Are you ready for this?
 How would you like to host a dinner party, but not have to spend hours in the kitchen before the guests arrive?  Actually, you don’t even need to cook anything! Sound too good to be true? 

I was invited to be part of a dinner group and we had our first dinner get together earlier this week.  This is a SUPER fun way to host a party.  There were four of us having dinner together.  The hostess selected four different dishes for us to make and purchased the ingredients.  Each person had their own little cooking station.

This station has everything set up to make Thai Corn Fritters with Chili Pepper and Cilantro Sauce.

Next, we have the Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Soy Balsamic Dressing.

This was my station.  I made Crispy Pork and Mango Lettuce Wraps with Pepper-Lime Dressing.

Finally, there was a Peach and Raspberry Cobbler.

I didn’t actually get the name of the cookbook that all of these recipes came from. It is the job of the hostess to find a cookbook, along with recipes that they have NEVER tried before.  Then, they set the ingredients out for the guests.  Below, you can see two of my friends cooking away. 

We’ve decided that we should cook all of our meals together this way, Sister-Wives style.  It was so much fun to chat with friends while preparing a meal, and the finished meal was TO DIE FOR!

(Please excuse the quality of the iPhone photos.  Next time I will remember to bring my camera!)

The salad had quite a bit of cilantro in it, which I love.  It had the perfect blend of ingredients and the dressing gave it just the right amount of tang.  I can honestly say, this is the first time I’ve tried roasted butternut squash and I really liked it.

Here’s another shot of the salads, and you can see the dessert ready to go in the oven.

Once everyone was done cooking their portion of the dinner, we sat down to eat.

Oh. My. Goodness.
This was such an incredible meal! Everything was absolutely delicious!

Corn Fritters are another item I have never eaten.  We don’t eat much that we need to fry at home, but… wow.  I’d make these again!  The dipping sauce had a sweet flavor that was YUM-MY. (That was a pause in that word for effect.)

 

It’s not the best picture of my lettuce wraps, but seriously… I could have eaten these all day.  Some of the ingredients in the pork included lemongrass (another first for me), red onion, mango, cilantro, red pepper, garlic, ginger, lime, and fish sauce.  (Again, I’ve never used fish sauce before!)  This really tested my culinary skills (or lack thereof) AND my adventurous eating skills.  Those of you who know me well, know that I’m a very boring eater.

How can you go wrong with Peach Raspberry Cobbler?  We topped them with vanilla ice cream, but this was the prettier picture.

So, what do you think?  Doesn’t this sound like the most fun dinner party ever?  You get to try new recipes.  There’s no pressure to serve a perfect meal, because all of the recipes are experiments, and you get to have fun cooking (and dining) with friends. 

So. Much. Fun.

September is my month.  I’ll have to hit the library and find a good cookbook.  If you have any great suggestions for a theme, please let me know.  It’s going to be tough not to do something like “taco bar” or “burger night”.  I need to be a little more creative and adventurous. 

Thank you to our gracious hostess. Another thank you to my friends for their fabulous culinary skills and great conversation!  It was truly a fun night with AMAZING food!

Happy cooking!