Date Nights!

Who doesn't love date night?!

Unfortunately date night doesn't come often enough in our house.  I think we've been out maybe 6-8 times since our little guy was born.  He's now 8 months!  Yeah, it's definitely time to get out more.  We try, but it's tough.  First of all, we don't have a lot of babysitter options and not to mention, it can get expensive to go out all the time.  We love our time together as a family and love cooking at home, so we don't mind.  But when we do get a date night away, it's seriously so much fun!  We then talk about it for days and always say we can't wait for our next date night.  :)

I was starting to think of different date night ideas that we could do at home.  Our little guy goes to bed at 7pm every night, so if we aren't going to bed at 8pm (sigh), I thought we could try and do some of these things with the time we do have at night.  I know it's not the same but sometimes doing something to make it seem like a "date" makes all the difference!

Spending time together at home, even when the kids are in bed, can make all the difference for your marriage!

A cute idea would be using a mason jar and craft sticks.  You each write a bunch of ideas down on the craft sticks, throw em in a jar and pick one each week.  It can be anything, just as long as it's spending time together! 

Here are some ideas that I came up with for the hubby & I...

1. Cook a late night dinner together

2. Make a fire out on our patio and enjoy a glass of wine or if it's cold, hot chocolate

3. Cinema night - Grab some popcorn, favorite snacks and snuggle up on the couch (In PJ's of course)

4. Play a board game

5. Have an ice cream sundae night

6. S'mores out by the fire

7. Get late takeout 

8. Write out a bucket list together

9. Play a prank on someone (This makes me laugh just thinking of the possibilities)

10. Make a nice dinner together and go enjoy it on the patio (So excited for this now that the weather is warming up)

11. No technology night - Turn off cell phones and TV.  Just cook dinner, have a couple drinks and talk!

12. Food themed night - Mexican, Italian, Indian, Chinese...pick one! For example: Mexican night...make some tacos or nachos, have coronas!

13. Comedy night - Grab a DVD of your favorite comedian and get ready to laugh

14. Have a fondue night

15. Scour YouTube for hilarious videos (this can be so fun)

16. Go to bed early!

17. Wine, cheese and fruit picnic in the living room

18. Watch your wedding video

19. Have either a "Mom's night off" or "Dad's night off" night.  Whoever has the night off gets to pick what they want the other to cook for them and then just gets to veg & relax

20.  Have a naked day...ok ok just kidding!  Although, I guarantee if you asked your husband what he wanted to add to the list, he'd throw this in there!  ;)

What are some of your ideas?!  

Menu Plan Monday

Happy Monday!  

This came across my Facebook feed and made me feel extra positive today! :)

Here's what we have cooking in our kitchen this week:

Monday:  Carnitas - This past weekend we had some friends over, and the hubby smoked a bunch of pork for BBQ pulled pork.  Needless to say, we now have tons of leftovers that we get to enjoy over the next week.  Tonight we plan to use some of the leftovers for Carnitas.  Corn tortillas, pork, lime, cilantro, cotija cheese and my hubby's homemade guac.  Yum!  I'm sure we will have these later in the week too!

Tuesday: BLT Sandwiches with Broccoli Grape Salad - We love to use sourdough bread for our BLT Sandwiches.  The Broccoli Grape salad is also one of our faves, especially in the spring/summer months.  A couple of our friends turned us onto this.  We do without the pecans and cut back on the red onions.

Wednesday:  Chicken Spaghetti - Something new we're trying.  ;) Looks yummy!

Thursday:  Leftovers - Carnitas again or maybe Chicken Spaghetti since it makes so much!

Friday: YAY!  Would LOVE to be able to get out.  We will see!  

What's on your menu for the week?!

A little thing called paranoid

I have always been an extremely cautious person.  I tend to be paranoid at times and also fear of bad things happening.  I'm not entirely sure where this all came from but I've been this way for a long time.  It's an awful feeling.

This brings me to a story.  Many years ago, I was living with my boyfriend at the time and he was out of town for work.  I hated being home alone.  Well, this one night, I kept waking up because I thought I heard something.  This went on and on all night long, every hour.  All of a sudden 5am rolled around and I heard noises coming from the kitchen, noises that sounded like someone walking in the house and I even swore I heard a drawer open.  I literally talked myself into the fact that there may have been someone in the kitchen.  Keep in mind that we had two cats at the time and we lived in an old house with hard wood floors that creaked.   Did I ever even think it could have been my cats running around?  Nope.  My mind was sold on the fact that there was someone in the house.  It was so bad that I sat in bed for a couple more hours and was late to work that morning because I was too scared to get up and look.  Is that not ridiculous?!  Of course no one was in the house, and I can guarantee it was just the cats.  Once I finally got up, I even locked the bathroom door while I showered.  I'll seriously never forget that morning.

