Guest Author - Dennise Ziaja

My absolute favorite, all time best potluck recipe.

I love potlucks. Really I do! Of course, I have also been to the potluck where some participants brought a jar of olives or some watery jello with brown bananas in it. That’s always a disappointment for not only the organizers, but the diners as well. As RVer’s we’ve all had those experiences and when looking back over the many bad dishes we’ve sampled, we also have sampled some really great cooking! In a recent article, I described how to get over the blahs with themed potlucks. They seem to be a big hit with most folks, and everyone seems to enjoy fixing a special dish that everyone will love and ask the recipe for. This is one of those dishes. I had not used this recipe for a long time, and then found the recipe on another website and Veolia! I made the dish again and it was a sure fire hit. A great potluck covered dish. I call them…

Almost Apple Dumplings

2 Granny Smith apples
2 cans crescent rolls
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar (or use ½ sugar substitute and ½ sugar OR all sugar substitute)
1 tablespoon vanilla
cinnamon (to taste)
1 small can Mountain Dew (use diet MD if preferred)**

Peel and core apples. Cut each apple into 8 slices each. Unroll the crescent rolls and split apart. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan. In a small saucepan, melt the butter, then add sugar or sugar substitute and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir again, and then pour over the dough wrapped apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. This time varies by oven. My RV oven runs hot so I watch carefully after 25 minutes. Serve with ice cream or with some lightly sweetened real whipped cream. Make sure and spoon some of the sweet sauce from the pan over the top.

** I make these so often now that I just keep a reseal able bottle in the fridge.

These are wicked good. A gentleman once proposed to me in front of my husband at a rally after he tried these. I am not making this up! I have also played around and used half brown sugar and half white sugar, and added some golden raisins before rolling up the apple slices. The little stinkers kept falling out, but the added flavor was almost like Dutch Apple pie!

I love to cook in my RV kitchen, small as it is. These are easy and the ingredients are not too pricy and can be kept on hand. I’ll be posting more recipes for potlucks, singles and regional favorites in upcoming articles. Stay tuned to the RV channel!