If I'm in a rush, I usually bring Jezebel sauce over a block of cream cheese with the nice crackers you mentioned.

JEZEBEL SAUCE

10 oz. jar pineapple preserves
10 oz. jar apple jelly
2 Tblsp. drained horseradish
1 Tblsp. dry mustard
1/2 Tblsp. black pepper
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

Combine all ingredients with wire whisk. Put mixture back into empty jars. Keeps indefinitely. To serve, place brick of cream cheese on plate. Spoon sauce generously over cheese. Serve with crackers. Serves 12.

I don't think anyone expects too much out of a young, single man when it comes to potlucks. I know that I've always assumed that they would bring bags of chips or bottles of soda or something. So, the fact that he prepares an actual dish, no matter how simple, will be a plus. I don't know why he feels awkward about his queso dip, heck, professors eat Top Ramen and Snickers bars as much as anyone, why wouldn't they like queso dip?

Fruit salad is a good, easy pot luck dish that is always welcome, and easy to size to the party and to his budget. Generally, there are plenty of fruits one can buy one piece of...pears, apples, bananas, oranges,etc. Then add a bunch of grapes or a box of strawberries, and then toss a can of mandarin oranges or pineapple with the juice in...the juice will keep the fruits from browning and do for a "dressing" as well.

Another dessert that's bachelor-non-cook friendly would be to buy a couple of cans of pie filling, and top it in a buttered baking dish with frozen phylo dough (or pop n fresh biscuits or croissant dough), sprinkle some sugar & cinnamon on top and bake according to the dough instructions.

For that matter, cook up a few cans of biscuits and bring it with a bowl of flavored butter...even a non cook can mix up some butter with honey or preserves.

Aunt Sara's Secret Recipe Brownies

Stop in any bakery or grocery store and purchase a package of brownies and a bag of powder sugar. Take both items home. Arrange brownies on a decorative, disposable plate. If this is a formal affair use a doily under the brownies. Sprinkle powder sugar on top of brownies and cover plate with saran wrap. (Note, generic plastic wrap can be substituted for saran wrap.) When asked about the recipe for your brownies just say they are Aunt Sara's and she wants to keep it a family secret.

Here is a link that might be useful: cooking with grandpa

These are easy and great!

Green Chile Squares
Source: perfectentertaining.com

2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese (can use part cheddar)
2 small cans green chiles
4 well beaten eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Sprinkle the cheese and chiles in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish (that has been sprayed with cooking spray)
Pour the eggs over the top. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and firm.
Cool to room temperature and then cut into squares.
(can also be made up to 24 hours ahead of time and served hot, cold, or at room temperature)
8 servings

I love Chase's recommendation from a few years ago - I use this "secret" a lot when I am traveling and have to bring something....

Hit the grocery olive bar! Get very small (1 scoop) containers of several different kinds of olives, plus the marinated veggies, roasted peppers, whatever. Put a small hunk of provolone on a large cutting board with the olives/veg placed around it (in small bowls if need be) and it is done! I think having a bigger variety of very small amounts is very chic and will appeal to everyone.

Alexa

Go to the best bakery in town (or Panera's if nothing else is available) and buy one or two different loaves of bread, ask to have them sliced, take a basket and pretty napkin with you, put the napkin in the basket, arrange the sliced bread inside.

Go to a good deli or deli counter in a good store, buy 1/4 lb. each of sliced pepperoni, Genoa salami, Havarti cheese, Gouda cheese, and any other meats and cheese you like. Put leaf lettuce on a nice platter or even a metal pizza pan, fan out the meats and cheeses in rows, add basket of grape tomatoes grouped together and drained olives and other marinated artichokes. Separate the piles of tomatoes, olives, and marinated artichokes.

Buy a large platter of chicken fingers or hot wings. Everyone will be glad to see you!

Go to Chick-fil-A and buy a platter of chicken minis - you will be the hit of the party! Call ahead to see if you need to pre-order or just call them 15 minutes before you leave to pick them up.

Ha ha! I love the "secret" brownie recipe! There are lots of great ideas here. Thanks for sharing everyone!

Chrissy

One night when my husband of 30+ years and I had just started dating, I invited him and some friends over on a snowy winter night to share a big pot of beef-vegetable-barley soup.

He arrived with what looked like a big ball of tin foil, which he proceeded to unwrap and asked for a cookie sheet to put it into the oven. He had called his Aunt Doris to ask for ideas on something to bring that would get my attention and she gave him this recipe with detailed instructions. This wonderful bread that emerged from the oven was so good that it was gone in about 10 minutes and everyone wished he would have made two loaves.

(He ended up staying to help me do the dishes and never really left after that night. LOL)

CRUNCHY RYE BREAD

1/3 cup softened butter or margarine
1/2 tsp. celery seed
1/2 tsp. sesame seed
1/4 tsp. paprika
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 loaf (1 lb.) round unsliced rye or pumpernickel bread

Mix butter, seeds, and paprika until smooth. Stir in cheese. Make 3 lengthwise and 3 crosswise cuts through top of bread, leaving bottom crust intact. Spread mixture on all sides of cuts and over top and sides of bread. Heat on cookie sheet in preheated 375 degree oven, uncovered, until hot and crunchy, about 20 minutes.

Notes: Bread can be prepared with spread earlier in the day. Keep in a plastic bag until time to bake. Swiss cheese can be substituted for the cheddar or a combination of the two cheeses.

Oh, yum, Ruthanna! That bread sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing that one.

Teresa

I just LOVE your story, Ruthanna!

A good sized piece of really good cheese si always appreciated....adn bring the crackers to go with it.
Linda C

Ruthanna I love that story!

