What are your favorite foods to fix for a potluck?

What are your favorite potluck take-along dishes? Holiday season means “Potluck Party Season” for us, but we expect it to be even more true with this year’s economy. And that brings us to Black Bean-Red Pepper Salad with Shrimp. It’s the one of our favorite take-along dishes: Easy to make ahead, transportable and affordable (the shrimp could be omitted and it would still taste terrific).

One trick to choosing a good potluck dish is to find something that won’t deteriorate if it has to sit a while at room temperature (or pose a threat of food poisoning). If the dish needs to be warm, consider transporting it in a slow cooker or choose something that can be reheated in the microwave. We’ve seen ads for new products such as casserole carriers and electric warming trays but we haven’t tested them. If you have, please let us know how they work in the comments section of this post.