Project Date Night: October

Did you know that October has more rainy days on average than any other month of the year? At least that's what M tells me. It feels true, regardless. Rainy, chilly weather makes me want to stay in and stay warm, so this month's Project Date Night was perfect!

The original plan was to learn to ballroom dance in our living room, inspired by watching the movie, "Shall We Dance" last year. But, as I started compiling a YouTube playlist of instructional videos, I came across quite a few line dancing videos and I thought, "Hmmm, that seems like fun," so the Shall We [Line] Dance date night was born.

Menu
I went all country and did...

• BBQ pork ribs (with homemade BBQ sauce, recipe below!)
• Corn muffins (box mix - I splurged, although I do have a GF cornbread muffin recipe in the works)
• Baked (sweet) potatoes (pretty plain jane)
• Sweet tea (actually a mix of black tea and leftover mildly sweet hibiscus sun tea I had made the day before)
• I was planning to do southern style greens, but just didn't feel like it by the time date night rolled around, so we skipped it.
• Gingersnap cookies (gluten free and actually just as good as the wheat based gingersnaps I grew up baking. SO good. Recipe coming soon. ish.)

Details
We watched the instructional videos while eating our country style dinner, then proceeded to [try to] cut a rug.

Honestly, we aren't very good at dancing. At all. Like, take a normal person's rhythm and split that between the two of us and that's about right. But, we got our heart rates up and had a few laughs and "learned" how to do the Two Step, the Cowboy Boogie, and the Canadian Stomp. We attempted them anyway, but finally gave up. See, this is why we don't dance in public. Because we're really bad at it. But at least we're bad at it together!

You can check out our YouTube Shall We [Line] Dance playlist here.

We're not going to be winning any dance competitions any time soon, and you can forget about us 'showing off' for friends - not gonna happen - but we will continue to be silly together and try new things. 'Cuz that's how we cowboy boogie, kids.

Note on the BBQ - I like it thick, sweet and tangy with just barely any heat. M tends to add hot sauce to his dish since he likes it spicy. If you can relate to him, just up the hot sauce, tasting as you go until you find the right level of heat for your tastebuds. Enjoy!

Easy Peasy BBQ Sauce

by Raye

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: none

Keywords: no-cook condiment dairy-free egg-free gluten-free grain-free nut-free refined sugar free soy-free vegetarian

Ingredients (about 2 cups)

• 1/2 c. tomato paste
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 1 tsp granulated onion
• 1/4 c. molasses
• 1-2 Tbsp honey (preferably raw)
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (preferably raw, I like Bragg's brand)
• 1 Tbsp prepared Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp fish sauce, optional (I like Red Boat brand)
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 Tbsp cayenne pepper hot sauce (I like Frank's Red Hot)

Instructions

It can't get much easier than this...

• Measure tomato paste, water, granulated garlic, granulated onion, molasses, 1 Tbsp of the honey, the apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, fish sauce (if using), sea salt and hot sauce into a small mixing bowl. Whisk until combined.
• Taste and add another Tbsp honey and more hot sauce if desired. Transfer to a storage jar.
• Or, measure all ingredients into a 2 cup (1 pint) wide mouth canning jar and use an immersion blender to mix it together.
• Cap tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
• Note about fish sauce: Fish sauce is a lactofermented Asian condiment and is used to bump up the umami (meaty flavor) in the BBQ sauce. It's good either with or without it, so up to you.
• Note about storage: The sauce gets thicker as it sits in the fridge. Stir before serving and add a tablespoon or so of water if needed to thin out to your preferred consistency.

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Project Date Night: September + Apple Crisp for Two Recipe

 

September is a great month for all things APPLE! This month's Project Date Night was an extension of a family fun night. We went apple picking at a local apple orchard and stocked up on my favorite apples - Macintosh! I bought some cider, cider syrup and utility apples (the not so pretty apples that are a great value when you're baking or making applesauce, or in my case apple butter).

Fun times!

After we put little man to bed, we munched on apple crisp and sipped cider while playing a variation on Apple to Apples - one of our favorite card games.

The Big 3-0

Well folks, its happened. I've crossed over into the land of the mature, responsible adults. Or at least, that's the rumor. What's with that, anyway? When you're "in your twenties"  you're supposed to be this wild, carefree bundle of energy and no one thinks you know anything, but "in your thirties" you're suddenly expected to be responsible and have a handle on your life and make responsible decisions about kids and career and mortgages. Because I'm so much different today than I was yesterday. I got whacked with the magic "Thirty Wand" so now I am Thirty and Thriving. Sure, ok.

