A modern-day barn-building, kind of

Today was the first day of a cool experiment. A few friends of mine and I had a soup/casserole exchange.

Living by yourself can have some definite advantages, but one of them is generally not cooking. Most recipes make at least four (or more) servings, which can become a bit tedious when you have to eat the same thing day after day, just so that it won’t go bad. Sure, you can buy frozen dinners from god knows where made with ingredients of dubious quality, but there’s the disposable packaging, not to mention that they really don’t taste all that great. So … five of us agreed we would each made a pot of soup or a casserole (vegetarian and dairy-free), divide it into single-serving portions, meet at my place, and divide the spoils.

I made a big pot of potato-leek soup, which we shared for lunch and then split the leftovers. Melanie brought a Quebecois tortiere, which I had for dinner tonight – it was sooooooo good!!! Alana brought a curried squash soup (it looks so yummy!), Lori brought black bean soup in Mason jars (which started an exciting conversation about canning, more on that in a bit), and the indefatigable Linda dropped off her sunflower seed loaf and lentil salad on her way to a cross-country skiing excursion!

As we were hanging out this afternoon, our canning discussion led to talk about shopping locally and organically (for our own health and that of the planet, of course), so I think in the summer we’re going to do some cooperative canning! I absolutely love this kind of collaboration. “Many hands make light work,” they say, and it is SO true. This is the kind of community I want to foster, and it’s the kind of community I passionately believe we need.