Date Night Our Plain Life Style

Dan and I love to go out as much as other couples, but when you add in the cost of babysitting to the expense of the date, it sure adds up! Plus, we like to have weekly date nights where we can reconnect without the distractions of, you know, three little ones interrupting, asking to cut their food, not wanting to eat the cut up food, etc. A weekly date night out isn't in the budget so we have recently reinstated the "Date night In." We eat dinner together after the kids are in bed and then there is no t.v. just talking or playing games. It's a little more planning on my part when it comes to dinner, but it's oh so worth it. Plus, it's a whole lot cheaper!

Last night I made a recipe that I just have to share. I wasn't sure how the kids would react to the blue cheese or the pepper sauce, so it was a great date night dinner.

This recipe is from the March 2010 Cooking Light issue:

Blue Cheese-Stuffed Chicken with Buffalo Sauce

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled blue cheese
• 1 tablespoon reduced-fat sour cream
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons 2% reduced-fat milk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 6 tablespoons finely chopped drained bottled roasted red bell peppers
• 2 teaspoons water
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Cut a horizontal slit through thickest portion of each chicken breast half to form a pocket. Stuff cheese mixture evenly into pockets.

3. Place flour in a shallow dish. Combine milk and egg in a shallow dish, stirring well with a whisk. Place panko in a shallow dish. Working with 1 chicken breast half at a time, dredge chicken in flour, then dip in egg mixture; dredge in panko. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken, flour, egg mixture, and panko.

4. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter to pan; swirl until butter melts. Arrange chicken in pan; cook 4 minutes or until browned. Turn chicken over; place skillet in oven. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until done.

5. While chicken bakes, combine remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons butter, bell peppers, water, Worcestershire, and garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer; cook until butter melts. Remove from heat, and stir in hot sauce. Serve sauce with chicken.

I didn't add the hot sauce because the peppers I got already had a little kick to them, but really it was the sauce that made this dish oh so good. It went so well with the blue cheese! For sides, we had roasted asparagus and red mashed potatoes. GOOD STUFF!!

To make it a little less hectic and so I wouldn't feel like I was making two totally separate dinners, for the kids I just took two of the chicken breasts breaded them and browned them without the blue cheese mixture. Then I prepared our chicken all the way until the part where you browned them. I kept the breaded chicken in the fridge until I was ready to get our date night dinner cooking then proceeded with Step #4. I put the asparagus in the oven with the chicken and during the 20 minutes it was in the oven I made the mashed potatoes. Dinner was on the table when Dan came down from putting the kids to bed!

Then we ended the night with a game J&A introduced to us while they were out. A fun two person game, and the ONLY way Dan will get me to play Monopoly. (By the way, I won!)