Hi everybody! My local YMCA is hosting a Fitness Potluck on 9/6/07, where you bring your favorite dish. You can bring anything from an appetizer to a dessert but since it is my fellow fitness friends, they are kind of stressing that we keep it healthful so I am really trying not to bring a dessert, which is my usual specialty.

I really need ideas on coming up with something creative that will appeal to a lot of people and hopefully won't cost a fortune to prepare.

I would greatly appreciate it if you would share your past experiences as to what was a successs for you in a similar pot luck get together or if you recall a dish that you tasted at a gathering that was popular and you could recommend.

Thanks in advance.

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Debbie

Hmmmmmm....The last time I took something other than a dessert to a potluck I took some roasted vegetables. Incredibly easy to make (potatoes, carrots, and broccoli totalling around 2 lbs, some olive oil, and a package of Ranch seasoning), but they got rave reviews. People *still* ask about them.

I also think a dish with a lot of different colors would work. I don't know exactly, what, though...

I was coming up with all sorts of good ideas, til I rearead your post and saw the "fitness" and "healthy" words, heehee. I'm not too good at that, heh. I'll see what I can come up with, and I'll pm you.

Jen

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Man cannot live on bread alone. That's why someone invented CAKE!!

It might be fun to take a typical potluck dish, like macaroni and cheese or one of those mayonnaise heavy salads and give it a fitness makeover. I don't know if you ever go to your local library, but Cooking Light does these recipe makeovers in every issue, plus they have tons of generally healthy recipes too.

Actually, go to www.myrecipes.com and you can get the recipes.

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Arlington, TX

Susan, thanks for sharing that website. I've never come across it in the before, but I think I'll have to start using it more now. I love the Cooking Light recipes!

Thanks for your responses. SmileFace, your roasted vegetable dish sounds very good. When you refer to Ranch Seasoning, do you mean a dry dressing mix?

Also, the recipe does not have to be low calorie so if you have a really favorite recipe that you have brought to one of these types of gatherings, I would love to hear from you. Thanks in advance.

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Debbie

Hi Debbie,

Yes, by Ranch seasoning, I mean a packet of Ranch dry dressing mix. I usually put the potatoes and carrots in first (for about 45 minutes), and then add the broccoli (for another 20ish minutes). Otherwise the broccoli burns.

Well I just wanted to follow-up and let you know that I decided that I am going the easy route especially since the party starts at 6:00 P.M. and I don't get home from work until close to that time so I am going to have to have the dish ready to go when I get home. Therefore, I am going to make my standby appetizer of Spinach Dip with fresh vegetable crudite and crackers. Everyone always enjoys this dip when I bring it to family gatherings. I am going to use light sour cream and light mayo to try to keep it in the healthy category. However, I've got to bake something so I am going to make the Incredible Brownies using the Hershey's Symphony Bars in the middle layer. They are so easy to make and they make a lot and are so rich so I can cut them smaller to feed more people. I can get all of this made tonight and then just breeze in tomorrow night and pick it up and bring it with me and not fuss with warming anything up and worrying about keeping a dish warm. Thanks again for all of your responses.

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Debbie

Debbie, what'd you end up making and taking?