Lots of great ideas here but my go to, easy peasy, is the one Alexa mentions. Hit the olive bar of a good store and get just a little of everything.....very sophisticated, very easy , and if you just get a bit of everything very reasonable.

I also agree with the olive bar. My new favorite appy is a wedge of brie cheese with blackberry jelly poured over the top. Let cheese rest at room temp...soooo yummy!!

cream cheese with pepper jelly on top is also a big hit!

We used to cover that brick of cream cheese with crab meat then top with cocktail sauce...with a bowl of Wheat Thins nearby.

-Babka

I mix together 2 cups of sourcream & Knorr's Vegetable Soup mix. Refrigerate & eat with veges, crackers, or bread. Can't get any easier than that, 2 ingredients, and people eat it up.

I don't know, if there is a microwave nearby....why not the queso dip...bring a few bags of "colored" corn chips..

A side of smoked salmon ($10 here)and some crackers and sour cream is no-cook and fairly impressive.

I have to say that I am most definitely in the camp of not liking the covered brick of cream cheese. It's been around for 25 years+ and I still hate it. To me, it is not impressive.

A hunk of good cheese and some crackers, well, that I like.

He could always buy some good nuts like cashews or almonds and fill a bowl with them. A bit expensive, but usually eaten and appreciated because of the expense.

A bag of large, pre-cooked, peeled shrimp thawed and a jar of cocktail sauce. Couldn't be easier and it's always the first thing to go at our parties.

Arrange the shrimp on a platter or large bowl on ice, put cocktail sauce in a smaller bowl in the center and
"wah-lah"!

Linda

If he wants to take a pasta side dish, it's easy to boil some penne, toss it with a prepared pesto from either the freezer aisle or a jar and top it with some toasted pine nuts. Trader Joe sells them already toasted. Some chopped up sun-dried tomatoes would be nice, too.

Deviled eggs are easy and always get eaten. Melon slices wrapped in proscuitto are easy and pretty, though seasonal.

I once had a light and simple appetizer made of Belgian endive leaves filled at the ends with a scoop of strawberry cream cheese and topped with a little mandarin slice.The pale green, pink, and bright orange combination was very pretty.

Six or seven slices of deli pastrami, one jar of kosher dills, cream cheese. Spread cream cheese on pastrami, roll the pickle up in the pastrami, slice and arrange on a platter. That's it! Most people love them.

David

Mix equal amounts of marshmallow creme and sour cream (I use fat free). Put in a bowl, put the bowl on a platter, surrounded by pineapple, strawberries, most any fresh fruit cut up. I buy the fresh cut up pineapple to save time. It takes a little elbow grease to get it stirred together because the marshmallow creme is so thick and sticky, but people eat it up.

A canteloupe and honeydew chunked and added to some grapes is good. The old cocktail franks in sauce is always a hit. Nice variation is to use a country style smoked sausage sliced up and cook a little of the fat out of it. Either use the jelly & chili sauce mixture or I often just use a bottle of BBQ sauce cut with about an equal amount of ketchup. Frozen meatballs work well with this too and again are always popular with any income bracket.

The hashbrown casserole is easy, as is a macaroni hotdish. It's actually not difficult to make a cole slaw or potato salad.

A vat of sloppy joes or chili? Even a simple relish tray is not difficult or overly expensive. Things like baby carrots, a stalk of celery, some radishes, green onions, olives & pickles with a container of dip in the middle with a spoon. Doesn't have to have these. Make an assortment. A head of cauliflower and/or broccoli is easy to cut up, makes a lot and when you look at the the prepared trays cost, it's impressive, colorful and healthy too. Not dependant on heat or cold either. A foil covered piece of cardboard will hold it nicely too if you don't have a large platter or some type of tray for it.

For a guy to bring something baked is sort of unusual and usually can impress. Butterscotch Brownies are a nice change from chocolate. These don't need to be iced either so it saves money, time and effort.

Butterscotch Brownies

1/4 C butter or shortening
1 C packed brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 C flour
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 C chopped cashews or other nuts (optional)

Cream butter, sugar and eggs. Add flour, salt, baking powder, and vanilla. Batter will be thick, spread it in an a greased or sprayed 8x8" pan (I use 9"x9" and they're fine) and top with nuts if desired. Bake 350 for 25 minutes or until done. You can use vegetable oil in place of butter or shortening and mix whole wheat flour as part of the flour in this recipe.

Here's another good and simple one. I was often asked to make these easy bars. Not difficult but they look pretty impressive and if they don't know, think it took a long time to make. Simple, not too expensive either and makes quite a few if you cut them smaller. I don't care for the dry coconut so I omit it. I do like to mix the chips though so I add another package of butterscotch or vanilla chips or sometimes substitute as part of the recipe amount using smaller bags. They're versitile!

EZ Bars
Makes about 2 dozen

1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup chopped pecans
1 package (12-ounce size) semisweet chocolate morsels
1 can (3 1/2-ounce size) flaked coconut
1 can (14-ounce size) sweetened condensed milk

NOTE: To make these, just add the ingredients in order - sprinkling them on evenly. DO NOT STIR! I also like to line the pan with foil to make it easier to remove the bars and clean the pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking pan. (Saves cleanup) Make sure the melted butter is not all in one spot - spread it around. Sprinkle evenly with cracker crumbs, then sprinkle on the pecans. Next, sprinkle with the chips, then coconut if desired. Drizzle the condensed milk evenly over top. (I found it easiest to hold the can up a foot or so and pour slowly a thin stream. I make a circle around the perimeter, in about an inch or two and then just swirl it around judging how much is left to make sure it's distributed evenly. Sounds more difficult and critical than it is.) Bake 25 minutes or until brown. Cool about 20 minutes; cut into bars.

Hope he impresses the daylights out of them! Good luck!