The Potluck Club Cookbook by Linda Evans Shepherd & Eva Marie Everson and My Review

Potluck Parties: The Popular Pastime Goes Posh

Dinner parties take a cue from the past,
with revival in potlucks during hard financial times.Buy from Amazon (and get a look inside) or Koorong.

As wallets tighten, friends and family have to get more creative about the way they socialize, seeking to make get-togethers more budget-friendly without sacrificing the fun. That challenge is what has brought about the revival of potlucks to the social scene.

“Eating in is the new eating out,” says Eva Marie Everson, a potluck enthusiast and co-author of The Potluck Club Cookbook. For instance, Everson and her husband used to meet up with another couple each month over dinner at a different restaurant. “But with the recent economy, we started eating in and dining à la potluck. We get to sit on a screened-in patio and watch the sun set over the lake behind the house. We all agree we should have been doing this all along!”

Potlucks are easy even on strained budgets because no one person carries the full cost of a table-full of food; instead, guests each bring their own favorite dish and together cater the event. This allows guests
to sample new dishes and share favorite recipes from their closest friends.

These potlucks that are popping up in even the classiest of circles barely resemble the potlucks of yesterday. Now, they might carry intriguing themes that the dishes are based around. For instance, a book club’s potluck might feature foods mentioned in the pages of their latest read. Or a birthday celebration for a longtime friend might be a wine-and-cheese potluck showcasing favorite edibles that get better with age. For a close girlfriend who is always known for accenting with yellow, a potluck in her honor might include a savory, golden-hued smorgasbord.

Whatever your affair may look like, Eva Marie Everson and Linda Evans Shepherd are the experts when it comes to hosting and attending these shared meals. Veterans of countless potlucks over the years, the duo has gathered their favorite potluck-ready recipes—from salads to slow-cooker delights—plus their experienced insights about pulling off a potluck into one source: The Potluck Club Cookbook. Shepherd and Evans are also the authors of the popular fiction series The Potluck Club and The Potluck Catering Club—so their penchant for potlucks is obvious.

My Review:

I think the idea of potlucks is a great idea! I also really love the idea of themed potlucks. I would love to do a themed potluck with my friends, and I think I'll start planning it soon :)

There are so many delicious meals in here, and they make me hungry when I read them.

There's sections on snacks, cakes, crock-pot meals, breads, lite meals, desserts, breakfasts, meat meals, casseroles, salads, soups and stews, and vegetable dishes. The format of the book is easy to read, and it's a good size for a recipe book (in my opinion).