Date Night In: More than 120 Recipes to Nourish Your Relationship

by Ashley Rodriguez

Rekindle the romance at home with a weekly date night, one on one, over an absolutely delicious meal for two.

Sweethearts, spouses, and parents Ashley and Gabe Rodriguez found themselves deep into marriage and child-rearing when they realized they were missing the connection of their early relationship, and needed to prioritize each other. They instituted a weekly date night at home to sautéroast, mix, dice, and spend time reconnecting over delicious meals



Simply carving out time to talk, cook, and eat together can be the relationship-booster you need to keep the spark alive. Just don't forget the cocktail (try a Rhubarb Sour or a Grapefruit 75). Make date night an integral part of your week and woo your partner all over again with food, drink, and sparkling conversation.

Packed with tantalizing and delicious recipes, Date Night In is a must-have cookbook for any couple who wants to spice things up with special seasonal meals at home around a table for two.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Romance, Relationships

288 pages, Hardcover

First published December 23, 2014

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been working through this one, here and there, for 2 months and loving every page and recipe. Each menu has a few pages of relationship insight reminding the reader to love selflessly. The recipes are the perfect level of accessibly challenging. I was so proud of the first menu I made that I still bring it up ("Remember when I made homemade aioli and it turned out?").
this book is high on my list of off-registry wedding gifts and will be given as a Christmas gift to many married couples.

[Lane Patten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this book was given to me by a bestie for my birthday. I haven't put it down since. This is so much more than a cookbook. The pictures are gorgeous, the recipes are fabulous, and the memoir is a beautiful reminder to stop and enjoy your spouse, even when life is pulling you in so many different directions.

[Georgia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by how little I identified with the writer... And how repetitive/coy the memoir part of the book was. But the recipes are lovely and the structure great. I'd give 3 stars for the memoir, 4.5 stars for the recipes.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun but didn't feel inspired by a lot of the recipes.

[Brindi Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this. With a few of the recipes I made copies and am eager to try them.

However, had I not recently divorced, I would have enjoyed this romantic, date night in, short-storied cookbook a bit more. For the last 3 years of my marriage THIS is what I attempted. I begged for my more intimate moments, more date nights in or doing nothing, just more moments together, more US sitting down at the table talking TO instead of AT each other. And we didn't even have the distraction of kids! So I guess you can say I'm a bit bitter, and reading about what she was able to accomplish to save her marriage and reconnect with her husband left me heartbroken, feeling like a failure, and with a sour taste in my mouth. I tried so hard.

Yet, I applaud Ashley and her husband because I stand firm behind this idea. That a husband and wife need to continue to date each other. Impress. Woo. But I'm also slowly understanding that it takes two. It takes two people to make a marriage/relationship work. And one can try until he/she is blue in the face, but if the other doesn't budge or care, it's useless. Heart-breakingly useless.

With that said, at first I wanted to give this book 2 stars, but my feelings aside, it's better than that. And I would recommend this to a couple who feel a disconnection, wanting to find that spark or love again. It's a wonderful idea.

[Leigh Kramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I wish I'd gotten this cookbook as a coy way to announce a new relationship, I got it instead because I've had good luck as a single woman with "cooking for two" recipes and cookbooks in the past. Sometimes you don't want to have leftovers for a whole week. However, this cookbook is structured completely differently in that it's laying out plans for 4 or 5 course meals. There are some recipes that will work just fine for me but the rest may be best for hosting dinner parties. Not a bad idea to keep such recipes in the arsenal. I did find her essays introducing each meal plan to be repetitive and on the smug married side. Many of the things she was reflecting on felt like common sense to me but perhaps if I'd married in my early 20s, I'd have to learn similar lessons. Who can say?

[Iva · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was somewhat of a disappointment - a beautiful hardcover edition with a gorgeous cover and... grainy, blurred, partial pictures inside. The recipes, although mouthwatering, are mostly too complex to accomplish for a single date. Of all the recipes in there, there are about 5-7 I am willing to try.

What I enjoyed about this one were the small essays preceding each set of recipes and the small notes before each recipe. They were an enjoyable peek into a happy marriage and what it might take to sustain a relationship.

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve always wanted to cook through an entire cookbook and finally did with this one. There is so much to love about this book: it’s organized by season and into menus, which makes meal planning easy. It has great guides for what parts of the menu you can prep ahead. The recipes are also very good. Sometimes I found them a little too fussy and didn’t follow them completely, as I didn’t always feel like making everything from scratch. Even with those simplifications, they were really good recipes and many I’ve added to my normal rotation.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one has been on my TBR list for awhile, and I am so glad my local library had it. So good, it’s going on my “TBP” (to be purchased) list!
The recipes are mouth-watering, but what I really loved was the author’s essays before each “date night.” Other things I loved: the photographs, splitting the cookbook into seasons, and the timeline of what to do to prepare each meal.

[Tzigane Monda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book. It had a lot of great recipes in it that I saved. Some of them weren’t really anything either of us would eat but I still got a lot of new recipes to try.
I liked that she had entire menus and that they were arranged in seasons. I also liked that there were shopping lists, pantry lists and timelines to help you organize and plan the night.

[Kelsey Cobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really fun cookbook. The recipes are really tasty and offer more of a challenge than most of my usual resources. Unfortunately, several of the ingredients aren’t very accessible to me in Oklahoma but it’s fun to look for unfamiliar ingredients in a fancy grocery store every once in awhile. 4.5/5 rounded up

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a cook book I wish there was more pictures - I like knowing what my recipe should look like and turn out.

The relationship/memoir part of this book is cute. A bit too many mason jars and lack of depth for my taste, but a decent book if you're looking for a date night in meal.

[Leah Colbeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recipes look amazing. Memoir parts are about a 2.5

[Sue]

Found 2 recipes that I want to try. Disappointed that this cookbook was printed in China, and not the USA.

