How many times have you been invited to a potluck? I know a lot of people can't cook or bake and getting invited to a potluck is not what you want to do! You get people saying they will bring the fanciest items ... you probably haven't heard of them! To be honest, I love cooking and baking, but I have some suggestions for those of you who don't!
1. Mini sandwiches
It's something everyone will enjoy! Get some bread, meat, cheese, lettuce, etc. and put together a nice platter of mini sandwiches! My advice is to have three or four types of sandwiches. The ones I would recommend are: a) egg salad b) ham and cheese c) roast beef d) tuna. Almost everyone will be able to find something out of those four. You can mix it up with white bread or whole wheat bread. Add butter or mayo or lettuce or mustard to some of them. And always put it on a nice platter and decorate the platter with lettuce and/or carrots.
2. Fruit and veggie platter
It is pretty simple to purchase some fruits and veggies and do a platter of each. Remember to get dipping sauce! To be honest, I'm not a fan of dipping sauce, but most people are! Suggestions for fruits are to get FOUR of them. My ideas: grapes, some sort of melon, strawberries, and another fruit such as apples, oranges, plums, peaches, kiwis, pineapples. If you are not serving right away, either don't cut up all the fruit or dip the cut up fruit in lemon juice diluted in water. This will help them not turn brown. As for veggies, four of those is good as well. My ideas: carrots, celery, peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, or radishes.
3. Lasagna
This involves a bit of cooking but it is not too difficult! It is a very basic lasagna recipe though. You will need to purchase 1 can of spaghetti sauce (I would recommend a kind with beef already in it, such as Ragu with beef), a block of cheese, and precooked lasagna noodles.
To Prepare:
Heat oven to 350 degrees Celsius
Grate all the cheese (If you have two different types of cheese, do half and half!)
In a lasagna tray, put the ingredients in it in this order
- grease the tray (with butter or something like PAM)
- spaghetti sauce
Then rotate through these three ingredients in the following order
- noodles
- sauce
- cheese
Make sure cheese is the top layer
Cover with tinfoil and cook on 350 degrees Celsius for 50 minutes - 1 hour (check on it every 15 minutes though if it's your first time!)
It is surprisingly easy. If you want to make twice as much, just get twice the amount of ingredients!
Store in the fridge if you are not serving right away. And make sure you can warm it up before you serve it!
4. Salad
There are tons of basic salads you can do. Caesar salad, garden salad. Those are the two easiest one I can think of. If you don't know how to make a salad, there are tons of recipes for it online! It depends what type you want. But Caesar and garden are always good. There are fancier salads (like Jelly salad or marshmallow salad) that usually go over well but they are more complicated to make.
5. Potato Skins
This is another one where you will need to warm it up beforehand.
All you need is: Potatoes (one potato will make two potato skins), cheese (a couple different types is good, grated), Parmesan cheese, bacon, a tomato, onions, salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 450degrees Celsius. Clean the potatoes or make sure they are clean! Poke holes (with a fork) in each of the potatoes. I would say poke it about six times throughout the potato. Put it in the microwave for five minutes. Wait for it to cool a little bit, then cut them in half with a sharp knife. Use a spoon and dig out the insides so you have a hole in the middle.
In the whole, you will put a layer of cheese, some bacon (cut up into small pieces), onions (if you'd like, not everyone likes onions), and tomatoes. Sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Then add another layer of cheese (it will melt a lot ... feel free to let the cheese go out of the middle and spread around the top of the potato). The more toppings, the better it will taste! Then put them in the over at 450 degrees Celsius for 5 - 10 minutes (Check on them at 5 minutes and keep an eye on them after). It will be done when the cheese is melted.
They can be stored for two to three days in the fridge!
Have fun at your potluck!
1. Mini sandwiches
It's something everyone will enjoy! Get some bread, meat, cheese, lettuce, etc. and put together a nice platter of mini sandwiches! My advice is to have three or four types of sandwiches. The ones I would recommend are: a) egg salad b) ham and cheese c) roast beef d) tuna. Almost everyone will be able to find something out of those four. You can mix it up with white bread or whole wheat bread. Add butter or mayo or lettuce or mustard to some of them. And always put it on a nice platter and decorate the platter with lettuce and/or carrots.
2. Fruit and veggie platter
It is pretty simple to purchase some fruits and veggies and do a platter of each. Remember to get dipping sauce! To be honest, I'm not a fan of dipping sauce, but most people are! Suggestions for fruits are to get FOUR of them. My ideas: grapes, some sort of melon, strawberries, and another fruit such as apples, oranges, plums, peaches, kiwis, pineapples. If you are not serving right away, either don't cut up all the fruit or dip the cut up fruit in lemon juice diluted in water. This will help them not turn brown. As for veggies, four of those is good as well. My ideas: carrots, celery, peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, or radishes.
3. Lasagna
This involves a bit of cooking but it is not too difficult! It is a very basic lasagna recipe though. You will need to purchase 1 can of spaghetti sauce (I would recommend a kind with beef already in it, such as Ragu with beef), a block of cheese, and precooked lasagna noodles.
To Prepare:
Heat oven to 350 degrees Celsius
Grate all the cheese (If you have two different types of cheese, do half and half!)
In a lasagna tray, put the ingredients in it in this order
- grease the tray (with butter or something like PAM)
- spaghetti sauce
Then rotate through these three ingredients in the following order
- noodles
- sauce
- cheese
Make sure cheese is the top layer
Cover with tinfoil and cook on 350 degrees Celsius for 50 minutes - 1 hour (check on it every 15 minutes though if it's your first time!)
It is surprisingly easy. If you want to make twice as much, just get twice the amount of ingredients!
Store in the fridge if you are not serving right away. And make sure you can warm it up before you serve it!
4. Salad
There are tons of basic salads you can do. Caesar salad, garden salad. Those are the two easiest one I can think of. If you don't know how to make a salad, there are tons of recipes for it online! It depends what type you want. But Caesar and garden are always good. There are fancier salads (like Jelly salad or marshmallow salad) that usually go over well but they are more complicated to make.
5. Potato Skins
This is another one where you will need to warm it up beforehand.
All you need is: Potatoes (one potato will make two potato skins), cheese (a couple different types is good, grated), Parmesan cheese, bacon, a tomato, onions, salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 450degrees Celsius. Clean the potatoes or make sure they are clean! Poke holes (with a fork) in each of the potatoes. I would say poke it about six times throughout the potato. Put it in the microwave for five minutes. Wait for it to cool a little bit, then cut them in half with a sharp knife. Use a spoon and dig out the insides so you have a hole in the middle.
In the whole, you will put a layer of cheese, some bacon (cut up into small pieces), onions (if you'd like, not everyone likes onions), and tomatoes. Sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Then add another layer of cheese (it will melt a lot ... feel free to let the cheese go out of the middle and spread around the top of the potato). The more toppings, the better it will taste! Then put them in the over at 450 degrees Celsius for 5 - 10 minutes (Check on them at 5 minutes and keep an eye on them after). It will be done when the cheese is melted.
They can be stored for two to three days in the fridge!
Have fun at your potluck!
These are fantastic ideas! I especially like the mini sandwiches idea because even if you can't cook, anybody can put sandwiches together. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes, the mini sandwiches are a great idea. My boyfriend (who can't cook) did the mini sandwiches idea and it worked great! Besides, everyone likes a mini sandwich! :)
ReplyDelete