Project Date Night: May

I'll keep this short and sweet.  We've been having some beautiful weather here. The kind that just begs you to come outside and play. So play we did.

Our Project Date Night for the month of May actually took place in the afternoon.  Guess what? We actually got a sitter and went out for a few hours while Ry Guy was napping.  (Hurray!!!!)

Oh yeah, and we played a round of mini golf too. It was such a nice afternoon, the family fun park was pretty busy, but we didn't mind waiting at each mini golf hole.

I found out I'm as bad at mini golf as I remember.  Yikes. Good thing it was all in fun. Final score was totally embarrassing, so I'll spare you the details. Let's just say M won.

All's fair in love and mini golf, right?  Read more about Project Date Night here.

Project Date Night: April [The Princess Bride]

So sorry for the delay in posting this! It's been a whirlwind couple of months!

In keeping with my Project Date Night commitment, M and I had plans for a date out in April.  Nothing too fancy, but OUT. Just us.

Sarcastic comment: Do we need a selfie stick?

Then life happened, as it is want to do. Sickness, sitter schedule conflicts, traveling out of town... it boils down to me sitting here on my couch the last week of April and suddenly realizing we hadn't had a date night yet.

Inconceivable!

Enter my handy, dandy back up date plan. Yep, I have a back up plan. Life can get pretty unpredictable, so I had this little date night ready to go just in case something came up and we had to stay home instead of going out. Glad I did!  We love the Princess Bride movie and book, so we had a Princess Bride themed date night in. It was pretty low key, but fun.

Not sure what the hype is all about? Watch the movie trailer on IMDB.

Here's the nitty gritty:

• The idea was inspired by the Dating Divas.  
• I texted M during the work day to "invite" him to our theme date, "Join me tonight in the search for the six-fingered man!" He responded with, "Dun dun DUNH!!!!" [that's dramatic music in case you weren't sure].
• We had our usually dinner with Ry Guy, then put him to bed and munched on some homemade "Magic Pills" while watching the movie. In case you're wondering, in the movie, the Magic Pill is a chocolate covered remedy that revives "mostly dead" the hero of the story, Westley. Our Magic Pills were chunks of almond butter fudge dunked in chocolate. Bite sized yum!
• We also took this printable Princess Bride Quiz. How well do YOU know the movie?
• We laughed and imitated our favorite characters. Classic Fezzik, "Anybody want a peanut?" If you've never seen the movie or read the book, you'll be completely lost at this point. :-)

"magic pills"

I leave you now with the words of the Impressive Clergyman, "Mawage. Mawage is what brwings us togevah today. And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva..."

As Promised: THE Chicken Wing Recipe

As promised, here's a look at the chicken wing recipe I did for my Project Date Night for March.  If you recall, we did a Hunger Games Mockingjay theme date and I called these "Mockingjay Wings". 

They were super tasty so I just had to share.  I can't get enough of the zingy glaze.  In fact, if you like your wings really saucy, feel free to double up on the glaze and serve the extra on the side for dipping and/or slathering. Your choice.

In the interest of full disclosure, Curtis Stone came up with the original orange/rosemary/Dijon combination in a chicken skewer recipe he did for The Biggest Loser, so I feel I need to credit him as my inspiration.  Although I used very similar ingredients and quantities, I took my chicken recipe a completely different (possibly simpler) direction.

If you're looking for a version of wings to serve at a party or as an appetizer but want something different than the usual buffalo wings or deep fried wings, give these a try.  The flavor is AMAZING. Most of the bazillion wing recipes I researched included some form of gluten/dairy/soy/refined sugar, but trust me - you won't miss those ingredients at all! The glaze is like a flavor party in your mouth.

Serious-ness.