 

Anyway, a birthday calls for a celebration. I decided to forego my usual big birthday bash because this summer has been crazy and I reached my limit around the end of July. Sometimes I just get to a point where I begin dreading another party/meeting/social event and just want to shut myself in a closet with a chocolate bar and a good book and recoup my sanity.  That's when I know it's time to dial it back and downsize my social calendar and spend some time with just home and family (although a little chocolate and a book can't hurt). Later, when I feel more refreshed and energized, I'll put myself out there again and SOCIALIZE.

In the meantime, I still wanted a party, so I just downsized it to an intimate dinner party for family only. Not everyone was able to make it, so we ended up with dinner for four and it was a lovely way to celebrate.

Project Date Night: August (and a recipe!)

Can you believe we're into month 8 of Project Date Night? I'm loving it - it really gives me something to look forward to each month and I've been enjoying sharing our date night adventures with you as well.

I came across this water balloon basketball date night idea and thought it was just too cute to pass up. Bummer though, I don't have a basketball hoop. Aha moment: water balloon toss instead.

Anyone else remember that game from fairs or carnivals where you stand on a line and try to toss a ball (or in this case a water balloon) into numbered buckets for points or prizes? I loved that game as a kid!

Project Date Night: July

Here's the post I started writing back in July our Project Date Night: July... and then promptly got distracted and forgot to finish and actually post. Yep, it's been that busy around here. But never fear! I do remember to get back to things, eventually.  If you're new around here, read all about Project Date Night here.

July 25 was humid, rainy and 73 degrees. It for all the world reminded me of winter in Florida. And seeing as it was the 25th, Christmas in July seemed a fitting theme for this month's Project Date Night.

Guess how many websites have posted a Christmas in July themed date night idea? Big. Fat. Zero. Ok, so back to the drawing board.

Warning: this post will not contain sweet awesome graphics or stunning photography. Instead you will find pics featuring poor lighting, odd composition, blurry action and silly expressions. Proceed with caution.

Menu

• Christmas Tree Snack Plate (strawberries, grapes, cheese and pecans arranged on a platter)
• Iced Eggnog Lattés (strong brewed coffee blended with coconut milk and vegan eggnog, topped with ground nutmeg)
• "Oatmeal" Cookies (grain free)

Details
We played several "Minute to Win It" games.  A lot of the games are geared toward a group or competition between two people at the same time. To keep things simple, we just printed up the names of the games on slips of paper and put them in a [santa] hat.  Then we took turns drawing a slip and trying to complete the challenge within 60 seconds.

Hysterical. Really. I don't think we've laughed this hard in a long time.

Ry Guy's Construction Theme 2nd Birthday Party

What do you do for a little boy who is pretty much obsessed with all things related to wheels and tools? Have a Construction Theme birthday party, of course! Notice our awesome t-shirts. Fit right into the theme!

Last year, we kept it simple and had a small party with mostly adults Ry Guy was comfortable with.  This year, we focused mainly on the kiddos with some simple activities, but still kept the guest list small so he didn't get too overwhelmed.

It came together even better than I had hoped. We had such a fun time and the kids enjoyed themselves too. My little guy was a little shy at the beginning, but after a few minutes he got involved and had a blast.  I loved seeing his smile and hearing him giggle over each new experience.

Ok, here's the details:

We decided to have the party at 3 pm - after Ry's nap so he was well rested.  Since it was middle of the afternoon, we just had snacks, so that was pretty easy. I had fun "re-naming" all the food items after construction or building related things.

Menu

• Honey (glue)
• Yogurt (plaster)
• Blueberries and Strawberries (pebbles)
• Grapes (rocks)
• Apple slices (couldn't come up with a cute name for that)
• Sunflower Seed Clusters (gravel)
• Maple Almond Granola (sawdust)
• Brownies (asphalt)
• Apple Juice (varnish)
• Iced Coffee (diesel) - served with cream and simple syrup
• And a big jug of water... it was hot outside!

Decorations
The decorations were fun! Overall, I think it came out pretty cute.

• Caution tape (Amazon)
• Orange cones (Amazon)
• Mylar dump truck balloon (Amazon)
• Kid size plastic hard hats (Amazon)
• Orange, yellow and black balloons (Dollar Tree)
• Tablecloths, napkins, paper plates, etc. (Halloween clearance last year at Walmart) 
• Yellow cups and spoons (party store) 
• Blue pop up canopy for shade over the food (from our camping stash)
• Sawhorses/lumber for the food table (from the garage.  I think it added to the construction feel, but really we just didn't have another table to use.)

