No polyester required Pot Luck Dinner. Warning: Only invite people who can cook.

One thing I’ve learned to master in my singledom is party hosting. I use the term master very loosely, please remember. What I mean by that is that I have learned to not stress, which in turn makes it successful to me. To the attendees? I’m not entirely sure.   But I do think there’s a lot to be said for a party at which the host isn’t going bonkers and sweating profusely.  Come on, we’ve all been there.  Either as the sweaty hostess or the party goer who can’t stop looking at the sweaty hostess because it’s like a train wreck.

At some point, I just realized that only so much will get done.  I usually continue to do small things once my girlfriends arrive because most of the time, we hang out in my kitchen regardless. So I push the small items (slicing, dicing, dips, etc) to the last moment. And there are worst things then having your friends there to talk to and help you out while you all catch up. It makes it not seem like work. More like working distracted (don’t slice and dice while distracted…or they will be driving you the ER. Not fun.)  Anything messy and on the stove I take care of ahead of time, I try to always make sure my mess is cleaned up prior to any arrivals.

But I have recently (yesterday) discovered the best way to reduce stress and simplify. And bring the 70’s back….drum roll please….POT LUCK DINNER PARTY!  I know there are some associations with the name “Pot Luck”, such as: “Do I have to wear a polyester jumpsuit?”  Nope.  “Does my dish have to be served in a goldenrod colored Corning ware?” Nah. “Will Saturday Night Fever be playing in the background?” Maybe.  But please men, no open shirts with exposed chest hair and gold chains. Thanks for that.

Oh, I Googled 70's and polyester and Ralph Furley came up. I love him, and that show. Just saying.



What I did was ask a few trusted friends over. And by trusted, I mean friends that I know are good cooks. I’m no dummy!   I set a time and a theme, which in our case was just Fall. I told them each what the main dish would be (i.e. the meat of the meal, or what dish the meal is built around) which was turkey, and I supplied the drinks, bread and location.  One friend brought a starchy side (Twice Baked Potatoes!), another brought the veggie side (Green Bean Casserole, which I traditionally hate but hers rocked) and the other friend brought the dessert and app (Apple Pie, Toffee Pear Sticky Pudding and Baked Brie for an app). Everything was outstanding, and ready to go when everyone got here. All I had to do was have the table set and room for the dishes available.  And then guess what? Everyone got to sit down around the table and enjoy each others company!  That alone is amazing to me. No one was running around or spent time worrying about what wasn’t done. 



I did make sure I had a “kid zone”, which was a table covered with plastic sheeting, stocked with markers and coloring books that they could eat at (I have chicken fingers and juice boxes for them so they were happy and parents could relax). 

We got to have a delicious, team effort dinner with few interruptions or requests.  And I got to deliver my thought out toast (I did think it out for about 35 seconds), which was nothing more than, “To us, at this moment.”  Because after all, who knows what will happen a month or a year down the road?  All I knew was at that moment, surrounded by love, good wine and good food, I wouldn’t have asked for anything else.



Here are the directions for the delish Twice Baked Potatoes, thanks to Rod and Katina:

Begin by microwaving your potatoes, unwrapped, for 8 minutes for one and adding two minutes for each additional potato (So three potatoes equals 12 minutes).  Once cooled, scoop out the inside of the potato, you can halve them and leave the empty half skins aside. Empty the potatoes into a bowl, add warm milk (it's important that its WARM milk, cold screws up the texture), butter, salt and seasoning to taste. Katina favors garlic powder.  And the most important part (also known as her "secret" ingredient. Obviously not so much now.) is shredded white mozzarella cheese.  Add it into the potato mix, again to taste. It ends up almost looking like an instant potato consistency.  Scoop heaping spoonfuls of the mixture back onto the empty potato halves, top it with shredded cheddar cheese (crumbled bacon would rock right about now, for all you diet conscious folks) and bake for 10-15 minutes at 35 degrees.

And the directions for the awesome Green Bean Casserole, also known as "Kristi's Slightly Famous and Slightly Crunchy Green Bean Casserole":

2 lbs of fresh green beans

French's onion rings 2 lg containers

2 cans of cream of mushroom

1 can of cream of garlic

 3 oz of sharp cheddar cheese

1/2lb of your favorite american cheese

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Clean and cut ends and of green beans.   Then cut green beans to desired length.  I usually cut into 3 pieces which makes it a good bite size.   Put into large casserole dish or two small if you would like to save one.  

Add 2 cans of cream of mushroom, and the can of cream of garlic and mix well so all the green beans are covered.  Add one can of onion rings.   Shred sharp cheddar and sprinkle though out and mix well with all the other ingredients,  layer the top with the slices of american cheese.  Sprinkle a thin layer of onion rings.

Cook for 25 minutes and serve.  

Guaranteed that who have shied away from this Thanksgiving staple will now have a new favorite to look forward to every year:) <----Says Kristi. Though as a former vehement hater of GB Casserole, I agree that this is a fresh and awesome new take. I know it has something to do with the american cheese.

 

And lastly but certainly not least is the link for the Toffee Pear Sticky Pudding that Andrea made.  I assure you, even when you're full from turkey, roast, twice baked potatoes, green bean casserole, bread, butter, wine and brie, you will make room for this pudding. Not that I ate all of those things and still had dessert, but I HEARD of some woman who did. And I also heard she wasn't sorry. At all.