That's me in a nutshell.  I'm definitely not like this all the time but from time to time I tend to get a little ridiculous.

I got pregnant with my son in November of 2012 and the fear, and paranoid thoughts set into an ultimate high.  I even read in my "What to expect when you're Expecting" book that it's normal to get fearful & paranoid about things that you normally wouldn't.  If it wasn't bad enough already!  I would have my husband check through the house, I began locking more doors than I already had, including our bedroom door.  It was bad but I couldn't help it.  I became insanely protective of the little life in my belly!  

Flash forward to July when my son was born.  I of course became instantly protective of him, so I'm sure you can imagine what it was like when I moved him into his own room.  He slept in our room for the first 4 months, so, it was easy for me to lock our bedroom door.  Well, when he went into his own room, I wanted our door open, his door open because I wanted to be able to hear him.  This was hard for me, because I was so used to our bedroom door being locked.  I am sure every Mom has strange nightmares once in awhile about something happening to her child.  Or maybe it's just me again.  :)  I love that little guy so much and all I want to do is protect him!

I still ask my husband to check the house for me from time to time.  All of a sudden I'll get scared from a noise and I'll ask him to check rooms and closets.  A couple months ago I was so scared for some reason, I even had him check the attic in the garage.  Yes, I'm a total weirdo.

So here I sit at 3am, blogging about being paranoid...not able to sleep because I woke up to noises in the house, which were most likely the dog, or the ice machine on the fridge, or Marshall stirring, or even my husband snoring.

Happy Thirsty Thursday!  I sure am looking forward to a glass of wine tonight!

Menu Plan Monday

Happy Monday Friends!

Hope your weekend was wonderful!  The weather here was seriously beautiful!  In the 50's each day - just gorgeous!

Here's what we have cooking in our kitchen this week:

Monday:  Chicken Hoisin Rice Bowl with Mushrooms & Zucchini - New Recipe that I found on Pinterest.  It was awesome!!! ;)

Tuesday: Pork Tenderloin with Spaghetti Squash - The same tenderloin that we usually do.  This was a request from the hubby this week.  :)

Wednesday:  I'm headed out with the girls, so I'm sure Doug will find some leftovers or a frozen pizza.  ;)

Thursday:  Turkey & Sweet Potato Chili  - We obviously love this!  I feel like we've eaten this a lot lately.  SO GOOD!

Friday: Not sure yet but it will involve a big ole glass of vino!

What's on your menu for the week?!



Onto another topic...my sweet baby boy turned 7 months today!  
AND
We discovered yesterday that he has his very first tooth!

XOXO

Menu Plan Monday

Happy Monday Friends!

Hope you all had a great weekend.  The hubby and I were able to venture out on Saturday for a wonderful and much needed date night!  I seriously love date night.  We had dinner, we checked out a free Goo Goo Dolls concert in town and then went to a new lounge in town and had a few drinks while chatting and of course enjoyed some good people watching.  ;) I ended the night eating a huge slice of pizza for a late night snack. Yum!

First off, I need to share a recipe that is so easy and so unbelievably delicious.  I made these for Valentine's Day and brought them to my hubby's work.

Valentine's Day Krispie Treats

6 cups Rice Krispie Cereal
1 bag Kraft Strawberry Heart Marshmallows
4 tbsp butter
1 bag white chocolate chips
Valentine's Sprinkles (and without the sprinkles, voila, you have yourself just a yummy, strawberry rice krispie treat!)

Butter the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Melt the butter completely and put it in a large, microwavable mixing bowl. Throw the marshmallows in over the butter and stir them around to coat in the butter. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, then microwave for another 30 seconds and stir. The marshmallows should be melted by now but if not, place them in the microwave for a few more seconds until they're nice and melted.
Pour the Rice Krispies in the bowl and mix well with the marshmallow. Put the mixture into the 9x13 pan and wet down your hand with water to press the mixture evenly in the the pan. Add the sprinkles to the top of the treats. Cover and cool in the fridge for about an hour.
Cut into squares and place on wax paper. Melt the white chocolate at 30 second intervals, stirring after each 30 seconds.   Dip the bottom third to half of each treat into the chocolate and place upside down on the wax paper to cool.

Enjoy! Pure deliciousness.

Here's what we have cooking in our kitchen this week:

Monday:  Chicken Piccata & roasted Brussel Sprouts - Another staple for us.  This is one of Doug's favorites!  Such great flavors.  

Tuesday: Linguine with Shrimp Scampi - We make this pretty often as well.  One of my favorite meals that Doug makes!  It's light and refreshing with the lemon.  The only thing we do without are the lemon slices.

