17 Date Night Dinners That Beat Paying a Sitter

The post 17 Date Night Dinners That Beat Paying a Sitter appeared first on Penny Pinchin' Mom.

A sitter runs $15-20 an hour around here, and by the time you add dinner out, date night tops $100. I used to feel guilty asking my husband to stay in instead, like skipping the restaurant meant skipping the romance, until we made steak at home after the kids were asleep and realized the candlelight doesn’t know the difference.

These 17 winter date night dinners bring the occasion home without the babysitter math. Garlic butter steak bites with mashed potatoes bring a steakhouse splurge to your kitchen table for a fraction of the price, shrimp scampi over linguine looks like it came from an Italian place downtown, and French onion soup with cheesy toast turns a slow evening into something worth lingering over.

Under 30 Minutes

1. Garlic Butter Steak Bites with Mashed Potatoes

A steakhouse plate, cooked in a skillet, ready in about 20 minutes start to finish. Buy one pound of store-brand top sirloin, around $10 to $12 at Aldi, and cut it into one-inch cubes. That single pound plates generously for two with a few bites left over.

Get a cast iron pan smoking hot, sear the cubes for two minutes without touching them, flip, then kill the heat and add 3 tablespoons of butter and 4 smashed garlic cloves. Meanwhile, boil 1.5 pounds of russets (about $1.50) and mash with butter and milk.

Home cost lands around $15 for two. A sirloin dinner at a steakhouse runs $28 to $34 per person before tip.

2. Creamy Tuscan Chicken Skillet

When the fridge holds chicken and not much else, this is the one that still tastes as if you went somewhere. You’ll need two boneless thighs or one large breast sliced into cutlets, about three-quarters of a pound for $3 to $4, plus a half-pint of heavy cream ($2.50), a jar of sun-dried tomatoes ($3 at Kroger), and a handful of fresh spinach.

Sear the chicken 4 minutes a side, set it aside, then build the sauce in the same pan with garlic, cream, chopped tomatoes, spinach, and a fistful of parmesan. Twenty-five minutes, two servings, about $12 at home against $23 to $25 per person at a casual Italian chain.

Back when we were paying off debt, a skillet dinner after bedtime was the only date night we could manage.

3. Shrimp Scampi over Linguine

Frozen raw shrimp turned this into our fastest occasion dinner. A one-pound bag of 31-40 count shrimp runs $8 to $9 at Walmart, and you only need half of it for two. Half a box of Barilla linguine (the box is about $1.75) handles the rest, which puts the plate around $10 against $24 to $26 a person at a casual seafood spot.

Boil the pasta. While it cooks, melt 3 tablespoons of butter with olive oil and 5 sliced garlic cloves; add the thawed shrimp for two minutes a side, then splash in white wine or chicken broth plus lemon juice. Toss everything with a ladle of starchy pasta water.

Skip doubling it. Reheated shrimp turns rubbery.

4. French Onion Soup with Cheesy Toast

Onions do all the work here, and onions cost almost nothing. Three large yellow ones run about $2, a 32-ounce carton of Swanson beef broth is around $2.50, a store-brand baguette is $1.50, and six slices of Swiss run about $3. Two big bowls for under $10, which makes this the cheapest thing on the whole list.

Slice the onions thin and cook them in butter over medium-high heat with a pinch of sugar and a splash of water to speed the browning, about 22 minutes. Add broth, simmer 5 minutes, ladle into oven-safe bowls, top with toasted baguette and cheese, and broil 3 minutes until bubbly.

A bistro charges $10 to $11 a bowl before anyone orders an entree. The blistered, half-blackened cheese around the rim is the part you’re really after.

5. Sheet Pan Salmon with Roasted Winter Vegetables

One pan, one cleanup, and dinner looks like it came from a white-tablecloth kitchen. A one-pound bag of frozen salmon fillets is $11 to $13 at Aldi and gives you two 6-ounce portions with a spare for lunch. Add a pound of baby potatoes ($2) and a bag of Brussels sprouts ($3), and you’ll spend about $14 on a plate that costs $26 to $30 per person out.

Halve the potatoes and sprouts, toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast at 425 for 15 minutes. Push them to the edges, lay the thawed fillets in the center, and give it 12 more minutes.

