With Thanksgiving just around the corner, you may find yourself invited to all sorts of get-togethers for which you need to bring a dish. Personally, I love potlucks. When you live alone, or even with roommates, you rarely eat with other people; meals tend to consist of one dish or item in all. So potlucks offer the opportunity to eat a home cooked meal with a lot of different stuff on your plate—and believe you me, I can stack a plate. 

This week, I had a potluck Thanksgiving celebration at work. I normally bring a pie or fudge to things like this because that’s my specialty, but this crowd usually overdoes it on the sweets, so I thought I’d provide something savory myself.

Pinterest is a delightful succubus of time, tailored to the specific age group of people making casseroles for group gatherings—that being moms in their 20s and 30s. Oddly, this site appeals to a much wider audience, as I know that a good deal of my friends who are nowhere near getting married have their whole wedding/marriage planned out thanks to Pinterest. However, we all know that when it comes to recipes and crafts, some of these how-to’s can be catastrophic. My rule of thumb: If it has more than 5 ingredients or more than 3 steps—skip it. There are way too many variables to count on. So this gem I found on Pinterest was perfect since it fit into my realm and appeared to be fairly cheap. 

Baked Potato Casserole

You will need:

6 med.-sized Idaho potatoes (peeled)

1 stick of butter

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 pkg of Bacon bits or 5 strips of bacon chopped

1 bundle Chives (chopped)

Salt & pepper

Directions

1. Peel and dice the potatoes into 1 inch cubes and boil in water until tender, then drain

2. Use butter in stick form to grease bottom of 9×11 in casserole dish. Melt the rest

3. Add potatoes, and pour rest of butter over the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Top with rest of ingredients, layered. Bake at 375 degrees or until cheese is melted. 

My only regrets are that there is no sour cream, and I didn’t take into account that the dish was too big for the microwave, which was inconvenient. So if you make this to take somewhere, be sure to cook before and eat immediately, or ensure the host has an oven. I made this the night before and it held up nicely, so it’s something you can make in advance and freeze, which is always a good trick to have up your sleeve. 

Safe travels and Happy Thanksgiving!!! May the football gods be working in your favor!