Good Housekeeping Great Recipes: Summer Parties: Vegetarian Meals, Light & Healthy, and Grains!

By Hearst

  Good Housekeeping takes the “luck” out of potluck with ten delicious seasonal menus that are always good to go!
From hearty chili for Super Bowl Sunday to Syrupy Banana-Nut Overnight French Toast to sweeten up a Mothers Day brunch, these triple-tested dishes will be the star of any gathering. Advice on selecting a site, assigning dishes, and transporting your food makes it a cinch to throw a fabulous, affordable shindig!   Festive menus include:
Mothers Day Brunch * Potluck Patio Party  *  Family Reunion Picnic  *  Neighborhood Fourth of July Fun  *  Dinner on the Lawn Picnic  * Fall Tailgate Party *  Day After Thanksgiving Dinner Party  * New Years Eve Potluck Party * Super Bowl Shindig * Midwinter Blues Bash

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hearst
• Release date: Apr 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9781588169150

Book preview

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Good Housekeeping

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Great

POTLUCK

COOKBOOK

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Our Favorite Recipes for

Carry-In Suppers, Brunch Buffets,

Tailgate Parties & More!

HEARST BOOKS

A division of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

New York / London

www.sterlingpublishing.com

Copyright © 2011 by Hearst Communications, Inc.

All rights reserved. The recipes and photographs in this volume are intended for the personal use of the reader and may be reproduced for that purpose only. Any other use, especially commercial use, is forbidden under law without the written permission of the copyright holder.

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

Editor: Pam Hoenig

Production editor: Sarah Scheffel

Photography Credits

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Good housekeeping the great potluck cookbook : our favorite recipes for carry-in suppers, brunch buffets, tailgate parties & more!.

       p. cm.

  Includes index.

1. Cooking, American. I. Hearst Books (Firm) II. Good housekeeping. III. Title: Great potluck cookbook.

  TX715.G6255 2011

  641.5973—dc22

2010028941

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

9781588169150_0003_002

For information about custom editions, special sales, premium and corporate purchases, please contact Sterling Special Sales Department at 800-805-5489 or [e-mail].

Distributed in Canada by Sterling Publishing

c/o Canadian Manda Group

165 Dufferin Street

Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6K 3H6

Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link

(Australia) Pty. Ltd.

P.O. Box 704, Windsor, NSW 2756 Australia

Manufactured in China

Sterling ISBN 978-1-58816-827-6

The Good Housekeeping Cookbook Seal guarantees that the recipes in this cookbook meet the strict standards of the Good Housekeeping Research Institute. The Institute has been a source of reliable information and a consumer advocate since 1900, and established its seal of approval in 1909. Every recipe has been triple-tested for ease, reliability, and great taste.

Published by Hearst Books

A division of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016

Good Housekeeping is a registered trademark of Hearst Communications, Inc.

www.goodhousekeeping.com

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

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Mother’s Day Brunch

Potluck Patio Party

Family Reunion Picnic

Neighborhood

Fourth of July Fun

Dinner on the Lawn Picnic

Fall Tailgate Party

Day After Thanksgiving

Dinner Party

New Year’s Eve

Potluck Party

Super Bowl Shindig

Midwinter Blues Bash

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Metric Equivalent Charts

Index

Photography Credits

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Garden-Fresh Chopped Salad with Herb-Ranch Dressing

Foreword

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These days we’re all looking for relaxed, cozy ways to gather friends and family without the cost (or formality) of a restaurant meal. Potluck parties, whether they be picnics, buffets, tailgates, or other bring-a-dish gatherings fit the bill perfectly. Long a staple of large family get-togethers and community group fundraisers, potluck parties have become an increasingly popular way to entertain small or large groups. Whether at home or in the park, the host coordinates the menu, then everyone brings a dish—it’s communal dining at its very best!

To make your potluck come off without a hitch, The Great Potluck Cook book opens with organizing basics. You’ll learn how to plan a menu and assign dishes, choose a fun theme and pick the perfect venue, pack and transport food safely, and set up an attractive buffet. Then it’s on to the recipes: We’ve made it a snap to organize great potluck celebrations year-round by providing ten seasonal menus with dishes tailored to each event. From a Mother’s Day Brunch to a Potluck Patio Party, a Super Bowl Shindig and a Day After Thanksgiving Dinner Party, our festive, easy-to-execute menus make throwing a potluck as enjoyable for the host as it is for the guests.

