About a month or so ago my friend called me and asked me about starting a community kitchen with her.  This friend and I seem to have much in common.  For example, our husband work together (her's has a company called HOZA - in fact check out the link and you'll see both of them right away), we have kids around the same age, we are both into things like education, sustainable eating and community.  In short, when she called, even though I didn't have much idea about what a community kitchen was, I said 'Yeah, Count me in'.
So my friend J has joined an organic home delivery group as well.  She contacted her delivery organisation about the community kitchen idea and we ended up getting together with the administrator.  We didn't exactly know what would happen with that but the administrator ended up being very interested in the whole idea and wanted to get in on the action too.
We ended up meeting up, the 3 of us, and decided to try it out.
We just had our first get together.  We used some leftovers from the home delivery (the stuff that they can't sell because it's not perfect) which was great.  We had a glut of cauliflower and some potato.  I added some onion and cannellini beans, J added some stock and N provided the cauliflower, her place and some of her own onion.  We made my Cauliflower, Potato and Cannellini Bean soup, jarred it up


and brought it home.  A success for our first try and I'm kinda bummed that I forgot the camera.  For our next adventure I will definitely take pics and get you all in on the fun.
Once I got home I decided to make some bread to go with the soup 'cause I'll be damned if I'm gonna start cooking again.
P.S.  I'm starting to truly lose my fear of yeast.  As long as you proof it first and it gets foamy then you're good to go.  The time is honestly just waiting around time - you just have to be there... not hard at all.


Cheese and Dill Rolls (adapted from King Arthur Flour)
makes 9 rolls (you can double the recipe easily though)

1 cup warm water
1 pkg of yeast
1 tsp sugar
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour (plus extra for kneading)
1/4 cup skim milk powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp dill
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup cheddar, shredded

Dissolve the sugar and yeast in the warm water.  Let it stand for 10 minutes so that the yeast can proof.  It should have expanded and be foamy after 10 min.
Meanwhile, combine the flour, skim milk powder, salt and dill together in a bowl.
Butter a separate bowl and set aside.
Once the yeast has proofed add the honey to the yeast mixture and mix.  Add the yeast mixture to the flour and stir to combine.
Put the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead (adding flour as needed) for about 5 min.  Until the dough gets silky and smooth and easily forms a ball.
Place the dough ball into the buttered bowl.  Cover with a damp cloth and set aside in draft free spot for about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled.


Butter a Square baking pan (8x8)
Punch the dough down and remove to a lightly flour surface.  Knead the shredded cheese into the dough.  Once the cheese is mixed in then roll out the dough into a long log.  Cut into 9 equal parts.  Place each part into the baking pan.  Cover with damp cloth and let it rise for about 45 minutes.


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Bake for 15 - 20 minutes.