Good - Fix-it and enjoy-it! potluck heaven: 543 stove-top and oven dishes that everyone loves

Acknowledgments I am immensely grateful to the generous contributors of recipes for this book and to the discerning testers of those recipes. This has been a community effort and our own version of a potluck! My sincere thank you, also, to our diligent and imaginative staff who helped in so many ways to bring this book into being especially Tony, Esther, Margaret, and Cliff. PPG Cover illustration and illustrations throughout the book by Cheryl Benner Design by Cliff Snyder FIX-IT AND ENJOY-IT! POTLUCK HEAVEN Copyright 2011 by Good Books, Intercourse, PA 17534 International Standard Book Number: 978-1-56148-732-5 (paperback edition) International Standard Book Number: 978-1-56148-734-9 (hardcover gift edition) International Standard Book Number: 978-1-56148-733-2 (comb-bound paperback edition) Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2011032600 All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner, except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, without permission. The information in this book has been developed with care and accuracy and is presented in good faith.

However, no warranty is given nor are results guaranteed. Neither the author nor the publisher has control over the materials or procedures used, and neither has any liability for any loss or damage related to the use of information contained in the book. Should any corrections be needed, they will be posted at . Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fix-it and enjoy-it! potluck heaven : 543 stove-top and oven dishes that everyone loves / [compiled by] Phyllis Pellman Good. p. cm.

Includes index. ISBN 978-1-56148-732-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-56148-733-2 (comb-bound : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-56148-734-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1.

Cooking, American. 2. Cookbooks. I. Good, Phyllis Pellman, 1948- II. Title: Potluck heaven.

TX715.F574 2011

641.5973--dc23

2011032600

Table of Contents _____________________ _____________________ Potluck Heavens
Time is Here! Eating together has been one of the great human pleasures since forever. Potlucks Make Eating with Friends Possible But now more than ever, sharing the job of preparing that food is important, maybe even necessary, if eating together is going to happen. Otherwise, we may not sit down to a meal with friends anymore except in a restaurant. Mercifully, most of our good friends and family also live over-full lives. They know we arent lazy, disloyal, inept, or cheap if our invitation to a meal together comes with a food assignment. Family Reunions and Fellowship Meals When I was growing up, we took a hot dish and a cold dish to family reunions and church fellowship meals.

Thats when I learned that Dorothys deviled eggs were the best and Luettas rhubarb pie was unmatched. Neighborhood Picnics When our kids were growing up, we lived between two great families. Our kids played together, but we grown-ups seldom had more than two-sentence-long conversations. Thats when we instituted three backyard picnics a summer. Phyllis Pellman Good Each time, one of us made a main dish (usually grilled), another provided salad and veggies, and the other brought dessert. We took turns bringing the different foods.

Whoever hosted the event took care of dinnerware. Unless we were running short on plates or silver and asked for a little assistance from the others. It was that kind of easy atmosphere. Which Potluck Today? When our kids were in college and growing weary of cafeteria food, they devised a scouting system to find out which nearby churches were having fellowship meals on Sunday noon. When the word came back, a raft of students showed up at those places, probably mystifying the congregants with their sudden interest. Our Book-Reading Group Our book-reading group gets together to talk about the books weve all agreed to read, but our half-days in each others company would dim a little if we did away with that meal in the middle.

Heres how it works. We take turns hosting, which involves making a simple main dish ahead of time, of course, since we all want to be part of the book discussion. The host also provides bread and beverages. The rest of us are asked to bring either salads or desserts. We meet at 4:00 in the afternoon and talk about one book until 5:30. We eat from 5:30-6:30.

We talk about the other book from 6:30-8:00. Its good for our bodies and our souls and nobody gets worn out with hosting. Our Scattered Family Ever since both of Merles parents are gone, the sibs and spouses meet for a quarterly potluck. We take turns hosting, which also means making a basic main dish and asking the rest to bring either a salad or dessert. I know we see more of each other because we share the responsibility of food prep, and we are less tempted to try to outdo each other with this kind of set-up and expectation. Potluck Benefits So here are the pleasures of potlucks: Good chance youll see your friends and family more.

Youll likely be less tempted to feel pressured to impress your guests. I believe this is a maxim: The more comforting the food, the more casual the atmosphere, the more fun people have. If youre the host, youll have company in the kitchen. No more just listening to the fun going on in the family room or on the deck while you sweat and slave. Whether youre a guest or a host, its okay to use convenience foods if they make it possible for you to participate rotisserie chicken, store-bought canned or frozen vegetables, boxed chicken broth, frozen whipped topping, canned soups, and baking mixes. Potlucks can be contagious.

Instigate one, and you double your chances of being invited back to one. Give your social circles permission to share food together in this way in the prepping as well as the eating. Give thanks for good food and relaxing times together with your friends. And make sure you do your part to make them happen. But These Are Any-Time Recipes! Of course, these are great any-time recipes. ), if you have the time and the will. ), if you have the time and the will.

Carrying-in-the-Food Tips Choose a dish that you can make almost completely in advance. (Almost completely? Well, so that all you need to do is add the almonds and the dressing to the green salad or the crushed nachos to the top of the casserole.) Make a dish that will travel well. (A 4-layer cake with wobbly decorations on top? Probably not. A frozen dessert? Only if its a 10-minute drive or less to the destination, with a freezer immediately available when you get there.) Prepare a dish that wont self-destruct if it sits and waits. (Skip a souffl or a designed dusting of confectioners sugar on a warm volcano cake.) If you have a winner of a dish, double or triple it, depending on the size of the group. But make sure its a recipe that survives that kind of expansion and that you have adequately-sized containers to prepare and then transport it.

If kids are attending the potluck, keep them in mind when you decide what to make. Finger foods are especially easy for kids to handle. If you made the dish last year and people loved it, make it again this year. Good chance someones hoping youll show up with that same amazing Chicken Chili Bake. The idea is not to show your versatility as a cook, but to bring the dish that always gets eaten up after the first pass-through.