bake it.  (It has eggs in it.)  It took more than twice as long to bake and we were about 40 minutes late to the dinner.  

  No more hot dishes for me!  We live too far from the church to go home to work on things and I'm not missing the service.  I was so frustrated!  It was still a nice dinner and everyone took home leftovers; but still!  I don't like rushing.

So back to cold dishes or something that can be reheated there easy enough.  They put everything over those canisters in metal trays anyway.  I always just buy the metal disposable trays to cook right in anyway.  

  Next year! 

 

[denice]

I usually wait until a lot of people have signed up and then decide on something.  If no one else is bringing it then some kind of pasta, sauce and cheese casserole.  When I went through a medical billing and coding course we had a potluck at the end of each mod, I lived so close to the school and the class started late at least for me so I would make something right before I went.  That opened up a lot of possibilities.  I made mac and cheese, enchilada casserole, barbecue pulled chicken among other things that can be problematic when it comes to reheating and/or making ahead.

 

[Kat0121]

We have potlucks at work from time to time. I always bring a ham. Everyone loves it and it's become expected. It's the easiest thing in the world to do. I buy the Sam's Choice brown sugar spiral cut ham from Wal Mart in the purple foil package. It goes in the crock pot and I cook it on high for about 4 hours. About an hour before we eat it, I make the glaze that comes with it and put it on. People rave about it and want the recipe. You just read it. 

I usually bring a 9 pound ham which fits perfectly in the crock pot. There are never leftovers. The ham is still in the package when I get to work. I put in in the crock pot, turn it on and it's ready at lunchtime.  It really doesn't get any easier than that.

I usually bring other stuff too depending on what others sign up for. I brought a broccoli salad (with the ham of course) this year that was very yummy. 

This is the recipe I went from. I made a lot so I tripled the dressing, used white wine vinegar instead of red because that's what I had and increased the cheese and bacon because WHY NOT? 

  It was really good and went over very well. 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/14281/...rringId=15103&referringContentType=recipe hub

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

the closest i ever come to a potluck is going to a cookout. i always like to bring a dessert. a couple of my favorites to bring are blueberry lemon pound (bundt) cake, and peanut butter brownies.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

At my first job out of college my mother and I ended up working for the same company.  We did potlucks that were just amazing!  My job was teaching clerical skills; so I had a varying number of students.  We had about 6 staff members at the most; but we all participated and they were so much fun!  We would have one for Christmas of course; but also for just any ol reason.  It could be we had several people graduating the program at once or we just needed a morale boost.  Sometimes we would do unofficial ones; just for staff.  One of my co-workers always made lima bean pot pie (more like lima beans & dumplings I think) and she would share with us.  Ugh...so good!!  But she'd tell you ahead of time that she would not be sharing the recipe.  I haven't worked there in years and I still crave that!! 

 

[Winchester]

When we go to potlucks, I'm usually asked to bring my crock pot beans. That works out well because they take 4-5 hours in the crock pot, so it's kind of like a make-ahead dish. Recipe is here: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/238187/crock-pot-slow-cooker You put it all together in the morning, throw it in the crock pot, turn it on, and you're done. If you wanted to, you could take your pot of beans to the church before the service and plug them back in to continue heating. Til it's time to eat, your beans would be done. 

I'm also asked to bring my seven-layer salad (which never stops at seven layers). I don't think I've ever posted the recipe anywhere and that's because there isn't any. It's usually whatever I have in the house:  lettuces, chopped onions, celery, and green pepper, sliced carrots, sliced mushrooms, chopped broccoli and/or cauliflower, lots of chopped tomatoes, crumbled bacon, frozen peas, etc. All layered together in a glass bowl so you can see the different layers (I usually put it my trifle bowl). "Frosted" with my own dressing of mayo, red wine vinegar, Miracle Whip, brown sugar, etc. I made the dressing years ago and people really seem to like it. Even people who say they don't like salad have told me how much they like my seven-layer salad. My brother and sister will fight over who gets the leftovers. 

 

I always say that you simply cannot go wrong with an assortment of cookies. I don't know what it is about homemade cookies, but people seem to just love them and they go quickly. Whenever I go to a potluck, I always take an assortment of cookies. Always. People, all people, are cookie monsters at heart. 

 

[AbbysMom]

I normally wait until the end of the "signup" to see what else is needed and bring that. When I used to work and we woudl have potlucks, I would always have to make either my taco dip or chocolate chip cream cheese brownies. People would get very upset if I didn't. :lol3: