Wow! Lots of good ideas. We have frozen broccoli in the fridge. I'll give the combination a try when I make mac & cheese this week. I usually barely thaw the broccoli with a little water in a covered sauté pan and then drain the water, turn up the heat, and finish it with a bit of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. msazadi - I've followed DW's example in cutting way back on, rather than completely eliminating, problematic foods. Catsup is a good example. Instead of slathering my cheese steak with catsup, as I did in the good old days, I used just enough to taste that it was there when I made them for lunch today. And I will probably try a slice of Jersey tomato on a burger this summer.

The potato bar worked out very well. I left shopping and prepping of the potatoes and other vegetables mainly to my son and husband so we had about twice as much as we needed for dinner. But that's okay - the leftovers will be used and some is disappearing in the snacking as they play. I started from an apple cider cheddar cheese fondue recipe for the cheese sauce (link below) but made some modifications. I got a hard dry cider for this partly because in my experience with grueyer fondue, the cheese melts better in an acid liquid. I also diced the cheese and tossed it with the flour because that helps keep the cheese from clumping. I added smoked paprika instead of chili powder. Cilantro butter was pretty easy to put together and added a nice touch to the flavor: Cilantro butter 3/4 cups firmly packed cilantro leaves 1 stick (1/4 cup) butter Pinch of salt Pinch of pepper Process in food processor until fully creamed. We had shredded parmesean and cheddar cheeses. Mild and hot salsa (the fresh stuff from the refrigerator section at the market Steamed broccoli and carrots, Diced green pepper and green onions Chana Masala (cilantro butter was really nice with this too) Yogurt and sour cream (separately - not mixed together Taco flavor smart ground Tortilla chips for grazing through the evening with the toppings or in case a potato hater wanted to have nachos instead. Here is a link that might be useful: Cheddar cider fondue

I got to thinking about this last night - are you supposed to take a chip and hold it in the fountain of cheese when using this as I have seen the chocolate fountain used? This could be a problem if you have a paper container of chips and want to put the flowing cheese on them, then add toppings. Would you use a dipper to put the cheese from the fountain onto a container of chips. With 50 kids dipping a single chip into the fountain one by one, it could take all night and the young people would have to dip in shifts! Might need to think about this again! (I always picture these things in my head first - like...which way do people move in a buffet line to where they are going to sit at tables or shouldn't the rice go before the beef tips to serve as a bed for the tips and gravy.)

Not sure if I've ever made traditional Mac-n-cheese. But often an 'adult' version with roasted baby artichoke hearts, cherry toms...lots of veg with a mac-n-cheese bubbly crispy top. I did have a killer appetizer lobster Mac a few months ago. Tiny ramekin white cheese sauce from a favorite French lunch spot we like. Fantastic cup of soup, 1/2 sandwich, fennel/celery root slaw,...a special or two every day. This link might help, HERE I have a half dozen bits of good cheese from the holidays and a couple lobster tails in the freezer. (!) I did research fondue last year and sodium citrate was mentioned....never made it (the fondue) but that would be the same creamy goodness a Mac needs.