BeckyM
01-29-2001, 10:17 AM
The first Cincinnati Cooking Light Supper Club is up and running well, so we thought we'd share some of our thoughts and ideas with anyone else who is interested.
So far we've had four meetings. For the first one, we met at a local restaurant, so no one had to cook, and we could just discuss how we would run our group. In order to help us all recognize each other, I held a Cooking Light magazine (front page facing out). That really worked well. It also worked well for us to have a time to just start to get to know one another and decide what would work best for us.
We decided we would meet once a month on a regular day & time. We also didn't have much interest in including significant others, so we decided maybe we'd have a summer barbeque & invite them, but the rest of the time it would just be us. So far there are only women in the group, but we decided we are open to men joining if they wanted to cook too, but not just to come & eat! We also decided whoever is hostess for that month provides the main entree and decides the theme. The other members then coordinate with her on what they want to bring. The hostess will let them know if there are too many desserts already, etc.
Of the three remaining meetings, two of them were great! Our December event coincided with a bad snowstorm, so only one person besides the hostess showed up! That one was supposed to be just desserts (since everyone was so busy in December), so the two who were there made the most of it.
Our November event was a cajun theme. Here is a list of the dishes we had: Chicken Creole (CL Dec. 97), Crabby Cajun Dip (CL 1999), Honey & Jalepeno Cornbread (CL?), Roasted Red Pepper & Walnut Dip (Make-It-Ahead Supplement), Two-Tone Potatoes (CL?), Fudgy Souffle Cake (CL Nov. 00), Lemon Biscotti (CL. Nov 00), and Applesauce Raisin Cake with Caramel Frosting (CL Nov. 00).
Our January event was on the Chinese New Year, so we chose to have a Chinese theme. This was very fortunate, since just a few days after deciding, we got our Jan/Feb issues with all the Chinese recipes. Our meal this time included: Cinnamon Beef Noodles (CL Jan/Feb 01), Baked Egg Rolls (Eating Well), Five-Spice Tea Cake (FoodTV.com), Steamed Vegetarian Dumplings (CL Jan/Feb 01), Oriental Salad (CL Aug 00), Pineapple & Scallop Fried Rice (CL web-site), Stir-fried Broccoli with Oyster Sauce (CL Jan/Feb 01), Butterscotch Bars (CL?), and Almond Cookies (Cooking.com).
As you can see, we have elected NOT to constrain ourselves to Cooking Light recipes only, though the majority of our selections do come from there. Our main requirement is that the selections are healthy (low fat/low calorie).
We are getting to know each other well, and our group seems to have a lot in common. Of course everyone is REALLY nice, and we have enjoyed our time together thoroughly. We're looking forward to finding out our theme for the February event so we can each start figuring out what to bring!
Good luck to everyone else starting up supper clubs. As the original organizer of our group, I think it was well worth the effort! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif
So far we've had four meetings. For the first one, we met at a local restaurant, so no one had to cook, and we could just discuss how we would run our group. In order to help us all recognize each other, I held a Cooking Light magazine (front page facing out). That really worked well. It also worked well for us to have a time to just start to get to know one another and decide what would work best for us.
We decided we would meet once a month on a regular day & time. We also didn't have much interest in including significant others, so we decided maybe we'd have a summer barbeque & invite them, but the rest of the time it would just be us. So far there are only women in the group, but we decided we are open to men joining if they wanted to cook too, but not just to come & eat! We also decided whoever is hostess for that month provides the main entree and decides the theme. The other members then coordinate with her on what they want to bring. The hostess will let them know if there are too many desserts already, etc.
Of the three remaining meetings, two of them were great! Our December event coincided with a bad snowstorm, so only one person besides the hostess showed up! That one was supposed to be just desserts (since everyone was so busy in December), so the two who were there made the most of it.
Our November event was a cajun theme. Here is a list of the dishes we had: Chicken Creole (CL Dec. 97), Crabby Cajun Dip (CL 1999), Honey & Jalepeno Cornbread (CL?), Roasted Red Pepper & Walnut Dip (Make-It-Ahead Supplement), Two-Tone Potatoes (CL?), Fudgy Souffle Cake (CL Nov. 00), Lemon Biscotti (CL. Nov 00), and Applesauce Raisin Cake with Caramel Frosting (CL Nov. 00).
Our January event was on the Chinese New Year, so we chose to have a Chinese theme. This was very fortunate, since just a few days after deciding, we got our Jan/Feb issues with all the Chinese recipes. Our meal this time included: Cinnamon Beef Noodles (CL Jan/Feb 01), Baked Egg Rolls (Eating Well), Five-Spice Tea Cake (FoodTV.com), Steamed Vegetarian Dumplings (CL Jan/Feb 01), Oriental Salad (CL Aug 00), Pineapple & Scallop Fried Rice (CL web-site), Stir-fried Broccoli with Oyster Sauce (CL Jan/Feb 01), Butterscotch Bars (CL?), and Almond Cookies (Cooking.com).
As you can see, we have elected NOT to constrain ourselves to Cooking Light recipes only, though the majority of our selections do come from there. Our main requirement is that the selections are healthy (low fat/low calorie).
We are getting to know each other well, and our group seems to have a lot in common. Of course everyone is REALLY nice, and we have enjoyed our time together thoroughly. We're looking forward to finding out our theme for the February event so we can each start figuring out what to bring!
Good luck to everyone else starting up supper clubs. As the original organizer of our group, I think it was well worth the effort! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif