Recipe Swap

I recently hosted a recipe swap for the playgroup I am a part of through Meetup.com.  I had never participated in a recipe swap before, but when the group was looking for a host for the July swap, I was intrigued and volunteered to host.

What is a recipe swap?

A recipe swap is a get-together centered around food…sounds great, right? Each person brings a dish to share, along with a copy of the recipe for each attendee. The purpose is to try a variety of dishes, and know how to make them when you get home! It also gives you a chance to attempt some of those dishes you have pinned on Pinterest! Ours doubled as a playdate too!

Tips for a successful recipe swap

1. Pick a theme: Picking a theme helps to have a focus for the dishes, plus it adds fun to the event! Our theme for this swap was Red, White, and Blue, with dishes perfect for a 4^th of July gathering. Here are some ideas to help you in picking out a theme:

• Holiday or season: Choose an upcoming holiday or season
• Events: Looking for ideas for an upcoming shower, wedding, birthday, or other occasion? Here is your chance to try some out!
• A specific meal: Brunch dishes are always a fun one! 
• Inspired dishes: Dishes inspired by a movie, song, time period, etc.
• Cuisine: Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Indian, Vegetarian, etc. Style: Slow-cooker, grill, no-bake, etc.
• Ingredient: Pick an ingredient that each dish must include. Great for seasonal dishes.
• Drinks: Looking for a fun girl’s night? Just don’t taste too many!

2. RSVPs: No matter how big or small your event is, it is important that you have a way to collect RSVPs and have guests share what dish they will bring prior to the event.  This helps each attendee know how much to make, as well as avoid repeat dishes.  The Meetup.com site allowed us to easily handle invites, RSVPs and let the group know what dish we were bringing.  Some other great online options are Facebook events, Google Calendar, Evite.com, or through email.

3. Have a plan to collect recipes: One option is to have each person bring a pre-written or printed copy of the recipe for each attendee (another reason it is important to know how many people are coming). Here are some great printable recipe cards if you are doing physical recipe cards. Another option is to have the host type up the recipes and send them to the group in one document. If the site you used to set up your event allows, another option is to have each attendee upload their recipe after the swap. If you are all on Pinterest and a little tech savvy, you could even create a group board and have each member pin their recipe to the board.

4. Enjoy the dishes and company! Taste a little bit of everything! It is like a food tasting with your friends! Now is your time to ask the cook questions you have about the recipe and process too.  “What do you mean by ‘a dash’?” “Where did you find ____?”

5. Rotate hosts: If this is going to be a regular group get-together, have the responsibility of hosting rotate around the group.  There is not much to hosting other than the prep work of cleaning, having dishes and utensils, and providing drinks.  This person might also handle the RSVPs, unless one person has been designated to handle that role.

I enjoyed my first recipe swap, and look forward to our next one!

To get you started, here is the dish I made for our Red, White, and Blue recipe swap!

Berry Dessert Pizza

Ingredients
1 1/2 sleeves of graham crackers
1 1/2 medium bananas
1 tbsp honey
6 oz vanilla greek yogurt
2 c. cool whip
Any fruit you want for topping (I used diced strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Crush the grahams in a large bowl using a masher or cup (don’t crush into a dirt consistency).
Add the banana to the crushed graham crackers. Take your hands and combine the banana and grahams together (treat it like a meatloaf).
Add the ball of dough to a greased baking sheet. Flatten out the dough with your hands and pinch the sides to form a crust. 
Drizzle the honey over the crust and spread it around with a spoon.  
Place the crust in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
While the cookie is cooking combine the cool whip and Greek yogurt together, and place in the fridge to thicken for 20 minutes.
Once the crust has completely cooled, spread the topping evenly over it.  There will be leftover topping that makes a great fruit dip!

Decorate with fruit.

What is one dish you have always wanted to try, but never had a chance to make?