PENDLETON — For the price of making and bringing one meal, participants in Pendleton Library’s monthly Cookbook Club get to try up to twelve dishes.

The first Thursday of each month at 6 p.m., people can sign up to bring a dish out of a selected cookbook. Jennifer Colton, who runs the program, said participants select the cookbooks as a group, just like a normal book club.

“Instead of reading the cookbook, you are emailed recipes and you choose one to make and bring,” Colton said. “You get to try up to 12 recipes from a cookbook while only cooking one.”

The idea started as a standalone event — a themed Bridgerton brunch with people bringing food from the popular Netflix period drama’s cookbook.

The library’s official program started in October 2024. In part, Colton said, it helps raise awareness about the variety of books the library has available to check out.

“Pendleton Public Library actually has a relatively large cookbook collection, which is also part of what’s great about this program because it’s really increased the awareness that that exists,” she said. “Most of the books we use in the cookbook club come from Pendleton’s collection.”

During the program’s first 10 months, the club has featured cookbooks focused on Italian dishes, Star Wars, Harry Potter, French food and Hocus Pocus Halloween food, among others.

“There has only ever been one, I think, where I didn’t leave it feeling absolutely stuffed,” Colton said. “It is definitely your full dinner for the day.”

The club’s upcoming meeting, on Aug. 7 will feature recipes from  ”Salad of the Day” by Georgeanne Brennan.

People interested in participating can sign up online or in person at the library. Colton noted that although the club is listed under adult programming, anyone who can follow a recipe is welcome to attend, making it more of an intergenerational event. Each month, up to 12 people can sign up.

The sign-up form asks people to indicate what level of dish they’re interested in making from a one to a five. Some people like to be adventurous and sign up for a four or five, Colton said, while others denote a level one, meaning they want to focus more on the easier recipes.

“In May, we did the Star Wars cookbook and we had one person who cooked meringues, which are not easy, but they were delicious and beautiful,” she said. “We have had amazing things that people have prepared that I am blown away by.”