Food Fun Family

Outback Steakhouse: Official Sponsor of Date Night #OutbackBestMates

Lolli — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 21:38:53 +0000

I am an Outback Steakhouse Best Mates Ambassador. Every once in a while, I get to bring you guys specials and insider information on one of my favorite restaurants. Follow the hashtag #OutbackBestMates on Twitter and Facebook (and here, of course).

{On our latest date night….the awkward date night #selfie!}

Thinking back on those long-ago days before my husband and I were married, I can remember how important dates were. Dates were how we got to know each other, how we bonded and spent time together. After we got married, we tried to continue to make date night a priority, though as two college students we didn’t have a lot of money to spare for anything fancy.

Before our 2nd anniversary, we were parents, which put a halt on date night for a while. For several years, date night meant finding and paying for a babysitter, and although it was tough to coordinate so many schedules, we knew that date night was critical to keeping our marriage alive (and keeping our sanity in check, too!).

We’re in a much different stage of life now, with kids who are old enough to stay at home by themselves. Now our only set-back to having regular date nights is how busy we are and how tired we are at the end of the day, thanks to work and home responsibilities and endlessly running kids around.

It’s hard to love Outback Steakhouse any more than I already do (it truly is one of our favorite date night locations, and the kids beg us to take them there, too, for family dinners out) but as of this past weekend, they moved up another notch on my “like” scale. Outback Steakhouse is on a mission to help couples steak out more time for one another by declaring itself the Official Sponsor of Date Night and offering a special weekend deal they can’t refuse.

According to Outback’s New American Romance study, more than half of Americans surveyed said they need at least one date night per month to keep the spark alive, but shockingly 56% can’t remember their last date night!

When was YOUR last date night? My last date with my husband was Saturday. We had dinner at Outback before driving down to DC to see our daughter perform at a barbershop concert with her quartet. We LOVED the new Date Night Meal, which includes:

A Bloomin Onion® to share
Two 8 oz. Outback Special® Sirloins
Choice of Freshly Made Side & Signature Salad (per person)
A Classic Cheesecake dessert to share
Or, have your Date Night Meal with two 6oz. filets or one 8oz. sirloin and one 6 oz. filet. Ask server for details.
Plus, relax and un-wine-d with $10 off select bottles of vino (we don’t drink, so we skipped that

The Outback Date Night meal is available Thursday through Sunday nights. Just ask your server for the Date Night Meal when you order. It’s so easy!

Why do you think it’s important to have date night with your significant other on a regular basis….and do you get out as often as you would like? What are some of your setbacks to regular date night?

5 Easy Ideas for Date Night At Home #GelatoLove

Lolli — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 14:05:42 +0000

This post brought to you by Breyers Gelato Indulgences. All opinions are 100% mine.

Life changed forever when my husband and I had our first child. No longer were we free to head out to eat or catch a movie together any time we felt like going on a date. If we wanted to have date night, we had to call and schedule a babysitter…then plan our time just right so that we could afford both the babysitter and the date night activity.

Date nights became few and far between. They were simply too difficult to plan and execute. Especially when the kids were little (and bed time was early), we started having more and more “date nights” at home.

Here are a few ideas for making date night fun, affordable, and achievable, no matter how old your kids are or how hard babysitters are to schedule. It doesn’t matter where you are. It only matters that you spend quality, one-on-one time together. So put those kids to bed early and enjoy a fun at-home date night!

5 Ideas for Date Night At Home

Dinner and a movie…at home! Make the kids a simple, kid-friendly dinner early in the evening and either put them to bed or let them watch a kid movie in another room. When the kids are settled, set the table up nice and serve a fancy home-cooked meal for just the two of you. After dinner, watch a movie together while snuggling under a blanket (it’s much more comfortable than seeing a movie in a theater, I promise!). Pop some popcorn and open up a carton of Breyers® Gelato Indulgences™ to share.

Game night – Play a few rounds of your favorite games together…or even better, invite over another couple to liven up the competition. (I’m you're your fellow game players would enjoy sharing a carton or two of Breyers® Gelato Indulgences™).

Read together – Reading aloud is not just for the kids! After the kids are tucked into their beds, snuggle up under a blanket and take turns reading a novel together. Reading a book together as a couple is not only fun in the moment, but it can lead to hours and hours of fun discussion. Don’t forget the dessert!

Night under the stars – If the weather is nice, sit in the back porch together and roast marshmallows (if you don’t have a fire pit or a place to roast your marshmallows over a fire at home, you can get a S’mores Maker and roast marshmallows anywhere!). Don’t forget to pull out the lawn chairs and binoculars and go star gazing.

