Date Night - 4 NEW Recipes!

Anyone who knows me or follows me should know how important “Date Night” is to me and my husband. Life gets so busy, especially around this time of year. Madison is now four and Drew is 18 months, we’ve come to realize this is quite an EXHAUSTING stage! Drew is into and on top of everything. Madison’s imagination is in full swing and her cute little mind asks about a gazzilion questions a day. Drew now wants to do EVERYTHING Madison does. Come dinner time my patience are shot, my husband is tired but wants to spend time with the kids, the children are bored, it’s just a busy crazy but I love kind of time for us right now. You know how important dinner time is to me as a foodie. I want my kids to eat fresh and healthy foods, but they do not. I want to sit as a family and talk about our day, but we never do because someone needs milk, the food hits the floor or something is needed! I’ve come to realize that my kids are just being kids. They are young and family time around the family isn’t as important now as it will be when they get older and can truly appreciate why this time means so much to Mommy, if that time ever does come! We still eat as a family at least 3-4 times a week but on the other nights, I just want to eat a hot meal. Alone. In silence. With my husband. We have come to look forward to these nights for a few reasons. One because of the obvious of getting what I stated above but also because I get to experiment with dishes I know for a fact my kids won’t even touch. I don’t make it fancy like I used to when we had just Madison, when I had time to put hours into a meal, when there was only one kid to put to go through the bedtime routine. Now I prepare nice salads, soups or sandwiches for us. Simple, easy but something new. I usually try a fellow foodie friends recipe. I have a Pinterest Board called Date Nights. When I menu plan I go to that board and pick a recipe that I’ve pinned from another foodie website and give it a shot! It’s a win win for me. I get alone time with my husband, my kids get to eat their dishes that I still secretly add veggies to, and we are all happy. This is new for me, I once felt a family should gather around the table every night no matter what, however as a parent we also tend to do whatever is easiest some times. I know I will have plenty of time to sit around that family dining room table and share a nice meal with my children. So for now….this works!

I wanted to share with you some of the delicious recipes that are super easy to whip up and enjoy! The first one I’m sharing I’ve actually made for two date nights! That’s how good it was. My husband loved it and so did I. I always feel guilty not eating a vegetable with dinner but this is one I just get over that feeling for because it’s worth skipping veggies! I suppose I could just serve a side dish of veggies but anyways it’s a Korean Beef. It’s simple and takes no time. On both occasions I made the ground beef mixture while the kids ate their meals. I don’t want to cook twice a night so I always try to prepare whatever I’m making for my husband and I while I’m already in the kitchen! I boil some white rice and wala this dish is complete! Also, if you don’t like a lot of spice feel free to cut down on the amount of red pepper but this was perfect for us. I also didn’t follow Lizzy’s advice and NOT skip the green onions. I just didn’t have any on hand because my husband isn’t fond of them. Next time I’m going to make sure I add them!

This Korean Beef & Rice recipe comes from Lizzy over at Lizzy Writes.

This next one comes from my friend Brianne’s blog. Cupcakes and Kale Chips. I had the pleasures of getting to know Brianne and her husband at the Food and Wine Conference back in July. We quickly realized how much we both love the blogging/foodie world and that our kids are close in age. Anyways I’ve made this soup 3 times!!! Yes 3!! Twice for my husband and I for a date night and once a few weeks ago for friends that were coming over to have Christmas with us. The third time I used chicken instead but it’s all the same. We didn’t like it all 😉 I also froze a batch inside a large mason jar and brought the leftover pie crust cut outs to my sister-in-law that just had a baby. Great gift for someone who DOES not want to cook for a few weeks….or months!

This Turkey Pot Pie Soup recipe comes from Brianne at Cupcakes and Kale Chips

The next recipe is a sandwich recipe from a fellow #SundaySupper blogger. She made it look so good, which indeed it was! I had never made a Stromboli before so I was a bit nervous but it was a lot easier than I thought it would be! I’m so glad I gave it a chance, I changed it up a bit by using leftover turkey and ham from Thanksgiving weekend, but other than that, it was awesome! It was so easy I made a Pepperoni Pizza Stromboli I’ll share with you soon!

This Braided Stromboli comes from Liz over at That Skinny Chick Can Bake.

The last one I have to share with you is actually a recipe of mine! My hubby loves steak and cheese sandwiches! Well OK, so do I! So I decided to make it into a Panini, I love making anything into a panini!