Date #2...sort of

So our second date night didn't come from the date box but it did come in the fun form of a dinner party with one of my best friends Pam and her husband Yuri. Pam and I go way back from our days at Urban and our husbands have bonded over their love for talking about anything to do with God, and for all of you ladies out there, you know how important it is for your husband/boyfriend to bond with your friends husband/boyfriend. So Pam and I get to relax and totally enjoy each other because we don't have to entertain the husbands. At one point Pam and I even stopped talking and looked over at the husbands and said how cute they were, it took them a few minutes to realize that we were talking about them and not my kids before they started man blushing.

Well all of it was going great until in the middle of cooking the sweet potatoes the oven starts doing this crazy beeping sound, won't work anymore and I haven't even gotten to cook my pasta or shrimp (enter panic mode), luckily the stove top still worked but for those of you who know my patience level I was about to throw that stove out the window. It's amazing how one little sound like a low beep can grate on my nerves so badly you would think I was a mad woman. After it was all cooked we were able to relax, enjoy my boys being angels (ha only when people are around), eat some yummy food and have some great wine along with great conversations.

one of my favorite meals ever!

Our dinner was a nice lemon shrimp pasta (so clean tasting not too greasy) with some spicy sweet potatoes. I love love love sweet potatoes but sometimes I get so sick of eating them with the same thing, a little bit of cinnamon and brown sugar. These have a great spice to them and taste just perfect so here are my recipes:

Lemon Shrimp

• 1 lb of large shrimp
• 2 tbs of lemon juice
• 1tbs of extra-virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 box of whole wheat or multi grain angel hair pasta
• 3 or 4 of the small sweet tomatoes diced (they are called camprini I think)
• 1/2 cup of pesto sauce

I combine the shrimp, lemon juice and olive oil in a bowl and let them sit for about 30 mins. After that I then add some salt and pepper and saute them until they are all opaque, put them on a plate to keep them warm. At the same time I cook my pasta, when that is done I drain it and add to a large bowl, throw in the shrimp, diced tomatoes and pesto, mix it up and it is done. It takes about 30 minutes to prep and 10 to all cook.

Chipotle Sweet Potatoes

• 2 large sweet potatoes peeled and cut into smaller cubes
• 1 cup balsamic vinaigrette
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 of fresh cilantro (I used the freeze dried kind so that I am not wasting what I don't need and can save the rest for later)
• 3 tablespoons of honey
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce minced (these come in a can so I take the rest of them and put them in a baggie and freeze them so I am not wasting and will have more for later)

Depending on how well your oven cooks you might want to spread out your sweet potatoes in two smaller cooking dishes but one large one will work. My oven doesn't do the best so I have to use two and cook them longer (or in the case of last night finish them in the microwave, luckily they were almost ready). In a bowl combine sweet potatoes and a half of cup of your balsamic vinaigrette and some salt and pepper (I say to taste because I rarely use salt but I know some people love it). Preheat oven to 400, and add the sweet potatoes in to your greased baking dish. Bake for about 30-40 minutes (again depends on your oven) until they are tender and stir them midway. In a smaller bowl whisk together your remaining vinaigrette, cilantro, honey, and chipotle peppers. Take out your sweet potatoes and drizzle the mixture on to them stirring some to get it all over them and serve. Prep time is about 20 minutes and the cooking time is about 30-40.

I promise you guys will love these recipes and they really did work good together. Enjoy!