Date Night Dinners - Pumped for Parfaits!
Summer is here! Maybe not officially, but it is in my book. The weather is getting nicer, the flowers are blooming, the days are getting longer. School is officially over - I graduated yesterday. Memorial Day is quickly approaching and grilling season will be in full swing. Did I mention I love summer?!
After a momentous day of celebrating and a big lunch out after my graduation, Brenden and I did not feel like doing much for date night. We were happy but exhausted and the warm weather was not leaving us with the desire to stuff out faces until we popped like in the winter. We wanted something simple and light. With Memorial Day right around the corner, we decided to kick off the holiday early and make some traditional cookout food - hotdogs with yogurt and fruit parfaits - something hearty paired with something sweat and refreshing.
We found a simple recipe for a hotdog marinade to spice up the common hotdog and make it more of a date night. The recipe called for ketchup, but of course we got a bit experimental and did half a batch with bbq sauce instead. We then broiled the hotdogs rather then grilling them because our grill is on the fritz, but they still cooked up deliciously. Both of us enjoyed the slight kick this marinade gave the hotdogs. There was a bit more flavor in each bite then usual. I thought the bbq and ketchup versions tasted very similar, but Brenden liked the ketchup version better. Again, this was a super simple way to spice up the hotdogs and we would defiantly do it again, but next time we would marinate them for a bit longer, Brenden suggested over night, but I think a few hours of the day would be fine.
After passing up a s'more crepe at lunch, we were both craving something sweet for dinner, but we did not want to indulged too much more. So, what would be more perfect then a cool, sweet but not over whelming yogurt parfait. Yum! I love yogurt, I love fruit, and I love that this is the season to devour it. Brenden and I grabbed some yogurt (he used vanilla and I used plain greek) and berries from the store and then used our imaginations to build our perfect individual parfaits.
We really didn't follow a recipe for this dish, just layered it as we sought pleasing. A few scoops of yogurt, some handfuls of berries, more yogurt, some cereal for crunch (the one thing we forgot was granola, but we substituted bran flakes and it was quite tasty). Again, this was so simple and so easily customizable. I do not know why it took us so long to think of doing it ourselves for an inexpensive, somewhat healthy treat. I have given you very lax instruction on making this but again, it really is just a combination of layers of what you like. Don't like blueberries? Use strawberries. Don't like Greek yogurt? Use regular. Want more sweetness? Add honey. Use your imagination as your inspiration and your taste buds as your palette. Be free, and let me know what great parfaits you come up with!
Jazzed Up Hotdogs
Recipe adapted from babypuree.wordpress.com, Hot Dogs
Ingredients
- 8 hotdogs (we used all beef, Hebrew National)
- 1/4 cup ketchup or bbq sauce
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- With a knife, make cuts at an angle in two rows down each hotdog, about half an inch apart, cuting partway into the hotdog.
- In a small bowl combine all of the ingredients except the hotdogs.
- Mix with a fork until combined.
- Place the hotdogs into a large ziplock bag.
- Pout the marinade on top of the hotdogs in the bag and make sure each hotdog is evenly covers with marinade.
- Seal the bag and let rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove hotdogs from the bag and place them on a baking tray.
- Broil in the oven for about 10 minutes until the hotdogs are cooked to you desire.
- Remove and serve (recommended with a bun, mustard, and or relish), and enjoy.
Yogurt Parfait
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups plain greek yogurt
- 10 blueberries
- 5 black berries
- 5 raspberries
- 3 medium sized pineapple chunks, sliced
- 1/4 cup bran flakes
- cinnamon and nutmeg to taste
- In a medium glass, sprinkle half of bran flakes,
- Scoop half of yogurt on top.
- Sprinkle nutmeg and cinnamon as desired.
- Layer half of blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and pineapple.
- Repeat steps 2-5.
- Sprinkle remaining bran slakes on top, crushing with hand as you sprinkle.
- Grab a spoon and dig in.
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