A Five-Course Dinner for a Five-Star Date

It’s Date Night, and you’re bored with the usual restaurant-and-a-movie routine. If your relationship is in a rut, don’t ignore it; oftentimes, monotony can cause partners to lose that lovin’ feeling. Tonight, change things up with a candlelight dinner at home. Surprise your sweetie with tunes softly playing, conversation (and wine) flowing, and a five-course meal prepared to enjoy together. Even better, plan your romantic evening ‘just because,’ with no other reason than to express your love. The following recipes make up a delightful five-course dinner—it’s up to you, however, to make it special. Bon appétit!

Course 1: The Appetizer

Shrimp Cocktail with Lemon Seafood Sauce

Servings: 4

Ingredients

16 frozen cooked cleaned shrimp (6 oz.), thawed, drained

Lemon Seafood Sauce:

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

2 tsp. dijon mustard

1 green onion, finely chopped

1/2 tsp. zest and 1 Tbsp. juice from 1 lemon

Directions

Mix first 5 ingredients.

Serve with shrimp.

Course 2: The Salad

Fruity Spinach Salad

Servings: 6

Ingredients

8 cups baby spinach leaves

1 cup halved seedless green grapes

1 can (11 oz.) mandarin oranges, drained

1/4 cup sliced red onions

1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1/3 cup Asian Toasted Sesame dressing

Directions

Combine all ingredients except dressing.

Add dressing just before serving; toss to coat.

Course 3: The Soup

Creamy Asparagus Soup

Servings: 4

Ingredients

3 Tbsp. butter

1 leek, sliced

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 lb. fresh asparagus spears, each cut into thirds

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup water

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 cup (1/2 of 8-oz. tub) Philadelphia Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread

1/4 cup milk

Directions

Melt butter in medium saucepan on medium heat. Add leeks; cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in garlic; cook and stir 2 minutes. Add asparagus, broth and water; stir. Simmer on medium-low heat 5 minutes or until asparagus is crisp-tender. Stir in salt and pepper.

Mix cream cheese spread and milk until well blended.

Process asparagus mixture in food processor until smooth. Pour into 4 soup bowls. Add cream cheese mixture; swirl gently with spoon.

Course 4: The Main Entrée & Side Dish

Bacon-Covered Pork Tenderloin

Servings: 6

Ingredients

5 slices smoked uncured bacon

1 pork tenderloin (1 lb.)

1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp. apple juice

1 tsp. dijon mustard

Dash ground nutmeg

Directions

Heat oven to 400ºF.

Wrap bacon around meat. Place in foil-lined pan sprayed with cooking spray; sprinkle with pepper.

Bake 20 minutes or until cooked to 135ºF. Meanwhile, bring remaining ingredients to boil in saucepan on medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Brush meat with glaze. Bake 10 minutes or until done (145ºF); cover loosely with foil. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing.

Balsamic Green Beans with Cranberries

Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 lb. fresh green beans, trimmed

1/3 cup dried cranberries

2 tsp. butter

1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onions

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

2 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing

1/4 cup slivered almonds

Directions

Cook beans and cranberries in simmering water in skillet 4 to 5 minutes or until beans are crisp-tender. Drain; rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.

Melt butter in large nonstick skillet on medium heat. Add onions and sugar; cook and stir 5 minutes. Add bean mixture; cook and stir 3 minutes or until heated through.

Stir in dressing; cook and stir 1 minute. Top with nuts.

Course 5: The Dessert

Easy Dark Chocolate Mousse

Servings: 6

Ingredients

4 squares Baker’s Select Bittersweet Chocolate

1 tub (8 oz.) whipped topping, thawed

1/2 cup fresh raspberries

Directions

Microwave chocolate in microwave-safe bowl on high 1-1/2 minutes, stirring with whisk every 45 seconds until melted.

Add 1 cup whipped topping; stir until blended. Stir in remaining whipped topping.

Spoon into dessert dishes; top with raspberries.

Want More?

If you need additional ideas to turn up the heat in your relationship, check out these romantic activities. Remember, you don’t have to spend a fortune to make Date Night unique and memorable—show your loved one he or she is totally worth it with these simple ideas.