Celebrate your annual family reunion with our down-home picnic featuring grab-and-go appetizers, three kinds of succulent barbecue, refreshing salads, and PB&J and S’mores Bars for a sweet finale. When summer turns to autumn, throw together a tailgate party: Our menu includes Easy Spicy Cheese Straws and other yummy nibbles, hearty entrées like Salsa Verde Enchiladas, plus Hot Mulled Wine and Spiced Cider to keep everyone warm and cozy.

Throughout the book, you’ll find Potluck Prep tips that offer advice on preparing dishes ahead and how to get them to your destination in party-perfect form. Plus, as a bonus, in the back of the book, you’ll find perforated tabletop cards, so you can dress up your buffet table with the names of all the tempting dishes and their proud creators. It’s a great reminder about the first rule of potlucking: Get everyone in on the act!

Susan Westmoreland

Food Director, Good Housekeeping

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Introduction

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Today, with time and money at a premium for most all of us, potluck is the perfect way to entertain. And if you’ve thought of potlucking but maybe felt uncomfortable asking people to contribute a dish, don’t. Once you get over the hump of organizing your first potluck, you’ll find that your friends will be delighted to participate and will be happy to take direction regarding what to make. One of the real benefits of potlucking is that because entertaining becomes so much easier, you’ll find yourself doing it with greater frequency. You could start a potluck round robin, with your circle of friends and family taking turns hosting.

POTLUCK 101

A successful potluck requires just a little prior thought and preparation. If you’re throwing your first potluck, there are few things you’ll want to consider:

1 WHAT YOUR MENU WILL BE. We’ve helped you out on this count by providing recipes for ten seasonal menus. Pick a party and you’re ready to go—all you need to do is copy and hand out the recipes. Or you can create your own potluck menu, pulling together recipes that seem like they would work well together. The other option is to decide what you would like to prepare (say, a glazed ham), then enlist your guests for the rest, asking them to bring an appetizer, side dish, additional main course, or dessert that they think would work with your dish. This option adds an element of surprise to the get-together, plus it gives your guests the opportunity to share some of their favorite recipes. Also, when selecting a menu, consider your guests and their eating habits. If you know you’ve got a vegetarian or someone with a specific food allergy coming, make sure to select an appetizer and dessert that everyone can enjoy and be sure there is at least one main course they can eat.

2 HOW TO ASSIGN DISHES. By all means, if you have a friend who is a dynamite baker, sign her up for dessert. If you’ve enjoyed a particular dish at a friend’s house, don’t be shy about asking him to prepare it. And if one or several guests don’t have the strongest cooking skills, asking them to prepare a recipe you supply them with might be the best way to go; be sure to give them one suited to their skills.

3 HOW YOU WILL SERVE. For a potluck, you’ll either want to serve family style, setting all the dishes out on the table for your guests to help themselves once they are seated, or buffet style. For a buffet, consider how you are going to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. If your guests don’t bring their contributions in insulated food carriers or coolers, perishable cold foods should be stored in the fridge until serving time. Hot foods may need a quick stovetop simmer or pop in the oven to warm them up to the correct serving temperature before setting them out. If you think you might be potlucking on a regular basis, consider investing in several chafing dishes or insulated stainless steel–lined covered serving dishes. If you have a group you potluck with regularly, each of you could purchase a chafing dish and bring it to the parties.

The Entertaining Slow Cooker

The slow cooker is indispensable for no-fuss everyday meals, but it’s also a great tool for the buffet table. It’s perfect for keeping soups, stews, braises (like our Hungarian Veal Goulash), or chili at a satisfying simmer for up to two hours (use the Low or Keep Warm setting). There is even a mini slow cooker available, tailor made for hot dips (like the Hot Crabmeat Spread). Your slow cooker can also double as an electric punch bowl, keeping hot drinks hot, like our Warm Spiced Cider (♣) and Hot Mulled Wine. Just set a ladle next to it and guests can serve themselves.

And remember, don’t let food sit out at room temperature for more than two hours, including car time and sitting out for service.

IF YOU ARE BRINGING FOOD

The recipes in this book all contain Potluck Prep notes, advising you on how best to prepare and transport the dish to the potluck. Here are some additional tips for getting your contribution to its destination safe and sound.

Cover it well

• If your serving dish or bakeware doesn’t come with a lid, make sure your casserole is securely wrapped. Cover it with a layer of plastic wrap, then a layer of foil. If you think there’s still a chance the serving dish may leak, place it, with some absorbent paper underneath (newspaper works well), on a rimmed baking sheet or set it inside a cardboard box.

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