Fix-It and Forget-It

On Wednesday, we posted a giveaway for a straight off the press, autographed copy of Fix-It and Enjoy-It! Potluck Heaven plus Chantal Make & Take ceramic bakeware.

We asked: What do you love about potlucks?

And the lucky, random winner is…
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The moment is finally here! Fix-It and Enjoy-It Potluck Heaven has arrived! We get excited each time a new cookbook arrives, but this feast of 543 stove-top and oven recipes, gathered from home cooks, is extra special.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve sampled (and shared the recipes here) several fantastic dishes including this succulent Bourbon Chicken and this excellent Tortellini Caesar Salad. We can’t wait to share all of these recipes with our family and friends at potlucks, weeknight meals, church suppers, and, well, the list of occasions where we can make and take these easy recipes is endless.

Want a straight off the press, autographed copy of your own? Here’s your chance. Enter our giveaway (details below) to win a copy.

We’re also throwing in a set of Chantal Make & Take ceramic bakeware! This set includes an 8x8 covered square baker, a 1¾-quart round casserole with lid, and four (yes, four!) 3-cup round casseroles with lids. It’s the perfect complement to any of these delicious potluck recipes, especially because it’s freezer, oven, microwave, and dishwasher safe.

(Chantal doesn’t know how much we love potlucks or that we’re giving away the Make & Take bakeware.)

And remember the recipes in Fix-It and Enjoy-It Potluck Heaven work for almost every occasion and the ingredients each recipe calls for is readily available. The food is so good, all you’ll take home from the potluck is your empty dish!
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I’m thinking that applesauce might be a test of character. Let me back up far enough to explain this.

Our church sits in the middle of our small city, and every Monday evening 150-250 neighbors drop in for supper. These Community Meals are prepared and served by church groups from around the city and the just-outlying areas.

Twice a year our Sunday school class takes its turn. We love to do it. It’s work, but the people who come to eat are gracious and grateful. They enlarge our worlds.

We come up with a menu, divvy up who makes what, and cook most of the food from scratch.

Merle and I had shown up to help serve the meal when my friend Barb came walking toward the tables, carrying a gargantuan steel bowl of applesauce. It was the purest-looking, most glistening, golden applesauce that I have ever seen. I caught her eye and asked if she had made it. “Yes,” she said.

I know this woman can cook, so I bee-lined it to the kitchen area and swiped a spoonful from her back-up containers. Just as I expected, the applesauce was as purely fresh and sparkling to taste as it was to see. This was Eden. This was also the middle of the winter, so she hadn’t just whipped this up on a whim.

“Well,” I spluttered to Barb, “if I had made such extraordinarily flavorful applesauce, I’d have stashed it in my freezer and dribbled it out on special occasions for me and my most-loved ones.”
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1. You’re sad because your child is starting school (that sweet little vulnerable person who has also exasperated you plenty) and you need some emotional back-up.

2. You’re gleeful (but it wouldn’t seem right to say it out loud) that the summer is almost over and life is about to become quieter and more routine. (Can’t the sound of a school bus be really great?!) Time for a little celebrating.

3. You haven’t seen your neighbors very much this summer with everyone’s comings and goings.

4. You haven’t seen your sisters or brothers much lately either.

5. There’s a great Labor-Day concert in the park. Invite your good friends to join you for a potluck picnic before the music.
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Eating together has been one of the great human pleasures since forever.

Potlucks Make Eating with Friends Possible
But now more than ever, sharing the job of preparing that food is important, maybe even necessary, if eating together is going to happen. Otherwise, we may not sit down to a meal with friends anymore—except in a restaurant.

Mercifully, most of our good friends and family also live over-full lives. They know we aren’t lazy, disloyal, inept, or cheap if our invitation to a meal together comes with a food assignment.

Family Reunions and Fellowship Meals
When I was growing up, we took a hot dish and a cold dish to family reunions and church fellowship meals. That’s when I learned that Dorothy’s deviled eggs were the best and Luetta’s rhubarb pie was unmatched.

Neighborhood Picnics
When our kids were growing up, we lived between two great families. Our kids played together, but we grown-ups seldom had more than two-sentence-long conversations. That’s when we instituted three backyard picnics a summer.

Each time, one of us made a main dish (usually grilled), another provided salad and veggies, and the other brought dessert. We took turns bringing the different foods. Whoever hosted the event took care of dinnerware. Unless we were running short on plates or silver and asked for a little assistance from the others. It was that kind of easy atmosphere.
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We have a new irresistible cookbook underway. It’s going to be a few months yet before it’s ready for you, but since I can hardly wait, here’s a tasty preview.

If it didn’t sound downright cheesy, I’d be tempted to call this a birth announcement.
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