Romantic Dinner Recipe Ideas: Easy Meatballs with Cream Sauce

As moms, it helps to take some time away from the children and have a romantic dinner with your significant other. If you aren't able to make it out of the house for a date (maybe because there's no extra money in the budget for a babysitter), here's one of the best ideas for romantic dinners that's easy and oh so yummy. Fix the kids some chicken nuggets and send them off to bed. Then fix this easy romantic meal for your sweetheart.

Meatballs and Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

Pkg of Premade Meatballs (your choice. I used Kirkland Signature Italian Meatballs)*

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

salt and butter to taste

1 14-oz can chicken broth

2/3 cup evaporated milk or heavy whipping cream

1. Prepare 24 meatballs according to the instructions on the package.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in flour, thyme, salt and pepper until smooth. Gradually add broth and evaporated milk. Bring to boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
3. Top meatballs with sauce.

By using prepared meatballs for this dinner, it makes for an easy romantic dinner for two, so you can spend more time with each other. Sometimes it's easier to have canned evaporated milk on hand rather than fresh cream, but either will work.

Now if you have the time and want to make your own meatballs for your romantic dinner at home, here's how to do it:

Ingredients:

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons ketchup

3/4 cups quick oats

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

3 tablespoons flour

1. To make these easy meatballs, just combine the first 8 ingredients in a bowl and then combine with ground beef.
2. Shape into balls that are about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Roll in flour. 
3. Place 1 inch apart on a baking. Bake at 400 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes (till they're no longer pink inside).
4. While baking, prepare the sauce.

Steamed Green Beans with Brown Sugar

If you're looking for a recipe for steamed green beans, this is an easy one.

Ingredients:

4–6 cups fresh or frozen green beans

1–2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2–1 tablespoon butter

salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat 10-inch skillet over medium heat. Place green beans in pan with a little water and cover. Steam the green beans for 8–12 minutes (depending on your preference for doneness).
2. To stop the cooking process, add cool water to the green beans.
3. Drain the water from the beans and set aside.
4. Just before sitting down to the table (about 5 minutes) put the beans, the sugar, and the butter in a saute pan and saute them for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately and enjoy.

Now it might sound weird to have pepper with brown sugar, but trust me, these are divine. They are similar to the beans you can order at Outback Restaurant (one of my favorite places to eat out). So if you're looking for easy romantic meals, give this one a shot.

And that's it! This is one of the easiest romantic dinner recipe ideas I've found (especially if you used prepared meatballs), and it's also delicious. And you don't have to reserve this meal to meals just for two either. This is a great meal for the whole family as well and my boys loved it :D.

What do you and your sweetheart do for your romantic dinners at home? I'd love to hear them!

Pinapple, Coconut, Banana Smoothie

My very favoritest drink is pina coladas. I love them with a passion. When I was a kid, my mom and dad would buy those frozen Bicardi pina colada mixes and we'd have pina coladas as a dessert (minus the alcohol, of course). Whenever I go to restaurants, I pretty much always order one.

But I've had trouble duplicating the drink at home. This pineapple smoothie isn't the same as a real pina colada, but this tropical smoothies recipe is so good it definitely tastes like a dessert. And as you know, I love me some smoothies and pineapple smoothies are like heaven in your mouth.

Now the quality of this smoothie with pineapple will depend on the quality of ingredients. When choosing a pineapple, find one that is sweet and juicy. If you've never had a fresh pineapple before, you're in for a treat. A good pineapple tastes as sweet as candy and is oh so good.

As for the coconut milk, you'll want to get one from the refrigerated section near where you would find organic milk and other milk alternatives (almond milk, soy milk, rice milk, etc.) which should be next to the regular milk section. The milk here has a stronger coconut flavor than the ones you'll find in a can or on the shelf.

So here's the recipe:

Pineapple, Coconut, Banana Smoothie

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 of a fresh pineapple with skin cut off and cut into chunks (leave the stem on for extra healthy goodness, assuming you have an awesome blender that can blend it up :)

1 banana, medium to large

6 to 10 ice cubes

Put coconut milk, pineapple, banana and ice in the blender in the order given. Blend till smooth. Enjoy immediately.

And if you're craving something sweet, smoothies with pineapple are a great way to help with the cravings without resorting to candy, chocolate, or ice cream. So skip the cookies and blend up your dessert!

