Date Night In

One of the many amazing things about living in the country is the fresh veggies everyone grows! Even though our little garden is producing, it's incredible what others are able to grow! I envy their full sun- 5 hours just isn't enough for tasty 'maters! A neighbor recently dropped by with a few goodies- to include more cucumbers! My savvy hubs got to work creating a cucumber mocktail, for us to enjoy while we cooked away in the kitchen!



This tasty cucumber creation included ginger, lemon, and brown sugar- to name a few of the ingredients! It reminded me of a cucumber lemonade, and I can't wait for my next one (hubs are you reading this?!)



Next we munched on an arugula spinach salad with homemade blackberry vinaigrette. Last week I was invited to pick blackberries with a couple of my teacher buddies. Though my extreme fear of slithering creatures would normally prevent me from putting my hands into a bush -EEEEEEEK!!!- I sucked it up and bravely collected quite a few berries. Not really feeling a cobbler, I went home and googled blackberry vinaigrette and followed this recipe closely. We enjoyed it so much we had it a few nights in a row- sorry hubs, sometimes I get on a kick!!!

We rounded out our dinner with homemade mini crab cakes and Garlic and Rosemary Trout. The trout and crab meat were purchased at Whole Foods. I love their seafood case, and was drooling over all of the fish! The crab cakes were from made from memory. I make these as an appetizer for Christmas dinner when the family makes the trek out here! I don't measure my ingredients, merely eyeball and feel for the texture! If they aren't sticking together something is missing! They include:

lite mayo

dijon mustard

garlic

chopped green and red pepper

onion

salt and pepper

old bay seafood seasoning

egg

panko

crab-Obviously!!!

After rolling and flattening out the mini cakes, I browned each side on the stove top- before popping in the oven to finish cooking!

No yummy wine was consumed with this meal- shocking! Some nights you feel 'winey' and some nights you don't! I was definitely okay with decision while we were on our run the next day. Wine headaches do not equal happy runners.

What is your favorite date night in meal?! I love crab cakes!