Fix-It and Forget-It

It’s smart to have a reliable, delicious appetizer when you are hosting friends or family - something we all do quite a bit this time of the year! This is a go-to dip for several Good Cooking Store staff.

Make this dish, then simply put your slow cooker in the middle of your coffee table, surrounded by dippers like tortilla chips and fresh vegetable sticks. Then your guests can socialize, while you finish any other last minute prep that you are doing for the main meal.
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It has been a nutso week. I could feel it coming last weekend.

On Monday we’d be launching work on a new cookbook, including bringing in some new staff.

On Tuesday, several of us on the editorial team were driving to meet with publishing staff for the American Diabetes Association. (Watch for some great new books which we’ll collaborate on again in the future!)

Wednesday and Thursday we would have back-to-back, face-to-face meetings in our office with our key designer who lives 10 hours away.

Not much cooking time in the days ahead. But I really like to eat at home when I’ve had a pressured non-stop day.

So I started early Sunday morning, making a batch of spaghetti sauce before we headed off to church. Our older daughter was coming over at noon to watch football with Merle. (If you’re interested, more about the truce we reached on football-watching when the kids were little, at the asterisk below.*) A couple of weeks ago she told me how hungry she was for the spaghetti sauce I made when she was a little kid. Well, that’s a veiled request that’s pretty hard to resist.

I started to see a solution developing here about to how to cook this week when I would really have no time. If I made a good-sized batch of my Long-Ago Spaghetti Sauce, I’d have enough left to make a Spaghetti Pie. So I cranked up the amount of pasta I cooked for Sunday lunch to be sure I’d have enough of it for the Pie, too. I would absolutely not have time or interest in cooking as the week went along. So Sunday was the day.
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Haven’t seen your high school girlfriends for a while but you wish you could?

A little scared and worried about how to host a bunch of people when you’ve been running hard all week and the house isn’t in perfect shape?

Read Sharon’s testimonial about how you might get together without wearing yourself out with cooking:

Potlucky

Sure, you can be a good host! Just remember to hang a little loose. Choose the dish you want to make, and then clear some space for the people and the dishes they’ll be bringing. That’s about it for you; your guests will take care of the rest.

Here’s what I’m making for the next potluck I host, or get invited to, from our brand-new cookbook: Fix-It and Enjoy-It! Potluck Heaven: 543 Stove-Top and Oven Dishes That Everyone Loves!
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