[Caristy Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautifully laid out book with lots of fun recipes to try. Done in various categories.

[Gretchen Schock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve already purchased this book for several people, I absolutely love the idea of this book and the recipes are doable and delicious.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite possibly my favourite cookbook! What I especially love is the thought and care put into the menu format. While you obviously dont have to endeavor all parts of a menu at once, when you do its very rewarding. The baking recipes are particularly excellent - I make the hamburger buns all the time!!

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This could quite possibly be the most romantic book I've ever read, which is hard to imagine considering it is a cookbook. The author created 26 menus, divided equally between the seasons, to enjoy at home with her husband. As a mother of three young children, they decided to commit time to each other every week in the form of a date night at home. Preparing a three course meal and a cocktail to enjoy after the children were asleep was a deliberate action taken to restore the intimacy they shared in their early years. Each menu is prefaced with an essay explaining both the significance of the menu and some element of their relationship. It was very, very sweet. And the meals look incredible. Some require elaborate preparations - the author is a stickler for authenticity at every level - while others verge on simple but elegant.

Things I liked about the book:
-detailed shopping and pantry lists
-step-by-step instructions for preparing elements of the meal several days in advance
-seasonal menus
-connection to my part of the world (she lives less than a mile from my home and frequents many of the same restaurants and stores)
-recipes at the front of the book for staple recipes amenable to variations, such as shortbread biscuits, olive oil pizza dough etc...

Reasons I hesitate to jump out and buy a copy for my bookshelf:
-despite having an index, this is not the sort of book I can reference quickly for last minute dinner ideas
-the meals are gorgeous, but many lean heavily towards sandwich buns or bread, which I don't typically have in the house
-I pledged to retire one book from my current cookbook collection for every new book I bring in and I'm not sure which book this one would displace

[Marathon County Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of beautiful photographs and tasty recipes, this cookbook is great for couples looking to add some romance to their relationship through food. The author and her husband have weekly date nights at home, cooking three or four course meals after they put their kids to bed. Some of the recipes might seem rather ambitious (making homemade buns for sandwiches) for a weeknight, especially if you tend to procrastinate, but the philosophy of taking the time to nourish a relationship is an important message to learn from this book. Even the author (who also runs the award-winning blog Notwithoutsalt.com ) admits that some date nights consist of just desserts and drinks. I really enjoyed the way the cookbook was divided into seasons, with a complete menu for each date night, and I loved reading her anecdotes about love and marriage.

Kathleen K. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know what to expect, not having read her blog, and I confess I bought this solely for the raclette recipe (having recently procured a raclette grill from eBay, complete with instructions in German, leaving me to re-construct it from childhood memories and what I can cobble from the depths of the Internet). I have quite a few recipes bookmarked, and I found the date night aspect inspirational- even though I kind of hate the phrase 'date night', which I know is weird and a little unreasonable.

[Michelle Wolbaum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a lover of cook books, especially ones with unique recipes. Date night in is just that type of cook book. Date night in has unique recipes that are interesting and very good. Ashley gives you thoroughly instructions and a useful timeline for a successful meal. But I think the one thing that I appreciated more then the recipes was her focus on her marriage. I am thankful for Ashley's encouraging stories about her own marriage.

Overall Date night in is a cook book I would recommend to anyone, especially one who wants to bring a bit of "spice" to their home.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only got a chance to try 3 recipes before I had to return this to the library. Herb-roasted chicken, fried chicken sandwiches on black pepper biscuits, and the chocolate pecan pretzel crust bourbon butterscotch pie. They were all amazing. Now I want to buy this book and try all the other recipes that caught my eye. Not only are the recipes good but the writing is excellent and the idea that frames the book, that of nourishing a loving relationship with food and time together, is fabulous.

[Phaedra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely idea and some great menu ideas for special nights in. Not for everyday cooking (but it doesn't pretend to be) and requiring a good look-thru of ingredient lists to make sure you have a day to shop & cook ahead. The author (from Not Without Salt blog fame) does a nice job of giving timelines for cooking so come date night you're not exhausted from being in the kitchen all the live long day. Also, some nice love stories at the beginning of each chapter.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I got this book from the library thinking that it would be more about tips on nourishing your relationship, but all it is is a normal recipe book with stories about the author's relationship inbetween the recipes. I was hoping for a bit more instruction on maybe how to cook together (because two people in the kitchen can be difficult to coordinate at times).

[Leah Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her stories are sometimes cheesy, but they feel real and heartfelt. Almost every recipe has been delicious and she pairs drinks, main dishes, and desserts nicely. Sometimes the meals are a little heavy or too much food for two people, but it is for date night, after all! My husband and I have really enjoyed cooking and eating our way through this whole book.

[Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of prep work and expensive grocery lists, but hey, it's for dates right? Wide variety of menus with complementing stories behind each one. Did not know about the existence of Flemish stew, so this was worth the read for that alone.

[Joy O’Toole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and plan to cook my way through it. There are a few menus that I was just "meh" about, but most of them sound delicious. We will be having date nights in on a regular basis from now on. What an inspiration.

[Pammie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this, completely recommend it not only for the recipes, which are truly gourmet, but also for the stories of love between a husband and wife. Of commitment, and of being OK staying home on date nights but still finding a way to connect.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

We've made a dozen recipes out of this book so far and each has turned out perfectly. I love the format (meals divided seasonally, grocery and pantry lists provided, timeline for each component, etc.) and that it emphasizes togetherness more than anything. This is my ideal cookbook!

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memoir aspect was a bit repetitive, but recipes were fantastic. I'd give it 5 stars, except for the fact that there were only 3 vegetarian main courses in the whole book. Will definitely be giving this book as a wedding present.