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On September 10^th, people all across the country will be sharing with others as part of Swap Ideas Day.  Here at Fill Your Plate, we are all about food and think this is a great chance to share some of your best food-related ideas.  Below we share our ideas on how you can spice up your meals and sweeten your menu by participating in Swap Ideas Day.

Dinner Recipe Swap

Is your family getting tired of the same old dinner options week after week?  Celebrate Swap Ideas Day by hosting a dinner recipe swap and inject some excitement back into your family’s main meal.  Start by inviting friends and family to your swap.  Ask each invitee to bring their favorite dinner dish and enough copies of the recipe for all attendees.  At the start of the swap, set up all the dishes buffet style and let everyone taste test all the recipes.  This gives each person the opportunity to pick and choose dishes that their family will like from all the great options.  One of the greatest hurdles people generally face when trying to find new recipes to make is trying to imagine how the food will look, smell, and taste based on the information provided in the recipe.  This taste test eliminates that problem by giving everyone the chance to try a couple bites before taking the recipe home to their family.

In this day and age of food allergies and sensitivities, it is a good idea to have cards available for guests to indicate if a dish has a common allergen as a component or meets a special dietary need like being gluten-free or diabetic friendly.

Dessert Recipe Swap

Looking for a fun way to spend some time with your girlfriends or a great idea for a family get together?  Host a dessert recipe swap and swap ideas for delicious desserts.  The set-up and party is the same as doing a dinner recipe swap.  Attendees bring a finished dessert and recipe cards so that everyone can taste each dessert and take the recipes they love home with them.  This type of recipe swap could also be used in some other fun ways.  If you are having a bake sale at your church or for your children’s school, as you swap ideas, have a dessert recipe swap right before and ask each person to bring two finished dishes- one to share at the party and one to donate to the bake sale.  Everyone who comes to the party will get a handful of great new dessert recipes while also contributing to a great cause.

Holiday Recipe Swap

It is only September, but that means that we are heading into holiday season.  From haunted Halloween goodies to Thanksgiving Dinner dishes to perfect recipes to put together for a pot-luck, we can all use some fresh ideas and new recipes for holiday entertaining.  For this swap, you could do it as a theme and pick a single holiday to feature or you can ask certain people to swap ideas and bring things representing specific holidays.  You could also change up the format a little and have people teach others how to make a recipe that is particularly complex or a technique that elevates your holiday dish from average to art.

As always, don’t forget to check out our great recipes using delicious locally grown food on Fill Your Plate!

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• Make Every Day Eat Your Veggies Day (fillyourplate.org)
• How to Host a Holiday Cookie Swap (fillyourplate.org)
• 10 Tips for Saving Money on Food (fillyourplate.org)