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I've made turkey meatballs from NYT Cooking in a homemade sauce (canned tomatoes, pulsed briefly in a blender first, onion, garlic, a dash of red wine, sugar to taste) for parties and they are always a hit.
Another option is to make chili in a crockpot. You can even make it veggie quite easily; use some quinoa, corn, and beans. People love it.
You can also do that delicious Rotel tomato/Velveeta cheese chicken spaghetti (hint - you don't have to use Velveeta in it because grated cheddar cheese works great too). You can substitute rice based spaghetti for those who may be gluten sensitive if you like - it tastes just as good. You can also substitute a family sized package of chicken fajita meat, chopped up, for whatever chicken meat it calls for. Basically this is super hard to mess up.
There are tons of recipes online but like I said, you can improvise, substitute, whatever and it always turns out great. I add black olives to mine for some visual interest (plus they just taste good!).
It makes a ton every time I make it. You can bake it or make it in a crock pot. It's just ooey gooey goodness.
I've had meatballs for dinner many times, more so than as an appetizer. The Swedes have them as either a starter or a main course. You can make meatballs with something other than beef, as well.
Take a good ice chest, put in containers such as canning jars of boiling water all around it filling the space around the food container full of hot food. Put on the lid.
When you take off the lid, very hot food.
Years ago three young families (two sisters and two brothers and one set of grand parents} went from Silicon Valley, to spend the day at Santa's Village on the highway to the coast. It was our turn to furnish Thanksgiving dinner. We packed a full dinner including a turkey in hot water chests and cold items in an iced chest. They had a picnic area next to the parking lot. Our dinner guests did not know what we had brought. When we opened the chests and found hot food steaming hot and cold food cold. Our guests and other picnic groups were shocked at how we were able to have a traditional dinner hot and good. My wife's brothers and sister and their families still all say this was their best Thanksgiving dinner ever.
One of those poly-foam chests, very hot food, and vacant space filled with bottles of boiling water, and you have very hot food at serving time.
Chili is definitely a hit at a potluck. My husband takes white chili -- made with ground turkey and white beans instead of kidney beans -- to an annual potluck where he volunteers. McCormick actually has a white chili seasoning packet, which is very good.
We make it the day before, refrigerate overnight, then heat it up in the microwave before putting it back in the crockpot, which he takes to the office. It stays on warm for a few hours before the meal begins. Works great!
As a minister, I know a little about pot lucks. To me, the best ideas are foods that everyone can eat. No one ever turns down Macaroni and Cheese. Chili made without meat is very popular too. You could take rice in another slow cooker.
Vegetable curries (not too spicy) are another option. A woman at church takes a rice and broccoli hot dish with cheese that always disappears fast.
As a minister, I know a little about pot lucks. To me, the best ideas are foods that everyone can eat. No one ever turns down Macaroni and Cheese. Chili made without meat is very popular too. You could take rice in another slow cooker.
Vegetable curries (not too spicy) are another option. A woman at church takes a rice and broccoli hot dish with cheese that always disappears fast.
Is anyone taking salad and bread?
I would think someone with so much experience would be more sensitized. Some people have celiac or other gluten sensitivities and can't eat pasta. Some people are lactose intolerant and can't eat cheese. Some people just don't like curry.
There reality is that there is no such thing as one single dish that everyone can or wants to eat, so that's a misguided goal and a misguided statement to pretend that such a unicorn actually exists.
I try to make things that are reasonably popular and that I am comfortable cooking - bringing a dish to a group event isn't always the best time to experiment! Not everyone will eat it, but that's the benefit of a pot luck, there is enough of a variety that most everyone can find *something* they like, as long as no one expects to like everything.
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