1. Give a Massage – Buying a gift card at the local spa is considered cheating—give your sweetheart a 30–60-minute massage, complete with fragrant oils, lotions and soft music. Then, finish it with a hot bubble bath prepared for him or her (champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries will win you extra points!).
2. Watch the Sun Set – There is something incredibly calming about watching the sun set, and you and your lover can enjoy this lovely moment together. Keep the chatter at a minimum—just relish each other’s company and the beauty before your eyes.
3. Make S’mores – Sometimes a romantic gesture can involve embracing the little child within. Build a cozy fire for your darling and make s’mores together. Get even more creative by pouring a glass of milk in a wine glass—it shows him or her that you’re playful and fun!

Bunk Beds for Teenagers

Bunk beds might seem like a great choice for younger children who love to climb and commonly share bedrooms with their siblings, but you might not think of bunk beds as an ideal option for furnishing a young adult’s bedroom. When you consider that they save space, are available in a number of styles and configurations, and tend to be highly affordable, a bunk bed set might be just the ticket for your teen. Considering several factors, such as who sleeps in the room and other ways your teen uses her bedroom or dorm room, will help you choose the best furnishings.

Futon bunk beds are practical for teens that live in a dorm or enjoy entertaining friends in their bedrooms. The lofty top bunk serves as the primary sleeping spot while the futon mattress and frame on the bottom act as both comfortable seating during the day and folds down into a second bed when friends spend the night. This option is also useful if your teen spends hours in his room playing video games or simply enjoys having his own private space.

Loft beds are another type of bunk bed that teens enjoy. Although some simply offer a single bed on a lifted frame with a ladder or steps up to it, others also provide supplementary features that are beneficial to young adults. For example, beds with a mattress on the top and a desk below make dorm living easier to handle or give a high school student a quiet place to study, do homework or journal. Similarly, loft bunk beds that include closet space and shelving on the bottom present extra space for clothing and shoes or video games and DVDs --and what teen wouldn’t love more reasons to shop?

Some futon bunk beds allow you to set them up in a number of different configurations, so that your teen can decide what works best for now and then rearrange the furniture later on. For example, you might be able to put the set together as a standard set of stacked twin beds, switch to two side-by-side twin beds down the road, change to an L-shaped arrangement at another point and even connect the two frames and mattresses to make a king sized bed in the future.

Determining what types of bunk beds might best suit your teen is a personal choice. Be sure to involve your teenager in the process so that you pick a set that works for his or her lifestyle.

Actors in Different Roles on the Same Show

I love watching TV. It is no big secret as I have talked about TV quite a bit on my blog. I sometimes notice when I am watching I get to see actors that I know from shows now, which is really cool. I have noticed some of the guest stars who are now well known actors have played different roles on the same show. I find it funny because you would think they would notice. I know it is just TV and not real but if someone who looked like my mom and was my mom showed up at the grocery store saying Winner Winner Chicken Dinner to a stranger I would notice. OK so my mom really did that.  In her defense she thought I was behind her but had wandered off somewhere else.  I would definitely notice if someone was trying to claim to be someone else, so why don’t the TV characters?

Dann Florek most known as Capitan Craggen from Law and Order guest stared on Roseanne as a couple different characters.  First he was the principal at one of the kids schools and then he was Darlene’s Doctor when she was pregnant and went in to labor.

Speaking of Law and Order SVU Diane Neal who is best known for playing ADA Casey Novak was also a guest star as a stripper that was accused of raping a man.

Jeffery Tambor has had like ten different roles on Three’s Company. No one has ever noticed that he has been two different doctors, and a stuck up real estate agent, to name a few. IMDB doesn’t have all the roles he played on Three’s Company listed.

Then you have the actors that replace another actor’s characters, like Dick Sargent replaced Dick York as Darren on Bewitched.  It also happened on Roseanne twice.  Lecy Gorgson was the original Becky, then Sarah Chalke took over her role. Later Lecy came back as Becky and the show ended as Sarah Chalke as Becky. Of course they made fun of it on the show, by asking the original Becky where she has been, and spoofing The Patty Duke Show in the end credits. This would happen all the time on soaps. You miss a couple weeks of a soap and you have no idea who the new person is supposed to be. I remember on Passions sometimes they would say the character would be played by someone else. Why can’t they just send them out if they are on maternity leave or kill off the character when they leave the show?  The weirdest thing was when I watched Passions there was a character named Timmy and he gave his heart for Charity and died on the show, the day the show aired the actor died. It was very sad.