Cook together – Turn the music up (as long as it won’t wake the kids!), get adventurous in the kitchen and try out a new recipe. Pick a theme or go browsing together on Pinterest for some recipes that stand out to both of you. You’ll have fun getting your hands messy together…and then sharing the meal together at the end. Don’t forget dessert afterwards!

On our recent date night at home, we had a little gelato taste testing. Breyers®, already one of our favorite ice cream makers, recently introduced their new Breyers® Gelato Indulgences™. I’ve been eyeing the Gelato Indulgences™ at the store…so it was nice to have an excuse to pick up a few cartons and test them out at home.

The only problem? I couldn’t keep the kids away from them! My oldest daughter was particularly intrigued by all of the gelato in the freezer!

Breyers Gelato Indulgences is available in these four varieties:

Vanilla Caramel: creamy vanilla gelato topped with luscious caramel sauce and gourmet caramelly curls
Raspberry Cheesecake: cheesecake gelato topped with luscious raspberry sauce and gourmet graham crumble
Tiramisu: mascarpone gelato topped with espresso sauce, ladyfinger cookie pieces and sprinkled with gourmet cocoa
Triple Chocolate: milk chocolate and dark chocolate gelatos topped with white chocolate sauce and chocolatey curls

My favorite was the raspberry cheesecake. And the Triple chocolate. It’s hard to pass up some good chocolate gelato. My husband gravitated towards the vanilla caramel (as did the kids!).

So tell me…what is your favorite way to spend date night at home? And how would you incorporate Breyers Indulgences into your next date night?

Connect with Breyers:
https://www.facebook.com/breye…
https://twitter.com/Breyers
https://www.pinterest.com/breye…

3 Tips for Creating the Perfect Movie Night at Home

Lolli — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:00:03 +0000

For years, when we were in the middle of babies and diapers and not many funds left to pay a babysitter, date night meant movie night at home. Putting the kids to bed, popping some popcorn, and sitting down on the couch together to watch a movie was almost as rejuvenating as getting out of the house. I often found movie night MORE relaxing than a night out because I could stay in my t-shirt and sweats and cuddle up under a blanket for a few hours.

Now that we have a house full of older kids (otherwise known as built-in babysitters) and we both work from home, we can slip away for date night any time we want…including in the middle of the day or on a weeknight. But movie night at home remains one of our favorite ways to connect with each other and relax.

Movie night at home is not only a perfect solution for an affordable and easy-to-plan date night with your significant other, but movie nights can also be a fun family activity and a way to connect with your kids. Here are a few ideas to get the most out of movie night at home.

3 Tips for Creating the Perfect Movie Night at Home

Set the atmosphere – Pop some popcorn (isn’t that a given when it comes to watching movies?!) and pick up some classic movie candy. Food isn’t the only way to set the mood for a perfect movie night, though. As silly as it sounds, I’ve found that the cleaner my tv-watching room is, the more relaxed I feel and the more I can experience that “date-night getaway” atmosphere. Once you’ve got your room tidy and snacks in hand, turn down the lights like a movie theater and lean back to enjoy your flick.
Find the perfect movie – Sometimes finding the perfect date night or family-friendly movie is tough, but I’ve discovered a few tricks that solve the problem every time. 1 – Ask for recommendations. Facebook is the ideal platform for asking for quick movie ideas. Just ask your friends what movie they’d recommend for whatever mood you’re in and I guarantee you’ll come away with a list that will last you a few weeks. (Don’t forget to keep that list for future movie nights). 2 – Use a tool like Rotten Tomatoes’ new Find Your Critic. All you have to do is rate a few movies and the tool will figure out which movie critics share your taste in movies. From there, you can see what other movies these critics have enjoyed and get some ideas from them.
Turn off those cell phones – It’s the rule in the theater, so why not make it the rule during movie night at home? To make the most of your date night or family fun night (or any family time together!) turn off or stow away your cell phones and other gadgets. Not only will you be connecting more with your fellow movie watchers, but you’ll be able to concentrate more on the movie and truly relax and rejuvenate.

Find Your Critic Tool with Rotten Tomatoes

How often have you picked up a DVD to watch at home only to find out that the movie was altogether mediocre (and a horrible waste of your free time)? Pop Secret has teamed up with Rotten Tomatoes to create the Find Your Critic tool to help you find movie critics that share your taste in movies. Once you’ve found movie critics you trust, you can follow their reviews and recommendations.

