I would love this recipe, please, kittenblue!
I know all about those. The thing is, I’m usually cooking for one or two middle aged folks who have to watch carbs and fat. I enjoy the opportunity to fix something sinful, but because everybody else is doing the same, nobody thinks to bring the veggies. And it sucks to always have to step up to that plate just to have something diabetic friendly. 
Does a shrimp platter with cocktail sauce count? It’s low fat, maybe a bit sugary with the sauce, but could that be another option?
A dish of chicken pastel/pot pie, or just a bag of lays with cups of prepared dips. In short, something I can pick up on the way to the party.
I usually do either chicken and sausage gumbo or Natchitoches meat pies, depending on the event. The gumbo is better for events where people will want to sample a little bit due to unfamiliarity, while the meat pies are handy for picnic-type events.
My go-to dessert is a sour cream cheesecake that is always a hit. Most potlucks I bring green beans that have been cooked with back or ham and onions.
For appetizer/fingerfood style parties, I like soft pretzel bites with a white cheese dipping sauce made from white American cheese. They always disappear!
It’s a very loose recipe…I caramelize up a bunch of onions, cut thawed frozen puff pastry sheets into squares (maybe 1-1/2"?) and tuck them into mini-muffin pans. Put a tiny dab of onion in each tart, top with and equal amount of crumbled feta and bake for about 15 minutes at 375’ until golden brown and puffed.
I caramelize my onions thusly, but if you really want a treat, search for the thread we did on caramelized onions and take your pick of method! Dice up a 3 lb. bag of yellow onions. Heat olive oil and butter in a large cast iron skillet or Dutch oven. Add the onions, sprinkle with salt and cook, stirring frequently, for about 45 minutes or until a deep, dark brown. At about halfway through, I sprinkle in a bit of brown sugar, some pepper and thyme, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Leftovers keep for a good long time in the fridge and are marvelous on burgers, steak, or on crispy fried rounds of cornmeal mush with melted dabs of gorgonzola.
Take your nice frozen shrimps and thaw them gently. Toss in either Zatarains shrimp boil or Old Bay shrimp boil with a dab of olive oil [mainly to get it to stick] and spread them on a baking sheet, bake gently until they are done, arrange in a classic shrimp ring with wedges of lemon and lime. You spear a couple shrimp, grab a citrus wedge, drizzle on the shrimp and eat - no cocktail sauce or dip needed. Plenty of flavor, good for low carbers and diabetics.
The shrimp platter might be good for some groups, but some people can’t or won’t eat shellfish (Jews, Muslims). I wouldn’t bring such a platter unless requested, because I just plain don’t like shellfish of any sort, so I have no idea whether or not it would taste good if I fixed it. Shrimp is pretty expensive, too, from what I can tell. Another thing with shrimp is that either you have to clean and peel it beforehand, or let the guests do the peeling, and then you have shells and tails everywhere. My mother and grandmother loved shrimp, so I’d peel and clean the suckers, and let them cook the critters.
IF you know that most people will eat the shrimp, and IF you are willing to do the prep, and IF you’re willing to pay that much, then a shrimp platter might be great.
I cheat and buy frozen already peeled shrimp. I am lazy, and I hate dealing with shells. Only time I buy shellfish with the shells still on, or fish with the head and bones is if I am going to be using them to make stock. I think the bag of shrimp I have in the fridge is 40 count to the pound and was $9 and change, and I had a buy one, get one because of having the shoppers card for the store. 40 shrimp for 10 bucks isn’t overly expensive. Pot lucks don’t mean you have to bring a full portion for everybody attending, it means a couple or maybe 3 shrimps per person for 8 to 10 people if you go by the normal rules. I might do 2 bags because I normally get them when they go bogo.
I’ve found shrimp platters to be one the most popular items at a party. You can even buy them all set up at the grocery store (although those as good compared to ones you put together at home). Either peeled or peel your own seem equally popular. Add someone lemon wedges for anyone who doesn’t want to eat the cocktail sauce.
Layered salads always seem to go over well. I make a cornbread layered salad that everyone is always puzzled by at first, but is forever in demand after. I think I got the recipe on allrecipes.com.
Deviled eggs are a pain to make, so sometimes I make deviled egg salad–same ingredients but the eggs don’t need to be pretty; just mix it all up.
In a pinch, olives, cheese, a decent loaf of bread.
Now I want to go to a potluck!
Sunday at the rec department. Bring salad. (And pie. Maybe a Valium if crowds of crazy southern folks push your buttons. Oh, and wait until Aunt Irma sits, then choose a different table. More peaceful that way.)
I always make Jambalaya for such events.
Fried rice, everyone likes fried rice
I don’t. Every one in my family does… but me.
However, despite being Minnesotan, I grok a good red beans and rice.
What I make depends on the audience. For church and family, it’s almost always a fruit plate with dip, pieroghies (tater/cheese), Oreo fluff, and cookies.
For work, it’s always only desserts. We have a woman on our team who liked to bring in desserts, but after two dog hair debacles, I have been elected as treat girl. We assign her to plates/napkins.
Update: Fried rice, everyone likes fried rice, except MissTake. So don’t invite her to your potluck 
Or me. So, no gumbo for you. 
** makes note of this **
Thing is, I actually LIKE preparing the sinful, carb/fat laden dishes that I so rarely get to do, but there are already so many of those dishes there and not nearly enough veggies. At the potlucks that I attend, there are always plenty of protein, sweets, taters/pasta/rice dishes and very few salads, grilled veggies or even stuff like green beans w/o all of the yummy saucy stuff. So I have to bring vegetables in self defense. And that limits the other options.