Anybody got a favorite potluck buffet recipe?

[skhill]

I love to bake, so that's my usual route. A pie (or 2), using seasonal fruit when possible. Homemade bread always goes over well, too! Maybe not the healthiest options, but tasty. And probably healthier than store-bought versions...

[malkin]

If you do end up with celiac or some other reason to avoid wheat, you might still enjoy baking for other people.

Good luck on your bloodwork!

[channlluv]

Thanks, Malkin. And thanks everyone else for the tips on what to bring. I think I'm going to go for that spinach salad. Or maybe the cole slaw. Or the banana chocolate chip cake....oy.

Roxy

[channlluv]

Okay, just to update everyone who was kind enough to share earlier, I went with a cobbled-together quinoa salad and a cucumber salad. The cucumber salad was pretty basic. Three sliced cucumbers and half a sweet Vidalia onion that I ran through my mandoline slicer so they were crinkled, and a dozen cherry tomatoes cut in half, and then I salted and peppered them and dressed them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I think the balsamic vinegar was a mistake, though. I'm new to using it and I didn't realize that it would turn it all brown. The cucumbers looked like they'd been sitting out in the sun for several hours.

The quinoa salad turned out pretty good, but it had the same problem with the balsamic vinegar (the final dish looked like dog food with cranberries in it). It tasted good, but not many people were trying it. Here's what I put together:

2 cups of quinoa added to four cups of water in a largish sauce pan, brought to a boil, then set to low until all the water was absorbed. When it was cooled off a bit, I transferred it to a large glass salad bowl and added the following:

2 cups of dried cranberries
2 cans of mandarin oranges, drained
1 can of crushed pineapple
2 cups of chopped walnuts
1/2 cup of green onions, sliced pretty small. I think I used five of them.

In a 2-cup measuring cup, I mixed a 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar and a 1/2 cup of grapeseed oil, and then I added two cloves of garlic, chopped really small (but not small enough -- there were a couple of chunks that burned my mouth and a friend's mouth).

It tasted pretty good, but in retrospect, I think I might try rice vinegar, which a friend tells me is clear (and didn't someone here say it is sweeter?).

I'd also fold in the mandarin oranges last -- they got pretty mangled in the mixing process. I'd also use chunk pineapple, and maybe mix pineapple juice in with the oil and vinegar to flavor the wet part more.

Apple chunks might be a nice addition.

I also think I'd drop the garlic. It didn't really add much to the flavors and only stood out when it burned my mouth.

So thanks, everyone! I like sharing recipes here. You ladies are really great cooks.

Roxy

[OakLeaf]

I usually do my salad dressings in the small blender attachment for the stick blender. That chops the garlic (and any herbs) very fine, and emulsifies the oil.

Rice vinegar has a definite "Asian" flavor. If that's not what you're looking for, you might try sherry or champagne vinegar. Even red wine vinegar doesn't color a grain salad the same way balsamico does.