To get started, just visit the Find Your Critic tool on Rotten Tomatoes and rate a series of 12 movies (it only takes a minute to do). The more movies you rate, the closer the tool will be able to pinpoint your top critics.

At Pop Secret, we love movies as much as you love movies. That’s why we created the Find Your Critic tool with Rotten Tomatoes. It helps you figure out which movie critics you should listen to. All you have to do is rate some movies and the tool figures out which critics share your taste in movies. It even helps you follow your critics’ new movie reviews and recos. So when it comes to enjoying movies, the only thing you have to worry about is which kind of Pop Secret to make. Check it out!

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Pop Secret via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Pop Secret.

5 Tips to Keep Romance Alive 365 Days a Year {+ Giveaway}

Lolli — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:23:35 +0000

I was recently asked the question “What do you do post-Valentine’s Day to stay connected and keep the romance alive all year long?”

And I immediately thought, “Do I?”

With 5 kids, school, a billion activities, and both of us working at home, we are currently seeing more of each other than ever before. We’re in the same house together all day long.

And yet we talk less than we did back when he was working long hours in DC.

It’s so easy for the two of us, CandyMan and I, to get stuck in our own little worlds of work, with his computer downstairs and mine upstairs. We are working all the time. So I came up with a short list of things that I could do – daily, weekly, monthly, whatever, as long as I was doing something to build and strengthen our marriage.

5 tips to keep romance alive all year long

Say I love you every day.
Carve out little moments for the two of you. It could be something as simple as scheduling lunch together or sitting on the couch for a few minutes of quiet after the kids have gone to bed.
You’re never too old to send or receive a love letter. Even a short note to let your sweetheart know that you are thinking about him or her leaves a big impression.
Date night is important. Even if the two of you head out to run errands together, go somewhere where you can walk side by side holding hands. (Keep in mind, I would not recommend weekly dates to the Home Depot. Variety is good…).
Find things you enjoy doing together and do them. This has always been a difficult one for us, as we are both very different people, but as we’ve been married now for almost 17 years, we have discovered new things that we enjoy doing.

Carving out some time for US

Last week, as I prepared to leave for a 3 day trip to California, I thought it would be nice to plan a special lunch date with CandyMan. I put two Dr. Oetker’s Ristorante frozen pizzas into the oven and invited him up for lunch.

At first he was surprised by my impromptu invitation, but he came upstairs, we sat down together, and we chatted over pizza.

Our lunch was something so simple. But it really is the simple things that keep the magic alive.

A little about the pizza we ate….

We tried Dr. Oetker’s Ristorante Spinaci and Mozzarella frozen pizzas. Even at first glance, I could tell that this pizza was not going to be our typical “cheap frozen pizza.” It smelled wonderful baking, and tasted even better. My particular favorite was the Ristorante Spinaci (“This unique pizza is layered with sun-ripened tomatoes, savory leaf spinach, cheese and mozzarella, perfected by a hearty garlic sauce.”). Really? I could have eaten the entire thing on my own.

Other varieties include:

Ristorante Speciale
Quattro Formaggi
Ristorante Spinaci
Ristorante Mozzarella
Ristorante Funghi
Ristorante Vegetale

Dr. Oetker’s Ristorante frozen pizza gives you Italian restaurant style pizza taste without paying restaurant style prices (products are priced from $4.99 to $5.99).

About Dr. Oetker

Dr. Oetker (urt-ker) is a fifth-generation family-run business headquartered in Bielefeld, Germany. The company started when pharmacist Dr. August Oetker developed the baking powder Backin in 1891. The Dr. Oetker brand soon became synonymous with superior quality in baking materials as well as cereals, frozen food and chilled desserts. Dr. Oetker is now an international food business leader and a market leader in many of its product lines. The Oetker Group is also active in other industries such as beer, wine and spirits, shipping and banking.

Today, Dr. Oetker is the market leader of frozen pizza in Europe and sells Ristorante in more than 30 countries.

Dr. Oetker Ristorante is currently available at grocery stores in several states, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Washington, D.C., Rhode Island, Baltimore, Maryland and New Hampshire.

Win a Dr. Oetker’s Prize Pack

The prize pack contains:

1 branded pizza cutter
1 branded freezer bag
1 Free Dr. Oetker coupon
1 Pizza Slice & Serve Board from Crate and Barrel (pictured separately)

Enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please note, although Dr. Oetker’s pizzas are only available in certain states, anyone in the US is eligible to enter.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. All opinions stated are my own.