Invitation
I made the invitation myself using Microsoft Word (fancy, I know). I primarily used the Stencil font that comes with the program.  I used some free clipart to make it pretty. I was inspired by this invitation I saw on pinterest, but customized the design to make it work for us (I also made my invitation fit 4 to an 8.5x11 sheet of cardstock (mostly because I get more bang for my buck that way and also because I already had some black notecard size envelopes I wanted to use.)

 

Also, I designed the food tags and signs myself using Microsoft Word and some more free clip art. I got it all printed at a copy store for about $4. I figure I would have used more than $4 worth of printer ink if I'd printed all the stuff myself.

 

I would have liked to have had a happy birthday banner somewhere, but ran out of time to put one together. Oh well, if that's my only regret, I guess we're ok.

Activities
I wanted to keep the kids' activities simple, unstructured and focused on free play. The kids played with all the toys, but the sandbox seemed to be the favorite.

• Plastic storage tub filled with play sand (Home Depot) and sand toys, trucks and sand shovels [this is now Ry's sandbox for the summer. I like that I can just snap the lid on when we're done playing to keep the critters out]
• Ry's kid-size table and a bucket of Duplos legos (M built the table -isn't he handy?- and the duplos were a gift last year)
• Blanket and Melissa and Doug blocks (gift from last year)
• Bean bag toss  (both bean bags and sign were homemade) I cut out and painted a piece of cardboard to look like a construction sign, "Men at Work".  The kids had fun tossing the bean bags, but didn't seem to care too much about actually getting the bean bags through the hole. What do you expect from toddlers, right?

Happy Birthday, Little Bear! You're growing up so fast. We're so thankful for the brightness, energy and big ideas you bring to our lives. We love you! - Mom and Dad

Project Date Night: June

What's Project Date Night all about? Read all about it here.

Happy Anniversary to us! Hard to believe it's been 5 years already.  Time flies when you're having fun, right? Or is it, 'time flies when you're chronically sleep deprived parents'? I don't remember, as I'm falling asleep on my keyboard as I type this ZZZZzzzzzzzz .  Sorry.

We need to have some better pictures taken at some point....

Anyway, typically 5 years would call for a bit of a celebration, a big to-do and all that. Unfortunately, that just wasn't possible for us this year.  [And side note, I wanted to go on a romantic sunset cruise around a lake on an old steam powered paddle boat, but come to find out, they don't run cruises in June anymore. Apparently it's too cold and rainy. Bummer. And there wasn't a whole lot else to do in our area that was "special".]

Check out my sparkles!

Instead, we opted for something simple at home. When we were dating, I got us a gift certificate to a fondue restaurant (I found out after purchasing that it was actually for a restaurant in a different city than where we lived). You know, the kind where you cook your food on sticks at your table? We never ended up using the gift certificate and then we moved out of state. But, if I ever get to Miami, we could have dinner for free. I digress.

My point is that fondue is fun and since we've never done a "fondue restaurant" date, we decided that our fifth anniversary was a great reason to pull out the mini crock pot and get fondue-ing.

Here's the menu:

• Beef Roast, cubed
• Grilled Shrimp
• Smoky BBQ Sauce
• Horseradish Cocktail Sauce
• Steamed Broccoli and Carrots
• Chocolate Fondue
• Apple Slices
• Strawberries

Did you know that "fondue" refers to the process, not the substance you're dipping into? So instead of cheese fondue (most common for savory fondue) I went with a hot oil fondue for the beef (bonus! Dairy-free!).

Cooking chunks of beef in hot oil can take quite a while, so to speed up the process, I seared the beef ahead of time and we just warmed it through in the hot oil. Also, we grilled the shrimp and served that separately with the steamed veggies. It was yummy!

For the chocolate fondue, I opted for a room temp chocolate fondue, since I already had hot oil going in my mini crock pot and my actual fondue pot has a tendency to overheat and burn my chocolate. See the end of this post for the recipe.

Chocolate Fondue Dip

by Raye

Keywords: stove top dessert condiment egg-free dairy-free gluten-free gaps grain-free paleo refined sugar free soy-free vegetarian almond

Ingredients (about 2 cups)

• 1 c. unsweetened almond butter
• 5-6 Tbsp honey
• 3/4 c. coconut oil
• 3/4 c. cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

• In a small mixing bowl, combine almond butter, honey, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
• Melt the coconut oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once the coconut oil is melted, turn off the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder a tablespoon at a time. Then, combine the coconut oil/cocoa mixture with the almond butter mixture. Stir well.
• Serve immediately (warm) or at room temperature (cool) with your favorite dippers, such as fruit, graham crackers, cookies or pretzels. Store any leftovers in a jar at room temperature for up to a week.

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