I love cooking. It's a satisfying, creative venture-- most of the time. But because I don't always have several hours to devote to pouring over the glossy pages of a cookbook, leisurely strolling through the aisles of the health food store and then cooking up a culinary masterpiece, it often becomes more a matter of, "Shoot, what can I whip up in 20 minutes that's still good for us?!" At some point I stumbled across the book Dinner at Your Door and knew that was my answer. Once a week I could devote myself to the art of cooking and truly enjoy the process. The rest of the nights? I'll leave the cooking to someone else!
I found a few adventurous, kindred spirits who were willing to try cooking vegetarian, whole foods in mass quantities and the dinner co-op was born. We kicked it off with a pot luck dinner where we talked about our goals, cooking preferences and tastes and got to know each other a little better.
The first week was a great success! I was so thrilled that first night to have a couple free hours in the evening when I normally would've been cooking. I cleaned the bathroom; not exciting, I know, but it really needed to be done! I was so excited that I set the table with the fancy glasses and matching napkins. One has time for these sorts of considerations when they're not running around the kitchen at the last minute trying to throw a coherent meal together. The subsequent night was equally delicious and satisfying and then it was my turn to cook. While cooking twelve servings at once is a bit of an adjustment, it came together in the end despite a last minute dash to the store for more onions and calling in hubby to sous chef for me. Even the kids called it a success; here's Sam tucking into some curried chick peas and rice. I can't wait until next week; I think I'm going to try black bean tamales or a veggie pot pie!
