Category: Eat

Categories
Date Night Eat

Baked Pear with Red Wine Glaze

IMG_6669

I’ve been stuck in a bit of a rut with having my raspberries for Date Night desserts.  Judging by the constant sale on them at the local Publix, you’d think they were in season all year long!  But it’s time to force myself to start exploring something new for desserts.  So for the most recent Date Night, I still stayed with the theme of roasted fruits & ice cream by having a roasted bosc pear with a red wine glaze.  While I usually associate pears with a fall dessert, this one will probably make it’s way into my spring repertoire quite a few more times!

Continue reading “Baked Pear with Red Wine Glaze”
Categories
Date Night Eat

Spinach and Mushrooms

Sauteéd Spinach and Mushrooms

On a recent trip to Chicago, I had the chance to eat at Gibson’s which, if you haven’t been before, is a carnivore’s treat!  I highly recommend!  But to the point of this post, one of the sides we enjoyed was sauteéd mushrooms and spinach.  It was so good that I had to try and make it at home.

Continue reading “Spinach and Mushrooms”
Categories
Date Night Eat

Date Night Dinner: Spicy Roasted Cauliflower

Roasted Cauliflower

One of my newest food obsessions this spring is cauliflower.  On a recent visit to The Olive Branch, I had their roasted cauliflower for an appetizer and it could’ve easily been an entreé in and of itself!  I’ve been looking for good meat substitutes that have enough density to make me feel like I’m eating something hearty and cauliflower, especially when roasted with some spices definitely makes the cut.  It’s like a vegetable steak!  

Continue reading “Date Night Dinner: Spicy Roasted Cauliflower”
Categories
Date Night Eat

Date Night Appetizer: Grilled Artichokes

Grilled artichokes

A few months ago, we ate out at J. Alexander’s.  I honestly can’t remember anything about that dinner with the notable exception of the grilled artichokes we had as an appetizer.  First time to ever have them grilled and I was totally sold.  They were awesome!  Since that dinner, I’ve tried a handful of different recipes, mixing and mashing techniques from the internet until I ran across Tori Avey’s method from toriavey.com.  She nailed it!

Continue reading “Date Night Appetizer: Grilled Artichokes”
Categories
Eat

Basic Pan-Seared Tilapia

Making a pan-seared tilapia is really easy.  The hardest part is deciding what kind of seasoning or sauce you’d like to have on the fillets, but with fresh tilapia, they’re good even with just salt, pepper and freshly squeezed lemon juice.  This recipe is really just to instruct on the cooking method for pan searing the fillets.

Ingredients

  • 1-2 fillets per person
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Seasoning of your choice (I like Cavendar’s)
  • Lemon for searing and garnish

Directions

  1. Pat fish dry with a paper towel.
  2. Sprinkle fish with salt & pepper and seasoning
  3. Heat 1 Tbsp Olive Oil and 1 Tbsp Butter in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.  Allow the skillet time to get hot.
  4. Sauté the fillets for about 3-4 minutes (depending on thickness) on each side, squeezing lemon juice on them during cooking.  Tilapia should be lightly golden and just cooked through.  Use a fish spatula (larger, thin & slotted) to turn the fillets without tearing them up.
  5. Transfer to the plate and serve warm with lemon wedges
Categories
Date Night Eat

Date Night Dinner: Artichoke and Asparagus Flatbread

Hot and ready, but not Little Ceasars!
It’s hot and ready, but it ain’t Little Ceasars!

Here’s a pizza recipe that rocks for an awesome date night experience.  Don’t settle for Little Caesar’s when you can make your own gourmet flatbread!  For those of you who just want the recipe, I’ll make it quick.  For those who want some tips on making flatbreads, hang with me to the bottom of the post!

Continue reading “Date Night Dinner: Artichoke and Asparagus Flatbread”
Categories
Eat

Episode IV: A New Ibrik or How to Make Turkish Coffee

IMG_5558

I was crushed.  I was using my ibrik to reduce some pomegranate balsamic vinegar for my signature Balsamic Raspberry Frozen Yogurt and somehow the reduction created some kind of chemical reaction that caused the metal on the bottom to actually blister and seared the vinegar onto the inside of the pot.  Just when I was planning on a shot of Turkish coffee to accompany my dessert…

Continue reading “Episode IV: A New Ibrik or How to Make Turkish Coffee”
Categories
Date Night Eat

Date Night Dinner: Balsamic Raspberry Dessert

Balsamic Raspberries and Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

If ever I had a signature dessert, this would be it.  While I can’t claim total originality on using a balsamic reduction in a dessert dish, this is one riff that I haven’t run across yet, so it’s as close to it as I’ll probably ever get!  The balsamic reduction has hints of dark chocolate and wine and combined with roasted raspberries over frozen vanilla yogurt, this makes a truly unique and killer dessert.

Continue reading “Date Night Dinner: Balsamic Raspberry Dessert”
Categories
Date Night Eat

A dinner of falafel & grilled vegetables

IMG_4470

I’ve been craving some middle eastern fare for the past few days and after spending an afternoon in downtown Birmingham at the Magic City Art Connection with the enticing scent of gyros wafting in the afternoon air, I think it’s high time to get my falafel on for date night dinner!

Continue reading “A dinner of falafel & grilled vegetables”
Categories
Date Night Eat

Bistro Style!

We wanted something a little more casual for this week’s Date Night Dinner and something that we could make while talking and having a little fun.  That translates to a meal where we don’t really have to think too hard or have to concentrate on a recipe.  Homemade flatbread pizzas fit that bill perfectly!

Date night dinner of pesto, mushrooms and caramelized onion pizza and chicken, artichoke heart and pineapple pizza
Date night dinner of pesto, mushrooms and caramelized onion pizza and chicken, artichoke heart and pineapple pizza

Continue reading “Bistro Style!”