Yet Another Reason to Hate Baby Showers

Dear Tricia, I have to go to a baby shower and we're all supposed to bring a "covered dish." What in the world does that mean? I don't have that kind of time, or any dishes with corresponding covers. Please help.

Ugh, lame. First of all whoever is planning said baby shower SUCKS as a hostess. Hostess-ing means you're supposed to do all the grunt work, not lay it on everyone else. Let me be the first to tell you that. And second of all, since your shower is obviously going to be awful (not that most baby showers don't suck to begin with), I think you should just buy a gift online and ship it to the mom/slave-to-be. She'll get her gift (which is all she wants anyway), and you're in the clear. Just an idea.

Alrighty, covered dish (church talk for "pot luck") ideas should be simple. Especially in your case since it sounds like you're super busy. I have a several options.

1. Deviled eggs. This might be too time consuming for you, but its a thought. Everyone loves deviled eggs. They're almost as awesome as Little Smokies. For reference, please visit an older blog I wrote about deviled eggs, "The Devil and His Eggs" (under "eggs" in the archives) where there's a basic recipe.

2. Spinach Artichoke Dip. Again, I've written about this when a distressed, busy young woman had a pot luck to go to. You can read that entry, "Is That a Salad, or Did You Just Fart" (under "pot luck" in the archives) and use that recipe if you want. Its super easy.

3. This one may be up for debate, but I'm pretty sure everyone and their mom loves some green bean casserole. And its a nice treat because nobody ever makes it after Thanksgiving. If you show up with green bean casserole, you're probably going to be the popular one at the baby shower. Here's the rookie version of the recipe:

Preheat oven to 350

2 cans of French-style green beans
1 can of Cream of Mushroom soup
3/4 cup of milk
2 cups of French fried onions
1 teaspoon of pepper

In a bowl, mix up the soup, milk, and pepper until all the lumps are gone.
Stir in 3/4 cups of the fried onions and all of the green beans.
Put in a casserole dish (or any oven safe dish or pan that will fit everything inside of it) and bake for 25 minutes
After 25 minutes, evenly cover the casserole with the remaining fried onions.
Bake for 5 more minutes and voila! Done. If you do it the night before, you can pop it in the oven for 15 minutes when you get there to reheat it.

If you don't have a corresponding lid for your dish, its no big deal- just cover it in foil.

Now, you might be wondering at this point, "Tricia, why not just bake some cookies or make a simple dessert?" You know why? Because that's what everyone else is going to do. That, or they'll bring cheese and crackers. If you bring green bean casserole it will be a welcome change from dairy and sugar city, population: you. And the never-ending "awwwww's" and "how cuuuuuute's" and decorations that look like pastels threw up all over the room are reason enough to give you a stomach ache- why make it worse with crap food?
I have spoken.