Cooking Day #2

You may have heard about the cooking day (Plummelo Cooking Club, PCC) I planned with five friends in January. Six of us got together at Kate's house for a down and dirty meal prep day (three hours). We assembled steak fajitas, chicken marbella, turkey and roasted red pepper meatloaf, and a spinach and prosciutto lasagna. We did all of this with minimal prep--but everyone did her part and brought what was on her shopping list. It cost each family $37.50 to take home more than four meals' worth of food. It kept us eating well on busy weeknights for days, if not weeks. (I think there is still a Ziploc of the chicken in my freezer.) It was such a success that we had to plan another one.

In order to gain hall passes from the husbands, we pulled it off as a work day ("What. I'm making dinner!") and assured them they'd benefit.

This past weekend, again at Kate's, a slightly different group got together. Five of us this time, and again four recipes: the same steak fajitas (simple yet classic), garlic-citrus chicken, meatballs, and salmon cakes. We agreed that this round worked us harder, but it was the recipes' fault: they were a bit more involved. The meatballs required browning, the chicken required zesting (of limes and oranges), and, well, the salmon cans required opening. (It also involved squeezing, patting, chopping, slicing, bagging, admiring.) The shocker? Also exactly $37 per person. Awesome.

Cooking days with friends are hard to schedule and a logistical nightmare to organize, but so worth their trouble. Not only do you get three-plus solid hours of quality time with people you love, but also four meals to take home to eat that week ... and think of your friends while enjoying each bite.

You better believe this PCC is pushing on for #3 in May. Stay tuned.