What are some actors that play different roles in a show or an instance where they replace a character with another actor?

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Family is Family...No Matter What

To me, family is family. I don’t care if you are my cousin or my fifth cousin. You are still my family. I am kind of confused about something.  Let’s say you have an aunt that gets remarried to a man but who has a child with her first husband.  Who is your uncle, would the first person become your ex uncle?  It is really confusing to me. I think that they are both your uncle, because one is my cousin’s father and the other is my aunt’s husband. I would consider my cousin’s dad more of my uncle because they are my cousin’s dad. Yeah I just confused myself too.  Of course most of the time the ex-husband or ex-wife are the ones that are usually the ones that don’t come to family functions because that could be kind of awkward.  I know I will never go to a family function for my ex’s family and that is fine with me. But, then I am thinking about who are these people. I mean are you really supposed to forget that you spent a huge chunk of your life with those people.  I understand when you divorce someone you divorce their family in a sense. Those bonds are forced to be broken.   It is a fact of life. It is just something that is understood.  I personally think that it sucks. I was really close to my ex-husband’s aunt.  I often think about her, if she is doing well. She has a horrible disease and I loved her, I still do.  I know that I will never have a hug from her, and that makes me want to cry.

I still consider those exes who are the parents of my cousins as my aunts and uncles.  I am just odd I guess.  I still love them.  One of them I used to see all the time at family things.  My family is different though. We are the type of family that would accept you if you were legally a member or not.  I love that about us.  I try to include them if I can.  I think that life is too short, to exclude others.  I love whole heartedly. I can’t just forget about someone like they never existed.  When my Grandma Rose passed away, my cousin’s ex-wife came to the funeral.  I could tell she felt kind of out of place when she went around hugging everyone in my family. She said I’m sorry for your loss, and I replied I am sorry about yours too.  I knew that she spent a lot of time with my grandma, my grandma loved her.  I think that I took her by surprise when I said that. I truly feel that it was her loss as well.  My aunt Mary came to the funeral as well.  She was married to my uncle before he passed away; I hadn’t seen her probably since my uncle’s funeral.  That wasn’t really weird for me either. I knew my grandma loved her too.  Family is so weird sometimes. 

Then I think about those who you call aunt and uncle who aren’t even related to at all.  Those are usually your parents’ friends that you have known for almost or all your life. It is more an honorary title. Then you have your godparents if you are catholic. Even though, it seems like everyone has godparents these days, catholic or not.  You have sisters and brothers that are not even related to you but you just love them that much and you become so close that the barrier of friends and family gets broken down and you are just family. Those are the best kind of friends to have.  I love my friends unconditionally as I do my family.  I love what Gibbs on NCIS said a few weeks ago about family. He said Family is more than just DNA it’s about people who care and take care of each other. I agree whole heartedly.  It truly is not about DNA or marriage or anything but just that, people who care and take care of each other.  I just can’t turn my back on people who I have cared about in the past. I just can’t. It is not who I am, it is not how I was raised. I am here for those, even if they were not there for me.  Someday you never know who might be there for you.

I used to Jazzercise.

I used to Jazzercise. The funniest thing about that, is I am totally uncoordinated,  I didn’t do too hot, I only went for 8 weeks and then I was done.  I couldn’t keep up, I must have been the comic relief, besides the awkwardness from the ladies in the thong leotards.  I always hid in the back. I didn’t want anyone following my lead.  Cue the sweatbands, cheesy 80’s music and all the women jazzercising in unison. Then there was me, the 24 year old with her 24 year old best friend and my boss. Who was a nightmare in her own hellish Montessori way. Never Jazzercise with your boss, I didn’t do it on purpose. How was I supposed to know that she would be there? I was afraid of making a mistake, of course I couldn’t hide from her. She saw me and started talking me up.  Shooting my old best friend judgmental looks of why she didn’t enroll her kids in her Montessori school.  That was added stress of the monstrous Mrs. V breathing down my neck. Judging my Jazzercise form, which I had none.  I think the instructor was tempted to tell me about a preschool class that I could join to catch up.  I have never been a dancer.  Maybe when I was little, and I was dancing in my basement to music.  I never danced at school dances unless they were slow dances. 