6. Loaded Baked Potato Soup with Bacon

For a cold Tuesday when neither of you wants to stand at the stove, this comes together in 30 minutes flat. Microwave 2 pounds of russets ($2) for 10 minutes, then scoop the flesh into a pot with sautéed onion, chicken broth, and a cup of half-and-half ($2.50). Crisp half a pack of bacon ($3) and shred 8 ounces of cheddar ($3).

Around $11 buys four servings, where a bread-bowl chain charges $9 to $10 for one.

Lunch tomorrow is handled.

7. Brown Butter Gnocchi with Italian Sausage and Sage

Even my husband, who considers gnocchi a restaurant food, didn’t guess this took 20 minutes. Grab a 16-ounce package of shelf-stable gnocchi (store brand at Kroger, about $2) and two links from a 19-ounce pack of Italian sausage, roughly $2.50 worth of a $5 package.

Skip the boiling water entirely. Brown the crumbled sausage in a skillet, set it aside, then crisp the dry gnocchi in 3 tablespoons of butter for 5 minutes until the edges go golden. Add fresh sage leaves ($2.50 clamshell), the sausage, and a splash of pasta water or broth.

Total is around $11 for two. A gnocchi entree runs $21 to $24 per person out.

8. Chicken Piccata over Buttered Orzo

Piccata sounds like a word off a menu you can’t afford, and it’s four ingredients in a pan. One large chicken breast, about 10 ounces for $3, splits horizontally into two thin cutlets. A box of orzo is $1.75 and cooks in 9 minutes, and a jar of capers costs $2.50 and lasts through a dozen date nights.

Dredge the cutlets in flour, sear 3 minutes a side, then build the sauce right there with a half cup of chicken broth, the juice of one lemon, 2 tablespoons of capers, and 2 tablespoons of butter swirled in off the heat. Dinner for two comes in at around $11 and takes 25 minutes, against $23 to $26 per person at an Italian restaurant.

9. Mushroom Stroganoff over Egg Noodles

Nobody at our table missed the beef in this one, and that surprised me. Sixteen ounces of sliced baby bellas run $3.50, a bag of wide egg noodles is $2, and an 8-ounce tub of sour cream is about $2.

Cook the mushrooms hard in butter until they release their water and brown, about 8 minutes. Add diced onion, a teaspoon of paprika, a cup of beef or vegetable broth, then stir in the sour cream off the heat so it doesn’t break. Ladle it over noodles.

Under $10 feeds two with seconds, where a bistro stroganoff is $20 to $22 a person. Want it meaty? A half pound of ground beef adds about $3.50.

10. White Wine Mussels with Crusty Bread

This is the splurge of the quick list and still cheaper than pulling out of the driveway. A 2-pound bag of live mussels costs $8 to $10 at Kroger and feeds two people with a pile of empty shells between you. Add a $1.50 baguette and a $7 bottle of dry white.

Sweat a diced shallot in butter, add a cup of the wine, dump in the scrubbed mussels, cover, and steam 6 minutes until they open. Toss any that stay shut. Finish with parsley and lemon.

Fifteen minutes, $18 to $20 with the wine counted. Moules with bread runs $24 to $26 a person at a bistro.

Worth the Hour

11. Pan-Seared Ribeye with Garlic Herb Butter and Twice-Baked Potatoes

One 16-ounce store-brand ribeye splits into two real portions, and that’s the whole trick to steak at home. At $14 to $16 a pound at Kroger or Walmart, the meat costs around $15. Two large russets, sour cream, sharp cheddar, and butter bring the dinner to about $22 total for two, with nothing left over.

Bake the potatoes an hour, scoop out the insides, mash them with sour cream and cheese, refill the shells, and broil. While they bake, sear the steak four minutes a side in hot cast iron and let it rest under a pat of garlic herb butter before slicing across the grain.

A steakhouse charges $38 to $48 per person for this plate, or $80 to $95 for two before tip.

12. Braised Short Ribs over Creamy Polenta

A pot that’s been braising since early afternoon makes the whole house smell like a night out already. One February I got these in the oven at two o’clock and forgot about them until the smell reminded me. Bone-in short ribs cost about $8 to $9 a pound, and a 1.5-pound package feeds two with enough left to shred over pasta on Monday. Carrots, onion, half a cup of red wine, and a cup of cornmeal for the polenta bring the whole dinner to around $19, while bistros price short ribs at $34 to $42 a person.