Sweet + Spicy Rosemary Chicken Wings

by Raye

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Keywords: bake roast appetizer dairy-free egg-free gaps gluten-free nut-free peanut-free refined sugar free soy-free lemon orange ginger

Ingredients (8-12 wings)

• Juice of 2 oranges
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 Tbsp grainy Dijon mustard
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger (or 1 tsp dried ginger)
• salt
• freshly ground pepper
• about 3 lb chicken wings (8-12 wings)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400*F.
• If desired, cut the wings in half at the joint. Rub with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Arrange wings on a rimmed cookie sheet in a single layer (I used a broiler pan). Bake for about 30 minutes or until wings are crisp and golden brown. (Juices should run clear when pierced with a fork.)
• While wings are baking, combine orange juice, lemon juice, mustard, honey and garlic powder in a small saucepan. Grind dried rosemary in a spice grinder (or with a mortar and pestle) and add to saucepan.
• Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to low heat and simmer until mixture has thickened to form a glaze. Remove from heat.
• Remove wings from oven and brush with glaze. Serve immediately.

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Project Date Night: March

Here's a look at our Project Date Night for the month of March.  If you're wondering what in the world I'm talking about, check out my original Project Date Night post here.

Any other Hunger Games fans out there?  If you know me, you know that I am a huge Suzanne Collins fan. I "blame" my buddy C.E. for getting me hooked - she first loaned me the books 2 years ago and I've been a fan of both the Hunger Games books and movies ever since.

Since we're cheap thrifty and already went to see the Hobbit in theaters, we decided to wait until Mockingjay Part 1 was released on DVD and do a theme date at home... Netflix is our friend, guys. Oh yeah... that's how we roll. :). Watch the trailer here!

There are SO many ideas for Hunger Games parties, gifts, crafts, etc. online.  Most of them are for the Hunger Games (the first book/movie) and Catching Fire (the sequel). Not as much for Mockingjay (the 3rd installment).

Project Date Night: February

As promised, here's a look at our February date night.  You can read all about my Project Date Night commitment here.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day! Yes, I just made up a holiday for all you folks out there like me who are a little behind.  We're in the middle of moving to a new apartment right now (In fact, we picked up the keys on Valentine's Day and moved our first load of stuff over to the new place.  How romantic.  Am I right?) so we didn't want to do a big date night out.  We're too old tired for that!  And I'm just now getting around to posting about the date night. It's all good, I keep telling myself.

Love this guy!

I found a great idea on the Dating Divas site for a "Cuddle Kit".  Relaxing on the couch after a busy day sounded good, so that's what we did.

I printed out this card from Dating Divas' Loveseat Lounge date idea and "reserved" our seats on the couch. Then, I left the Cuddle Kit on the coffee table so M could get comfy while I got dinner out.  I decided to do a tapas inspired menu, just a collection of small plates we could share.

This is some of the food and what's left of the Cuddle Kit.

Here's the menu!

• Mediterranean Stuffed Tomatoes (didn't have a recipe for this as all the ones I saw used eggs, cheese or breadcrumbs... all no-no's for me. I stuffed some small camparisi tomatoes with canned wild salmon, Dijon, herbs and a little olive oil. Then I broiled them for a few minutes. They were pretty good, although the filling was pretty soft.  Next time I may add a little gf flour as a binder)
• Pinchitos Morunos (marinated pork on a stick)
• Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus
• Mixed Greens Salad with a zesty Citrus Vinaigrette (I used a bagged salad mix for convenience, but prepped this dressing recipe ahead of time)
• Coconut Honey Candy
• Cherry Berry Fizz (Valentine's Day just begs for something pink! This was just cherry juice and blended frozen strawberries mixed with sparkling water... think agua fresca.)

On to the entertainment! While enjoying our tapas, we played a game called the "First Word Game" and then watched a bunch of funny YouTube clips. (Click here for the playlist) Disclaimer:  not everyone finds the same things humorous, but we laughed our heads off. Keep in mind, I would consider this playlist rated PG as there are a few instances of language in a few of the videos.

