People may think I’m crazy for going to such extremes just to have a dinner alone with my husband in our own home but you know what…….nothing makes me happier. Nothing makes me happier than spending hours in the kitchen making a meal that is to die for. How lucky is my husband??!! I think some people need to tell him this more often…no seriously, text him, message him, tell him……..he is a lucky man 🙂
This was volume one of our very first “Date Night” in our new home. We used to do this when we lived in our condo and I’ve really missed doing it. If you didn’t catch my post last week on Date Nights are a MUST, go read it, you’ll see how important they are to me and just how we used to do them “Condo” style. This one was a special one for us, it was the first time I made such an effort in our new home. I wanted it to be special. My daughter was gone for the weekend with my MIL so I figured this was the best chance to make this happen. So that week, I planned our menu. I planned it Fall style because I decided to decorate the house that day. Here is how I started our special day, I love Fall and I am totally enjoying decorating my new home!
I also “healthified” each course as well. It was AWESOME. I do toot my own horn when it comes to the creations that come out of my kitchen. You get that nice and “full” feeling but not that “OMG I’m so full I’m going to throw up-bloated-out of control- shouldn’t have eaten that much feeling when your walking out of a restaurant. I plan on doing this for my husband and I once a month. It gives me my time in the kitchen that makes me happy, we get to talk about something other than our children because as we are eating, we are usually talking about just how good whatever we are eating is! Each month may not be as big as this one was because it really was a lot of work and I can’t ship my daughter off once a month, well maybe I can! However I was in the kitchen, cooking and prepping from 2pm until 6:30 when we sat and ate our first course. Though I loved every second of it, I’m not sure I’ll be able to pull it off each month, so we may go take out style one month, or just comfy style the next when I cook quicker meals and hubby lounges and watches TV. Either way I’m excited to do this for us as a couple and I’m happy to add it onto my blog as a new section!! Check it out! Next month it will be for his birthday!
I also am toying with the idea of Featuring anyone else’s Date Night they may have with their husbands, I can write about it, connect to other blogs, I’d love to get other blogs involved because spending that quality time with your significant other is so important to me. I woke up the next morning wondering how I could do what I did last night for a living. Maybe get paid for it, because I love it so much, shouldn’t we all get paid to do what we love? LOL………..anyways stay tuned for this subject because I may be onto something. What if I were to come to you house, plan a menu with you and your husband, choose a night where you can ship your kids off, or put them to bed (if you want to brave them not waking) and cook you a nice meal. You’re in the privacy of your own home and you don’t even have to do the work! Wouldn’t that be nice. If anyone wants to volunteer I will do this to get it rolling and all you have to pay for is the food!! Hey it gets me out of the house too! OR You could come to Momma’s and sit at this very nice table with all the privacy in the world because my house is set up where you would have just that……..privacy. You can choose a menu and pick a night where you can ask a sitter to come over and watch the kids and you can come to me and relax. Like going to a restaurant but all your doing is paying for the cost of food! Anyone???
Anyways……….once you see these pictures I think I may have some people on board! Here was the menu I set up.
So if your organized like me I try to make what needs to be made first, for example, the cheesecake needed a few hours to set so I worked on that first, though we never ate it until the next day because we were so full!! Then I worked on the dressing for the salad. I wanted something creamy but also something healthy, along came this beauty.
Creamy Cilantro Avocado Dressing
I let my husband try it before putting it on his salad because I was pretty sure that he wasn’t going to like it…….I was right. However I loved it. And the you’ll be blown away by the nutritional value on this! Can you say WOW!
NUTRITION
Per tablespoon: 16 calories; 1 g fat ( 0 g sat , 1 g mono ); 0 mg cholesterol; 2 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 1 g protein; 1 g fiber; 80 mg sodium; 61 mg potassium.
After I made the dressing, I tossed it in the fridge and started on the appetizers! Want to know what these little balls of yumminess are??
Let me introduce to you the meatballs I made awhile back called Southwest Meatballs. Then I thought I want a bite of something that’s going to taste like a bacon burger because well who doesn’t love bacon wrapped in anything! So I created these beauties and call them:
Southwest Meatballs Wrapped in Bacon
The only difference was instead of cooking them in my crockpot, I wrapped them with a a piece of center cut bacon (lower sodium and fat) and baked them at 350 for 40 min. BITE. OF. GOODNESS. I got exactly what I was going for with this. I didn’t plan on a dipping sauce for them so while they were cooking I was thinking oh no, we must dip these babies in something, so again I thought of a bacon burger and what do you put on a burger? Yup!! Mustard, ketchup and relish mixed together until you get it to the taste you want, can’t have these babies without that creation trust me!
For the main course I made something I knew my hubby and I would both like, hello it has Cajun in the recipe title! I love how it’s on the lighter side. So thank you thank you Alida for introducing me to this dish! Does that name sound familiar? Well it should because I featured Alida’s Kitchen back in May!
It was so fresh and yummy. Again, a great dish that didn’t leave you feeling full and bloated!
And last but not least………Dessert! I have to admit that we didn’t eat it that night, we were too full so we enjoyed it for dessert the next day. This is also a skinnified dessert I like to call it. From one of my favorite websites Skinnytaste.
Pumpkin Spice No-Bake Cheesecake
It was super easy to make, I started with this dish first so it could sit in the fridge, I saved a dollop or two for the top and that was that, simple yet scrumptious! And only a little over 5 points for Weight Watchers!
How good does that look??? Well I would have to say that this date night was a pretty big success for us! I’m already thinking of a menu for the next one which will be special and all about my hubby since it’s his birthday! Now go and talk to your hubby and schedule yourself a nice date night!
Love the meatballs wrapped in bacon! Everything looks delicious!