Food Revolution Day is coming right up on May 16th – have you signed up to host a potluck yet? I have and I’m really hoping you will too! The fun thing about a potluck is that unlike a traditional dinner party, it’s not a huge amount of work for any one person since everyone contributes to the meal as a whole.
It can be as simple as inviting a few friends over asking them each to bring something to eat and then setting a time to meet. Or if you want to make it more of an event, you can set a theme, send out invitations, and make it more of an event!
When I started planning for my own potluck, I spent a bunch of time trying to figure out what type of theme it should be. And where does one go when they are looking for creative ideas? Pinterest of course!
You can see from my board that I’ve thought about a Hunger Games theme for my party, as well as seaside/nautical themes, and quite a plethora of fruit related ideas (that watermelon shark rocks my socks!)
In the end I decided on a Downton Abbey themed party, since I know 1/2 of my party goers hadn’t seen season 4 yet (and I happen to have it on my DVR), and I am always game for watching British television!
But that leaves me in an interesting place food wise. As much as I adore Downton Abbey, I’m not particularly keen on the meals they have on the show, and certainly didn’t want any quail or salmon mousse at my potluck…so I’m coming up with different ways to integrate the theme into the party without using food. Stay tuned for that in a later post 😉
Once you have your theme set (if you are setting one) it’s time to decide on a menu, and if you are expecting guests to bring food (which most people going to a potluck should expect) be sure to let them know when you invite them so they can start figuring out what to bring. In my experience, the host usually provides the main dish, and everyone else brings sides, appetizers or deserts.
I’ve decided for my main dish that I am going to make a sort of margherita pasta with a twist. The twist being that I know that some of my guests don’t like raw tomatoes so I don’t want to mix them right in the pasta. So instead of making a sauce of olive oil, basil, tomatoes and mozzerella, I am going to make a pesto to cover the pasta, and then have chopped tomatoes and mini bocconcini (which is a very mild mozzarella-like cheese) in bowls off to the side that my guests can add to the top of their pasta if they would like.
In true Suzi fashion, I’m making the recipe up as I go along so I will share it with you in my next post!
To help make your potluck planning (and execution) a breeze, here are a few Potluck tips to keep it simple!
- Assign dishes. I don’t mean to tell people exactly what to bring, but what portion of the meal to bring. Should they come with a side dish? dessert? appetizer? You don’t want everyone to show up with a salad!
- Use disposable plates/cutlery. There are lots of compostable plates and utensils available these days so you can save yourself the headache of having to wash all of those extra dishes, without creating more garbage in the landfill!
- Flavoured water. Instead of serving lots of sugary drinks why not flavour water with different fruits for drinks? Water is free, and in season fruit is inexpensive and much healthier that pop and juice. Plus it’s a breeze to make. Wash and cut the fruit up to 24 hours before the party and toss it in a pitcher with water and refrigerate. That’s it!
- Keep it casual. You don’t need to set the table or eat in the dinning room – it’s a potluck! It’s suppose to be laid back! I always have ours in our media room. I set up a card table for food, and put the snacks on our coffee table. We all pile onto our big couch and watch tv or movies, eat and talk.
- Relax! You’re inviting your friends over, not the queen of England! you don’t need to go crazy cleaning. Do some basic tidying up, but you probably don’t need to clean the grout in your shower 😉
The awesome thing about a Potluck is how inexpensive they are! Instead of one person having to shoulder the cost of everything, everybody contributes so the cost goes way down. and by cooking your contribution yourself instead of buying something pre-made you’ll be saving that much more (and refining those cooking skills). Not confident in your cooking abilities? Well then you can always contribute a fruit or veggie tray, or cheese and crackers! Or if you are ambitious, you can try your hand at making that watermelon shark I mentioned earlier!
Who wouldn’t want that guy at their party!?!?
Now if you’ll excuse me…I need to go get ready for a party!
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