Overall, a fun and low key date night in.  Hard to believe this was our 5th Valentine's Day together!

Project Date Night: January

As promised, a grim look at my good intentions and date disaster. Ok, so it's really not THAT dramatic. Although, my camera's still busted, so no pics on this post. M got a replacement part though so I hope to have pics against soon!

My plan for January's date was to continue the Hobbit theme we started with our Christmas Eve T-Shirt Tradition.  M is a big Tolkien fan and his birthday is in January, so I thought we'd do a Hobbit themed 2-part date to celebrate his birthday.

Here's what I was supposed to do:


photo credit: the dating divas

On New Year's Eve, we were supposed to stay up late and do Dating Diva's Hobbit Date, with the following menu:
Hobbit Stew (beef stew)
York "Shire" pudding
Elvenking Cobbler (berry cobbler)
Bag End Brew (iced tea)
Treasure (Peanut Butter truffles and Lemon truffles wrapped in gold foil wrappers)
Dragon Jerky (beef jerky)
Ring Cookies (coconut flour cut out cookies)

Then, we were supposed to take the "treasure" (snacks) with us to M's parents' house (where we were headed for the weekend) for the second half of our Hobbit extravaganza  - tickets to see Battle of the 5 Armies in the theatre.
 
Here's what I actually did:

• I made Paleo lemon truffles.  They were really good. So good, I had a hard time staying out of the fridge.  I kept wanting to snack on them.
• I burnt the ring cookies because my brain was totally on hold and I forgot they were in the oven.
• I didn't get to make the Peanut Butter truffles because I took too long with everything else. 
• I was planning to make homemade jerky, but forgot a few weeks ago and ate the beef, so no beef = no jerky and also no Hobbit stew. 
• M requested a cheesecake for his birthday dessert at his parents' house, so I made one here before we left. My thought was, I'll skip the cobbler since we're having cheesecake tomorrow. But, the cheesecake was terrible.  I mean, really terrible. 
• At that point I ended up saying, "FORGET IT!" and skipped the rest of the menu altogether, ate the remaining lemon truffles and went to bed early.

Fast forward 2 days. We went to M's parents' house and I bought more ingredients for cheesecake and actually nailed it. I can't have dairy or eggs, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. I also made chocolate bark for me and that came out wicked yum.  We decided to go to the movie on Friday night for the 7:20 showing, which worked out ok, except we were still full from dinner, so we didn't actually snack on the nut mix I brought.  That's probably ok. We had a snack back at the house.

The movie was good. "Very epic", M said. I agree. Really didn't feel like 2-1/2 hours - the action kept it moving. And it was nice to get out without the baby.

So, we had a fun movie date, although it wasn't quite as extensive as I'd hoped.  Oh well. M didn't seem to mind.  Isn't he a keeper?

Project Date Night

Happy New Year, everyone!!  I decided not to do "resolutions" per se this year. Instead, I'm going to do a monthly post on a date night in order to keep me accountable.  Spoiler alert: January's date was a fail... not to epic proportions, but let's just say it didn't go as I'd planned. Stay tuned for that post, if you're interested.

I've said a lot on this blog about the importance of dating your spouse. I still believe that! It does, however, get exponentially harder to do when you have a small child at home (especially if you're nursing), and we've been very lax about dates this past year and a half.  Some families in this situation choose to forego couples only dates and do family outings instead, but I feel that we already do enough family outings and want to make sure M and I get some alone time once a month to connect as adults and spouses, not just parents.

So, Project Date Night, here we come.  Each month, I will post about what we did for a date that month.  Some will be an activity or date "out", some will be a simpler activity or date night "in". Some will be expensive, some will be frugal. Some will be successful, some will flop miserably, I'm sure.

So bear with me!  While I'm doing this more for us than anyone, I do hope that my readers will gain some fresh date ideas to use in strengthening their own relationships.

Here's to building better marriages, one date at a time!