Ideas For A Great Potluck Dish

For most of the gatherings in our group of friends, the guests are invited to bring their own beverages and ‘a plate to share’. I love this idea – it alleviates some of the stress and cost of the host/hostess and it ensures that everyone will have something to eat because they will bring something they like!

But now the hard part, what to bring? Personally, I prefer to take things that don’t require onsite prep at all. You might not know what sort of kitchen availability there will be and you don’t want to be the high-maintenance guest! Here are a few of my favorites:

• Deviled eggs – Perhaps more common in the South, but this is always a hit and you can prep them pretty early. Just a quick tip, I find that I get the prettiest results by mixing the filling in a Ziploc bag and then snipping a corner off of the bag to use it like a pastry bag. The eggs always turn out beautiful!

• 7-Layer Dip – My personal recipe includes bean dip, guacamole, sour cream mixed with taco seasoning, grated cheese, diced tomatoes, sliced green onions, and sliced black olives. There are hundreds of variations though. I’ve had some delicious ones that include salsa.

• Ham Rolls – Not a very fancy name, but these have been requested many times! I use the rectangular sandwich ham slices to make it easy. Spread a generous amount of chive cream cheese directly on the ham, trim a green onion top to fit the width of the ham slice, nestle it in the cream cheese, and then roll it tightly. Once you have all of them rolled, refrigerate the whole batch. Then you simply slice them into bite-size nibbles and arrange on a platter.