Wednesday: Chopped Chicken Cobb Salads - We usually throw some chicken on the traeger, chop it up and throw it on our salads.  We use romaine lettuce, gorgonzola cheese, tomato, avocado, hard-boiled eggs and bacon.  We love to use a Red Wine & Olive Oil dressing. 

Thursday: Spicy Beef & Sweet Potato Tacos - We are huge sweet potato fans and are always looking for recipes that involve sweet potato's.  I came across this blog that has some great recipes that are budget friendly.  Winner winner!

Friday: Possibly Pizza...Possibly a beer and a burger.  I've been craving a good beer lately.  I guess we will see how the week goes!  ;)

What's on your menu for the week?!

Menu Plan Monday

Happy Monday Friends!
Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend.  We spent Super Bowl Sunday with great friends, enjoying delish food and some adult beverages of course.  To be honest, I didn't really watch the game but I sure loved the half time show!

Here's what we have cooking in our kitchen this week:

Monday:  Pork Tacos from a leftover pork roast a few days ago.  Yum!  We will most likely use whatever else we have in the fridge right now for these (maybe some shredded cabbage, cilantro, sour cream, cheese).

Tuesday: Grilled Chicken Cordon Bleu with sauteed spaghetti squash- We've made this quite a few times as well, especially during the summer months. We use some fresh Havarti cheese instead of what the recipe calls for.

Wednesday: Orecchiette with Spicy Sausage and Broccoli Rabe - This is a Giada recipe that we've made before from Giada's Everyday Italian Cookbook.  We had a hard time finding the Orecchiette pasta noodles, so we use the Campanelle noodles, which seem somewhat similar.  :)  Sometimes it's also hard to find broccoli rabe...so we've just used regular ole broccoli.  You can also use any sausage pretty much too.  Chicken sausage, turkey sausage, italian sausage, or pork sausage.  We like to use a spicy pork or turkey.  This is a light pasta, but it's so yummy!  The exact recipe from her book is not found online, so here you go...

Ingredients:
Salt
2 bunches of broccoli rabe, stalks trimmed and quartered clockwise
12 oz dried orecchiette pasta or other small shaped pasta
3 tbsp olive oil
1 lb spicy chicken, pork, turkey or italian sausage (casings removed)
3 garlic cloves - minced
Pinch of dried crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese or pecorino romano cheese
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the broccoli rabe and cook until crisp-tender, about 1 minute.  Strain the broccoli rabe, reserving all the cooking liquid.  Set the broccoli rabe aside.  Cook the pasta in the same pot of boiling water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.  Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
Meanwhile, in a large, heavy skillet, heat the oil over a medium heat.  Add the sausage and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until the sausage is brown and juices form, about 8 minutes.  Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, and sauté until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the broccoli rabe and toss to coat.  Add the pasta and enough reserved cooking liquid, 1/4 cup at a time, to moisten.  Stir the parmesan cheese, salt to taste, and pepper into the pasta mixture.  Transfer to pasta bowls and serve.

Thursday: No Bean Turkey & Sweet Potato Chili - We've made this before too!  I do love regular chili with beans but this is something different for those sweet potato fans.  It's so easy to make too!

Friday: Pizza!

What's on your menu for the week?!

Menu Plan Monday

Happy Monday!

Hope the weekend was great!

I'm already on my 2nd week and feeling great!  I need to keep this up!

I love that menu planning can be flexible.  If we don't feel like eating what we have planned for a particular day, we can change it up with one of the other days!

Here's what we have cooking in our kitchen this week:

Monday:  Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Kale - We have been wanting to make Spaghetti Squash at home for awhile now.  Excited to try this.  I'm a huge fan of Ree Drummond (Aka the Pioneer Woman).

Tuesday: Crock Pot Balsamic Pork & Sweet Potatoes - New Recipe that I thought I'd try! Found this on the skinnytaste.com website.  There are seriously so many great recipes on there!

Wednesday: Sesame and Peanut Noodles - I think I've shared this recipe before on my blog.  It's pretty amazing.  It's also so good the next day for leftovers.  Not sure if you ever watch Melissa d' Arabian's show on Food Network called "10 Dollar Dinners" but you should!

Thursday: Chicken Fajitas -  LOVE me some Chicken Fajitas!  We do ours pretty basic.  Chicken sauteed with a red pepper, green pepper and some onion.  We buy the Tortilla Land Fresh Flour Tortillas.  SO.GOOD.  These tortillas do go bad sooner than regular tortillas if you don't use them all up.  If we don't use them for breakfast burritos on the weekend, we use them for a simple dessert that I'll share...warm up one of these tortillas, put a little butter over the whole tortilla, sprinkle a little cinnamon sugar on top, roll it up and viola!  Such a good little dessert!  ;)

Friday: Pizza or leftovers!  

I seriously get excited planning out meals for the week, it's so much fun!  It helps if you  LOVE to cook. 

What's on your menu for the week?!