Whether it’s family, friends, co-workers, or your kids’ sports teams (or other summer activity group), sometimes it seems as though every week brings a request for a contribution to a potluck get-together. Here are some of my favorite recipes for these occasions:

Appetizer - I like to cut the eggs crosswise instead of lengthwise for deviled eggs. You can fit more of them on the serving platter and (the best part) every bite has a bit of yummy yolk mixture. The recipe can be doubled, tripled, etc. as needed.

Deviled Eggs

6 large hard-cooked eggs
2 Tbl. mayonnaise
1 tsp. honey mustard
salt and pepper
paprika

Slice a small sliver off the end of each egg then cut each in half crosswise. Scoop out the yolks and mash with the remaining ingredients.

Set each half on end and refill with yolk mixture. Garnish with a sprinkle of paprika.

Serves 6

Salad - Make this the day before.

Marinated Vegetables

2 cups cauliflower flowerets
2 cups sliced carrots
1 1/2 cups broccoli flowerets
3 stalks celery, diagonally sliced
1 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1/2 medium cucumber, cut in half lengthwise and sliced
2/3 cup diced green pepper

Dressing:
3/4 cup tarragon vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbl. vegetable oil
2 Tbl. sugar
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1/2 tsp. prepared mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Combine all vegetables in a large bowl. Mix all dressing ingredients separately. Pour dressing over vegetables; toss gently. Cover; chill at least 12 hours.

10 servings

Main Dish - I have never had to bring a main dish to a potluck but this would be a good choice if you would rather socialize than watch the grill during the picnic/potluck. Bake it the day before, chill, and slice. Bring sliced bread or buns along with condiments for those that prefer sandwiches.

Glazed Baked Ham

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (6 pound) bone in smoked precooked ham
Whisk together brown sugar, honey, wine, juice, and garlic. Place the ham in the marinade, turning to coat it. Let it sit at room temperature for one to four hours or refrigerate overnight. Turn ham occasionally.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place ham on rack in baking pan, reserving marinade. Bake the ham, basting often with the marinade. Cook for one hour or until the internal temperature reaches 120 degrees.

Serves 8 to 10

Dessert - I serve it in a new, clean plastic kid’s bucket (the recipe may need to be doubled, depending on the size of the bucket). These are usually sold with a plastic shovel that can be used for serving it. I make it with kids in mind but it has been just as popular with adults as it has been with the younger crowd.

Bucket of Dirt

1 clean child’s toy bucket with shovel
2 (6 serving size) instant chocolate pudding
6 cups milk
1 (16 oz.) Cool Whip, thawed
1 package Oreo Cookies
Gummy worms, if desired

Put the cookies into a large zipper-seal plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin.

Make pudding according to directions on package. (Combine pudding mix with milk and beat with a whisk for two minutes or until it begins to thicken.) Fold in thawed Cool Whip until well blended.

Alternate layers of pudding mixture and cookie crumbs in the bucket, finishing with a layer of cookie crumbs. Top with a few gummy worms. Put the shovel in the “dirt” to use as a serving spoon.

For a Bucket of Sand, substitute instant vanilla pudding for the chocolate and vanilla wafers for the Oreo cookies. Use gummy fish for decoration.

Easy to serve and no extra silverware plasticware needed to eat it!

Black and White Brownie Cups

1 cup butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with cupcake papers.

Melt butter with chocolate on low power in the microwave oven. Add sugar and eggs and beat until mixture is well blended. Stir in flour, a little at a time. Add salt and vanilla. Fill cupcake papers 1/2 full with chocolate mixture.

Beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla at medium speed for 2 minutes. Drop 1 1/2 teaspoons of mixture into each cup and swirl the white and dark mixtures together by dragging a knife through the batter. Bake 27 minutes. Refrigerate at least 5 hours.

Makes 2 dozen.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 13th, 2006 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Desserts, Appetizers and Dips, Pork, Salads, Vegetables. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.