A Little Romance

Steve was out of town on Valentine's Day (more on that, later) so I decided to banish the children to the family room this evening, and fix my sweetheart a fancy dinner. Needless to say, the boys were super excited to have their dinner on t.v. trays, while watching "Go Diego, Go!". I cannot begin to tell you how fabulous it was to sit and enjoy a nice meal, without having to stop once to say, "Mind your manners!" or "Eat your dinner!" After a few minutes of this pure bliss, Steve and I wondered aloud, why we haven't been doing this more often. I do believe we have had dinner like this once before, and enjoyed it just as much. So, our goal now is to have an "adults only" dinner once per week. Gives us some quality time together since we rarely (if ever) get out, we're not spending money going out to eat, and it gives me an excuse to try new recipes.

Tonight, I made a simple salad of organic greens, dried cranberries, toasted pecans, and crispy-warm goat cheese rounds...delish.

For the main course, I made a Caprese Flat Pie, compliments of Katie Lee Joel. The recipe can be found here, as well as a great little video of how it is made. Katie is the wife of Billy Joel, and you may have heard of her cookbook, called The Comfort Table. I can't wait to add her book to my collection - - I think she is just wonderful. The Caprese Flat Pie looks pretty fancy, but it couldn't be any more simple. The ingredients: puff pastry, pesto, fresh mozzarella, Roma tomatoes, and some egg wash. I'm embarrassed to admit that I had never cooked with puff pastry before, but now that I have, I can't wait to use it again. Here's the finished product:

It was really tasty, and I'm already imagining a bunch of other combinations. For dessert - - some pink champagne, and a couple of squares of Lindt (hi Kirsten!) chocolate. Perfect.

After we put the boys to bed, we were discussing dinner and how much we enjoyed it, at which point Steve remarked, "It was kind of surreal!" That tells you a little bit about how often we get out (ahem...never), which is kind of sad, really. We don't have many child care options, and I don't know about you, but we aren't too crazy about spending money frivolously these days. The truth is, this is just another one of those choices we can make for ourselves...we don't need to hire a babysitter and blow a bunch of money out on the town...we can easily have a lovely evening together in the comfort of our own home and not spend a dime. I already can't wait to do this again next week!