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The internet has no shortage of recipe ideas—including several here—but lately, I’ve been on a make-and-repeat rut. Most weeks include some kind of tacos or burrito bowls, spaghetti with a veggie-laden meat sauce, a grilled chicken something-or-other. It streamlined my grocery shopping, but it was getting a little too predictable. And scrolling the web for ideas usually led to several…I’d never actually attempt.
That’s how my accidental Library Cookbook Club began. My local library has a steady stream of new cookbooks—cookbooks that intrigued me that I didn’t necessarily want filling my (already crammed) bookshelves. So I committed to checking one book out a time and making at least one thing before returning it—and it’s been reinvigorating.
The Rules of Library Cookbook Club:
- Choose a cookbook.
- Hand to a partner, kid, roommate—anyone you might be dining with over the next two weeks—and ask them to tag any recipes that interest them.
- From their selection, choose at least one thing to make. (Or have everyone commit to one dish, creating a full meal.)
- Set a night, shop for groceries, make it and collectively rate it: What’d you like? Not like? Would you make it again? Try other recipes from this author?
- Rotate who chooses the cookbook and who chooses the recipes to make.
Having a set timeframe—the book needs to be returned within a month, or 14 days if it’s a new release—gets us to actually make something. And getting the fam’s buy-in on which recipes to try makes the big reveal a little more exciting (not to mention avoids, “hey, I don’t like this…” convos, because ahem, they chose it).
