Host Your Own Recipe Party

Does anyone else out there get tired of making the same old meals?

Yeah, that's me too!

Since starting to make monthly meal plans, I realized that even though I do cook mostly from scratch, I had a tendency to make a lot of the same things.  Sometimes once a month, sometimes twice a month.  Or I'd try a new recipe and think it was just OK and then toss it.

I've tried those email recipe exchanges and they never seem to work.

I've looked through all my cookbooks and keep coming back to the same recipes.  I don't really want to buy new cookbooks right now (OK, actually I do really want to but I'm restraining myself).  I did buy one new one that I'll write about once I make some things from it, of course!

So I decided to take matters into my own hands and have a recipe party.  I'm actually amazed that the idea for this thing came from my brain and was not something I got from someone else.  Not to toot my own horn or anything, but once I planned the event, I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of the idea sooner.  And everyone who I invited thought it was such a great idea, even if they couldn't come.  Several friends asked me to host another one so they could come the next time.

Here's how it worked.  There are, of course, no hard and fast rules to follow when hosting a party like this one.  You can make changes for whatever works best for you.  This was just how I did it.

I sent an invitation to a lot of people!  I was hoping for a lot of new recipes and selfishly, it was a chance for me to see some friends who no longer live nearby.  I also opened up the invitation to anyone who came to bring a friend as well.  In total, I had 14 women come together for the event.  I was certainly hoping for more but we had a fantastic time together.  I also told anyone who couldn't come that if they sent me five recipes, I'd send all the ones from the party.  No one took advantage of this great offer like I was hoping, but I thought it was worth a shot!

I asked each person who was coming to email me five recipes, mostly main or side dishes, that are family favorites or "go to" meals they like to make.  Each woman was then to bring one of those dishes to the party for all of us to try, sort of like a big potluck.  I thought it would be fun to actually try some of the food first, and truthfully, I just like to eat, so that was an incentive as well.

I compiled the recipes together in one document which took a lot longer than I thought it would.  I didn't have to retype anything, but I wanted everything formatted the same.  I also wanted to keep soups, main dishes, salads, desserts, etc...together so everytime I cut and pasted from the emails everyone sent, I had to readjust a few things.  I think I'd be faster at it next time around but it is something to keep in mind. 

At first, I was going to give all the recipes out that night but it ended up being over 50 pages and that seemed like a waste of paper so I printed out just the recipes that were brought that night and emailed the rest to everyone.  That way, they could print only the ones they wanted to try.  I put the recipes in a small binder inside plastic sleeves and gave one to each person who came.  I also included some blank copies of my recipe planning sheets, to get them started if they were interested.  I had talked to a lot of friends who were hoping to do some better meal planning and recipe organization and thought this might help jumpstart that process.

That's basically it.  Easy right?  We had a great time and the food was really awesome.  It really was a great way to have a girls night with some good food and wine and get inspired to cook some new meals in the process.  I have put a lot of the new recipes I received in my menu plan for April and I'm excited to try them.

The other great part about the night is that a lot of them wanted to host their own party so I of course invited myself to their shindigs, whenever they decide to give it a go.  I'm hoping to collect enough new recipes to have a new cookbook and won't have to buy one! 

It really was a lot of fun and I encourage you to try this one on your own with some friends.  You could make adaptations in a lot of different ways.  One of my friends who came that evening wants to do this sort of thing on a small scale on a monthly basis.  We're looking into doing that together.  I'll let you know if it works out!

So go on!  Do it!  Grab some friends, some wine, some recipes and have at it!