I started a cookbook dinner club as a way to get together with girlfriends. I was inspired by a post Megan Stokes shared and it truly is a fun idea. Here are some ideas to get started.

Group Size: start small and you can always expand. I started with a group of 6 women- my sister, friends from high school and neighbors. You can also have someone in the group invite a friend of theirs as a nice way to meet new people. A group of 6 isn’t overwhelming to host and also big enough that if someone can’t make it you still have a good size group.

How it works: For our dinner club, we chose a cookbook theme, where the host chooses the cookbook and recipes. The host cooks the main dish and sends the side dishes and dessert recipes to the group. Everyone else volunteers to make a dish out of the remaining recipes. Don’t let this scare you, you don’t have to be a good cook to enjoy it! My sister would always joke I would sign up for the salad, haha I guess I know my strengths in the kitchen! Whatever dish you get, it’s a fun way to try new things and add new recipes/cookbooks into your mix. You can also switch it up if you don’t feel like cooking and pick your favorite restaurant instead.

Frequency: We started off monthly and quickly realized coordinating schedules can get challenging. I would say quarterly is a good place to start.

Here are the cookbooks and menus we’ve tried so far and honestly all of them have been great.

Truly Simple: Baked Ziti with Sausage and Kale, Arugula Salad, Gluten-Free Cheddar Buns, Brown Butter Asparagus, Skillet Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Magnolia Table: Cod in Parchment, Dinner Rolls, Roasted Asparagus, Romaine Salad with Buttermilk Ranch Dressing, Lemon Pie
Defined Dish: Crispy Slow Cooker Carnitas, Perfect Guacamole, Black Bean Dip with Crudites, Shrimp Ceviche, Scotcharoos
Ina Garten Go-To Dinners: Creamy Chicken Thighs with Lemon & Thyme, Asparagus Cacio E Pepe, Balsamic Roasted Baby Peppers, Garlic-Roasted Haricots Verts, Brown Butter Skillet Cornbread, Dark Chocolate Tart
Half Baked Harvest Super Simple: Beef Bourguignon, The Best Pressure Cooker Mashed Potatoes, Garlic-Roasted Haricots Verts (repeat recipe from Ina’s book), Autumn Harvest Salad, Chocolate Mousse
Ottolenghi Simple: Roasted Chicken, Couscous Cherry Tomato and Herb Salad, Roasted Baby Carrots with Harissa and Pomegranate, Citrus Fennel Salad (Leite’s Culinaria recipe), Easy Tiramisu (Tastes Better From Scratch recipe)

Don’t forget to pull out your hosting essentials! Shop my favorites.