Post Punk Kitchen Forum

okay, so i have a date thingy this week and we decided to do some cooking at his place. this means i am having a panic attack over what to make. it should be super simple, not include a lot of ingredients and be tasty-tasty.

i am freaking out a little because i haven't cooked in forever and basically have lost all interest in food in the past few months..

please help me out, wise ppk people. just some inspiration or ideas would be awesome, recipes are not needed. i just need to get back into the whole food mode.

A simple bolognese with lentils is always good, I love brushetta or white-bean brushetta (replace tomatoes with butter beans), roasted sweet potato/pumpkin, bean and spinach/arugula salad
Like this
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/295/roa ... kpea+salad

Or this
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/669/pum ... kpea+salad
(I've made this one, pretty yummy, especially with the addition of the figs!)

Have fun lovely girl.

pesto on spaghetti and a salad? If he has a blender or food processor for the pesto.

This is exactly what I came here to post about! My new friend is omni, but he likes veggies and has actually tried tofu before meeting me... so far we have just had restaurant food and I want to actually cook, but needed some ideas.

I was thinking of baked asian tofu on a salad with mandarin oranges, almonds and an ginger sesame dressing...

The last time I cooked at a guy's place we made stir fried vegetables with peanut sauce. I guess you could make some stuff ahead if you wanted to, like pesto for pasta or some kind of spice mix.

risotto!

risotto!

I love your garlic soup, but that may not be the best datenight food. Though if you both drink it, you know you'll be super healthy in the morning and its sooooooooo tasty.

If you're playing it safe maybe your special cashew alfredo?

You're one of the best cooks I know, so you're definitely going to wow his pants.... I mean socks.... off.

ok, now i need the recipe for this cashew alfredo!

I'm thinking vodka penne.

my husband and i seem to always make pizza on our date nights.
i pick up pizza dough that's already pre-made even though my bread maker makes some pretty decent dough, there's a local bakery that sells their vegan dough premade and it's FANTASTIC.

then depending on our mood we pile it high with veggies and sauce, the tofu or cashew riccotta from veganomicon (i usually half the recipe if i'm just doing one pizza), sometimes vegan meatballs which is really nummy.

it's fun because we both end up in the kitchen constructing the perfect pie and who doesn't like pizza? i have omni friends over for our little pizza parties and they don't miss out on anything!

Pasta! With garlic oil and veggies like tomato and spinach. So easy.

Pasta is quick and always strikes me as date-y. I second the pesto idea, or just sautee some chopped garlic and your favorite veggies in olive oil until the veggies are tender, then toss with cooked pasta.

I don't know why I'm so darn anti-pasta. What kind of food has he ordered in the past? Do you want it to be fancy or low key? I'd go for a simple risotto/paella, or maybe roast some veggies and make some tacos. Make dinner easy, but DEFINITELY BAKE COOKIES. I'm kind of stuck in 1955 though.

Cooking together = best date night.

I second the pizza night idea - so much fun, ridiculously easy (buy the ready made dough! especially if you live near trader joe's!), delicious, warm, communal, and comforting.

Pasta night follows the same vein...especially if one of you takes over the sauce and the other does the salad. It's nice to contribute to the meal separately (so that you can each take credit for your own awesome dishes), but still help each other out and share tips. And again, warm and comforting.

My other favorite is enchiladas. With both of you stuffing and rolling corn tortillas, it wont take long to fill up a pan - and it's fun to get a little bit messy with the enchilada sauce all over your hands.

What's great about these dishes is that you can make sure to use ingredients you both like - you're not making a dish focused on one main ingredient, but instead doing something with a blend - seems kind of silly, but it's a great way to find out what a persons likes and dislikes are (I had no idea my bf hated celery until we made soup together - it was an easy thing to leave out without ruining the meal, and I didn't have to find out in a meal where it had a greater presence).

Have fun!!

Pizza is always fun, you get to cook together but you're also not in each other's way. And you don't have to eat the same pizza if his looks horrible. When my boyfriend and I make pizza together I always make a really quick, basic garlic pizza first (just finely chopped garlic and rosemary) to get started on while we're cooking.