Brown the ribs hard on all sides, add the aromatics, then pour in wine and beef broth to come halfway up. Cover and braise at 325 for two and a half hours. Stir cornmeal into simmering broth and milk, and finish with Parmesan.

13. Chicken Marsala with Mushroom Sauce

The only unfamiliar thing on this ingredient list is the Marsala, and a bottle of Holland House cooking Marsala costs about $4 at Walmart and lasts all winter. One pound of boneless chicken pounded thin runs about $4.50, an 8-ounce package of white mushrooms is around $2.50, and butter, flour, a splash of cream, and a bag of egg noodles bring dinner to $14 for two.

Dredge the cutlets in flour and brown them in butter, then set them aside while the mushrooms cook down. Deglaze with Marsala and chicken broth, reduce until glossy, stir in cream, and slide the chicken back into the pan.

Italian restaurants list Marsala at $24 to $28 per person, so $50 to $56 for two. We make ours four or five times a winter and that $4 bottle still isn’t empty.

14. Baked Ziti with Homemade Meat Sauce

Bake an 8×8 pan of ziti, and you get two dinners plus a lunch, which makes it the cheapest plate in this section. Half a box of Barilla ziti runs under $1, a pound of ground beef is about $6, a 28-ounce can of Hunt’s crushed tomatoes goes for around $1.50, and a 15-ounce tub of ricotta plus 8 ounces of shredded mozzarella adds close to $6. About $15 total, or roughly $3.75 a serving.

Simmer the beef with tomatoes, garlic, and oregano for 20 minutes while the pasta boils just short of al dente. Layer pasta, sauce, and spoonfuls of ricotta, blanket with mozzarella, and bake for 30 minutes at 375.

Italian places want $22 to $26 per person for baked pasta. Night two costs you nothing at all.

15. Simplified Beef Bourguignon

The wine is the entire splurge here, and half the bottle goes into the pot instead of into glasses. A $7 red covers it. A pound of store-brand chuck roast costs about $7.50, frozen pearl onions run $2, mushrooms $2.50, and carrots plus two slices of bacon add another $3, which lands near $18 for two generous bowls against $32 to $38 a person at a bistro.

Brown floured beef cubes in the bacon fat, add wine and beef broth, then braise covered at 325 for two hours. The onions and mushrooms go in for the last 20 minutes so they hold their shape. It doubles well if you want it again midweek.

16. Simplified Coq au Vin

Fifty-five minutes turns chicken thighs into something that sounds like a reservation. Four bone-in, skin-on thighs weigh about a pound and a half and cost around $6 at Aldi. Two slices of bacon, 8 ounces of mushrooms, two carrots, an onion, and a cup and a half of red wine bring it to roughly $15 for two, usually with a thigh left over for lunch.

Crisp the bacon, brown the chicken skin-side down until deep golden, then set both aside while the vegetables soften in the fat. Return everything to the pan with wine and broth and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes, until the sauce coats a spoon.

French restaurants charge $28 to $34 per person, about $60 for two. Save whatever sauce is left for egg noodles later in the week.

17. Shrimp and Grits with Andouille Sausage

If you’ve handed over $28 a plate for shrimp and grits at brunch, this one stings a little. A 12-ounce bag of frozen raw shrimp costs about $8, and you only need 4 ounces off a 12-ounce Johnsonville andouille rope, maybe $2 worth. Stone-ground grits are about $3 a bag and last all winter. With sharp cheddar, butter, and a splash of cream, dinner comes to $16 for two.

Simmer the grits 40 minutes with plenty of salt, then beat in butter and cheese until they pour. Render the sliced andouille, cook the shrimp two minutes a side in the drippings, and build a quick pan sauce with broth and lemon.

Two plates out run $55 to $60. Fifty minutes of stirring, most of it hands-off, and the two of you eat for $16.

Date Night Is Served, No Sitter Required

The sitter, the reservation, the scramble to get everyone out the door- all of that pressure lifts the second the pan hits the heat. Your kitchen table holds candlelight like any restaurant booth, and you get the whole evening instead of the two hours between drop-off and pickup.

Pick a Friday and put something good in a pan.

The post 17 Date Night Dinners That Beat Paying a Sitter appeared first on Penny Pinchin' Mom.