Review: Vitamix Blender

Via ElissaGoodman.com

So I'm a bit of a smoothie enthusiast. I love just sticking stuff in a blender and ending up with a delicious drink that is yummy and full of good things for you.

So back probably 6 years ago or so, I was frustrated. I would put things in my blender (can't remember what type now but it was one of those $50 blenders you buy at super marts) and if they were too frozen, they wouldn't blend. I would actually have to thaw them out in the microwave in order to make the smoothie and there was no way I could have ice in there, and what was the point of the smoothie if it wasn't cold?

Enter the Vitamix blender. Best thing ever to happen to smoothies.

Where Did I Buy It?

I bought my Vitamix from Costco because they would have someone come to our neighborhood Costco every couple months to demonstrate them. They were cheaper than anywhere else and came with a 7-year warranty. Still, all-in-all, it came to a whopping $400 (after I believe a $100 discount)! Wow! Yeah, I was that desperate for a blender THAT ACTUALLY WORKED.

So now that I've owned it for a couple of years, what do I think? I LOVE IT! Yeah, it's true that it's expensive, and I don't know if it's worth the cost or if there are cheaper blenders that work as well, but I do love knowing I can put whatever in there and it will be smooth at the end. Oh, also, it's so much cheaper than buying a smoothie at Jamba Juice et al (and hey, you don't have to change out of your pajamas to do it!).

But Does It Do More Than Make Smoothies?

As for the other things that it can supposedly do, like make soups and chop up vegetables, I'm not sold. I've tried chopping up onions and green peppers in it and

$5 Taste of Home Sale through February 25

Looking for new recipe books to give you fresh ideas for dinner? How about a homemade pasta maker? Taste of Home is having a BIG sale on their site selling things for only $5! Here are some of the items that I would I would love to get with this sale:

Everyday Slow Cooker & One Dish Recipes 2011
325 scrumptious recipes for your slow cooker, skillet or oven–it’s like getting 3 cookbooks in one!
Meal-in-one convenience with lots of casseroles and one-dish meals

Regular Price: $24.99
Sale Price: $5.00

Pasta Maker

Make your own pasta right at home.

Regular Price: $49.95
Sale Price: $5.00

Just One Pot cookbook

This cookbook has more than 320 recipes, and as the name implies is cooked in one pot, so dinner is simple and easy. Yummy!


Regular Price: $16.95
Sale Price: $5.00

Comfort Food Diet Cookbook 2011

This is a great book for someone trying to cut calories while still eating traditional comfort foods. I know I would love it :).



Regular Price: $24.99
Sale Price: $5.00

The best part about this sale is you can stock up on a bunch of cookbooks and then give them as gifts throughout the year. Most women welcome a fresh set of recipes and you could cater the book you choose to their favorite things to make, whether slow cooker meals, desserts, or comfort foods. Word of caution, though: Perhaps avoid the "light" and "diet" books as gifts. You wouldn't want to imply that the recipient needs to lose weight, LOL :D.

Thanks, HappyMoneySaver, for sharing.

Hearty Oatmeal Applesauce Pancakes

Looking for a way to make pancakes heartier? Pancakes are definitely a family favorite, whether for breakfast or dinner, but if you're trying to find a way to make them better for your family, here's one delicious way:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup quick cooking oats

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 to 1 tsp cinnamon (depending on preference)

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup sour cream

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

1. In a large bowl, mix together both flours, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together applesauce, sour cream, egg and vanilla. 
3. Combine applesauce mixture with flour mixture and milk till just mixed. If possible, let stand 5 minutes before cooking pancakes (I used the time to clean up the mess I made ;).
4. Use a 1/4 measuring cup and scoop onto a heated griddle (lightly oiled. I used coconut oil, though if you look at the picture, I used way too much. Whoops :P). 
5. Once golden brown on one side, flip and cook other side till golden brown. Note that these won't bubble like typical pancakes.

So now that I've covered how to make them, let me just say that these were SO GOOD! I was doubtful about the sour cream (not a big fan), but you don't taste it at all. The oatmeal gives it a great texture and adds something more to the pancakes. I added blueberries to some and that was pretty good too. I bet these would be great with some sliced bananas as well. 

(And yes, I need to do better about taking pictures, but I was too busy enjoying them to stop and take pictures of it.)