I don’t even dance at bars or clubs. I did on my 20^th birthday though at some club somewhere in North Carolina. I figured I would never see these people again so whatever.  That was more like rub up on random people and hope you didn’t get lice or worse.  It was at a club with drinking but you had to have a special wristband to get alcohol, and since I didn’t have my first sip of booze until the day I turned 21, I wasn’t interested in that. If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you. I was responsible though.  I know it isn’t really a self esteem thing it is just not what I am in to.  So, any chances of me going and winning a dance off ala Grease or Saved by the Bell, are gone.  I am one heck of a slow dancer though.  I won’t even step on your toes. I remember dancing with my Grandma Rose in her kitchen we would do the box step.

I always dance with Noah, we dance in the pool while I sing to him holding him in my arms. We also dance like crazy people around the house. I am really silly. It is so cute because Noah will say, May I have this dance to me.  Of course I have to say yes. He is so adorable.

Bertolli Frozen Meal Review

Most parents are really busy with their families and they don’t always have the time to make a home cooked meal from scratch. That doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice quality and taste in your dinner choice.  You can still have a quick and easy and delicious meal. Bertolli is a brand that I was already familiar with, from their other frozen meals and of courses their spaghetti sauces.  I had the opportunity to try out Bertolli’s new frozen meal soup. It is for two; of course you could eat it for two meals, if you wanted. I was really excited to try this new product.  It comes in 4 varieties: Chicken Minestrone, Tuscan Style Beef & Vegetables, Roasted Chicken & Rotini Pasta, and finally Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with Chicken. My son is a really picky eater so sometimes I don’t want to eat the same thing he is having for dinner or lunch.  My tastes are more refined so occasionally we have different foods for dinner.  Bertolli Frozen  Meal  Soup  is different than any soup you can find in the soup aisle of the grocery store. I think that is because all the flavor and ingredients wouldn’t fit in a can.  If Bertolli put this soup in a can, it would have to a really big can.  So, because not everyone wants to carry around a huge can, they decided to make it frozen. I personally think that can soups lose something in the canning process.  They wanted to keep it as fresh as possible, just like your mom would spend hours in the kitchen making. 

I tried the Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with Chicken. The Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with chicken is Cheese-filled tortellini, white meat chicken, spinach and tomatoes in a rich tomato bisque with a hint of basil.   This soup is full of gorgeous vegetables, big chunks of chicken and delicious flavor.  You can tell how fresh the ingredients are. It was really easy to make right on the stove top. It smelled so good when it was cooking that my mouth couldn’t wait to try it. The bisque is amazing and very creamy.   The vegetables retained their color and texture that really makes it special.  It would be great on a bed of rice, but I decided just to eat it with a couple pieces of good Italian bread with special garlic spread.  I was really looking forward to dinner that night, where I finished up the rest of my soup. I really enjoyed Bertolli Tomato Florentine & Tortellini with Chicken and I can’t wait to try the other flavors.

You can find all of the Bertolli  Frozen Meal Soups in the freezer section at your local grocery store.  For more information please visit the Bertolli Website.

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 I was compensated by Bertolli to participate in the Weeknight Meal Special Challenge. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

L'Occitane Gifts for Valentine's Day

“Roses are red, violets are blue, Valentines day is fast approaching and I don’t know what to get for you.” This is a little poem that captures how I feel every Valentine’s day. Without getting into a debate about how Valentine’s day is a silly holiday that might only be around so that corporations can get one last squeeze out of our wallets after the holidays, I LOVE to get people gifts. I don’t think that Valentine’s day is only for couples to shower each other with gifts (although that is a nice perk). I believe that the main point of Valentine’s day is to acknowledge the people that you love, and to receive acknowledgement from them that YOU are special in their lives. It is so easy to get lost in the commercialism of the holiday, but if you boil it down and keep it basic it can really be an enjoyable day that does not leave you broke or cynical towards love. A company that I often use to find all of my great gifts is L’Occitane. They provide amazing french beauty products that are eco and animal friendly. There are so many quality products to choose from that it can be a one stop shop for your shopping. Now, you might think it is only for women, but L’Occitane has a great men’s line of various face care products. I know my male friends do not like to buy there own grooming products, so it actually makes a fabulous gift for men. Not only will they enjoy the exceptional quality, but you will also love the smell and effect of L’Occitane’s products.