End of our Let's Eat In Challenge!

Happy Veteran's Day! And happy last day of our Let's Eat In Challenge!

I'm thrilled to have a much-needed three day weekend. I slept until eight this morning and didn't get out the door for my run until almost nine, which meant I was absolutely starving the entire time! My path was about three miles, but I only ran the first two before hunger and a major side cramp finally won. I walked the rest of the way home, enjoyed a nice chat with my dad, and ate some yummy Autumn Oatmeal for breakfast. I added some nutmeg for extra autumn punch, and it was delicious!

Last night was our last football game of the season. I coach cheer, so, as much as I love football, I'm thrilled that things will calm down (a little) now. Football season is rough on me; I end up spending a lot of meals alone in my classroom and too much time away from Terry. But my girls did great last night, and we're excited to have some new stunts in our repertoire (<-- I spelled that without spell check!). I look forward to basketball season, but first I need some rest and time with my husband for the holidays.

And that time starts tonight! Terry has to work today, even though it's his day off, so I'm spending the afternoon getting some grocery shopping and baking done before dinner. Dinner tonight is a special one because it's celebrating our 30 days of eating in!

I've been thinking about this meal for awhile. Throughout the month, I noticed that I didn't miss the hassle of eating out (potential for poor service, high costs, parking, loud restaurants, ridiculous corkage fees), but I did miss the idea of a fancy night together. I love getting dressed up, and Terry looks absolutely spectacular in a tie (good thing - he owns more than 50!). So we agreed that we should have one of our nights in be a fancy meal where we dress up and really set the ambiance! This way, I can demonstrate that you don't have to eat out in order to have a romantic, fancy dinner together. We decided to celebrate tonight, given that I have a day off and it's the last day of our challenge. We used some of our favorite "restaurant-style" meals to create our four-course menu.

Fancy Night In Menu

• Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus with Poached Egg and Hollandaise Sauce
• Mixed Greens Salad with Shaved Parmesan Cheese
• Shrimp Pasta in a Garlic-White Wine-Butter Sauce
• Chocolate Souffle

I am drooling already! Partially because I'm starving, but also because I think we decided on the perfect meal for tonight! Wish me luck collecting all these ingredients today!