The Hungry Dater

Spiced Cider — Fall Comfort in a Cup

October 26, 2017 By The Hungry Dater Leave a Comment

I love the autumn. I’m always reminded of the line from “You’ve Got Mail,” “I would give you a bouquet of sharpened pencils…” It reverberates with me almost every September, and I’ve always related to it. I love flowers, but in the autumn I would appreciate a bouquet of sharpened pencils as a way to mark the start of the fall even more than I’d appreciate a bouquet of roses (my favorite, btw).

In college, I didn’t have a great start. I was homesick, bored, and sortof lost. But even as a young person fall flavors always comforted me.

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Intuitive Eating GIVEAWAY

October 23, 2017 By The Hungry Dater 2 Comments

Dating and fitness often go hand in hand. “Date Weight” is a thing and we all know it.

In Reno, though, it’s more about the culture here. Everyone likes to do things outside and active and if you can’t do that, there’s little people can connect on.

While I am not a dieter, we all know being dateable comes with being healthy. In this area especially, athleticism is almost a prerequisite.

I wasn’t always an avid non-dieter. It took a lot for me to get to the point where I’m more concerned with my health than my weight. I’m healthy, active, fun, and even on occasion pretty athletic. I run half marathons regularly, I’ve now hiked the Tahoe Rim Trail, and I don’t balk when I’m invited on a date that includes some sort of physical activity. What inspired the change? “Intuitive Eating.”

While the story is longer than is reasonable for this post, trust me when I say “Intuitive Eating” changed my life. All those years of restricting and fighting my body’s responses, have been slowly unraveled to reveal a body which is strong, curvy, beautiful, and capable of doing almost anything I want to as far as active recreation.

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Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

October 21, 2017 By The Hungry Dater Leave a Comment

One day in college I was furious when I discovered one of my roommates had tried to fool me out of one of my most coveted treats I had brought from home. I awoke one morning and went to the kitchen to make some toast out of House of Bread’s famous pumpkin bread, which, I might add, was only available once a year. I opened the bag, measured out the perfect sized slice with my knife and began to cut. Off fell a tiny triangle-sized piece of the bread.

Now, for anyone else, it would be reasonable to think I had cut the last piece of this bread diagonally by mistake. Hey, it was college–it could even have been at the end of an evening in the bars. However, aside from the fact that I was weirdly OCD about the sizes and straightness of these slices, I was COVETOUS of this bread. I knew someone had stolen it. And I was pissed.

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“Date Night In” Giveaway Winner!!!

October 17, 2017 By The Hungry Dater Leave a Comment

Good evening, Hungry Daters!

So, first thing, I need to apologize for the two week delay in announcing this pick! Like everyone who has a blog, website, or online business does at one time; I spent the last two weeks working to repair and restore the site after most of the files were lost.

So, though we’re going to be semi-under construction for a while, while I re-design and update the site, I still owe someone a free copy of one of my favorite Cookbooks, “Date Night In”!

So, without further ado, the winner of the Hungry Dater’s first giveaway of 2017 is:

Ann Malloy from Reno, Nevada!

As for the rest of everything, expect a relatively significant amount of posts in the next few weeks, because I have about a month’s worth of content to catch up on. 🙂

Until then, Happy Cooking!!!

Pasta & Tomatoes

September 26, 2017 By The Hungry Dater Leave a Comment

This time of the year is my favorite (just in case I haven’t said it enough already), and one of the reasons I love it so much is the produce. Namely, the exquisite tomatoes.

As I’ve already said, I do not have fortune of having the green thumb possessed by my mother, aunt, and cousin. I planted 3 tomato plants this year and ended up with a meager 5 tomatoes. My mom, however, planted 2 tomato plants and has produced enough tomatoes to keep all of us in caprese salad for a couple of weeks now, with no indication of slowing production.

There are times that I find myself with more tomatoes than I know what to do with. When this happens, I worry that these lovely homegrown tomatoes will go bad, as one can only eat so much tomato salad.

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Pesto Risotto

September 18, 2017 By The Hungry Dater Leave a Comment

One thing you may not know about me yet: I have a completely black thumb. I can’t grow anything. I have had a pot of live basil in my kitchen that I have had to replace no less than eight times in the two years I’ve lived here. All I have wanted is to get this stuff to grow and flourish. But I just can’t get myself to step up and take good enough care of it. I did ok for a few months this year, but only because I had two weekly reminders on my phone to water it. A few moths ago, something happened with my phone, it glitched and lost the reminders, and the basil bit the dust (again).

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“Date Night In” Giveaway!!!

September 8, 2017 By The Hungry Dater 1 Comment

Hello Hungry Daters!!!

I’m back! I took a hiatus but now I’m back and I’m pumped!

Whenever I take a break from something and come back to it, I’m always inclined to reflect on why I started in the first place. When it comes to blogging, cooking, and relationships, if I ever find myself wondering where I stand and what I want out of this crazy internet world, my mind always turns to Ashley Rodriguez at Not Without Salt.

With the Autumn always comes for me a major upswing in energy. I swear it’s like August 15 hits and three days later my whole body wakes up. Suddenly I’m alert, perky and ready to conquer the world. But even with the renewed spirit comes quiet reflection. Why am I here? Why do I share myself (and my food) with the internet world?

Then I think of Ashley’s book, Date Night In. I want to say I was one of the first to buy it–and then read it cover to cover. While I do read cookbooks cover to cover semi-regularly (yes, I’m a weirdo), this was something different. Ashley has a way with her words and the food they inspire of making you feel… and then turning that feeling into soul-soothing food. That is why I share. With the hope that someday I can inspire someone to use the kitchen to comfort their soul–or maybe even to help build a relationship, or repair a broken heart–with the simple execution of a recipe.

So with that in mind, I’m psyched to get back to The Hungry Dater and to continue sharing great recipes, ridiculous pickup lines, and some stellar restaurant recommendations! And in order to show you just how psyched I am, I’m giving away Ashley’s book to one lucky person. Just subscribe to my email list and comment below and one winner will be chosen at random on September 30. Or, if you want to purchase Ashley’s book, there is a link below.

Here’s to a new (school?) year; a (slightly) new look; new dating prospects; and of course a new batch of incredible, edible, soul-nourishing recipes!

Happy Cooking!

***This post contains affiliate links. If clicked on, I may receive a portion of any sales made.

Lamb Stew

October 16, 2016 By The Hungry Dater Leave a Comment

For probably my entire life, every October, there is always one crisp day where I’d get a huge treat because my Grammy or mom, announce that they’re going to make Lamb Stew. Lamb Stew, for our family, has been a Fall tradition for as long as I can remember. In the past, when anyone decided to make it, it ended up being a night when family came over for no reason other than to share a good meal together. We’re all so busy anymore that doesn’t happen as much, but nowadays, it will at least get Flower and I go head over to my parents for a nice quiet Sunday dinner and catch up. That’s my goal for Sundays on The Hungry Dater–to create great meals which get shared with good people. That’s exactly what this meal has been for me.

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Spiced Candied Pecans

October 8, 2016 By The Hungry Dater Leave a Comment

Whatever day this recipe walked off the Turbinado Sugar package and into our family was a really good day. Honestly, this was sortof the first thing I ever liked that had actual Cayenne Pepper in it! Not only did I like them, I actually REQUESTED them from my mom whenever the Autumn leaves started changing. In law school, I made these for my roommate one year, and forever-more, they will be deemed “Yum” because that’s what he and all his friends called them.

I think this was also probably one of the first of my mom’s recipes that I actually mastered on my own when I started learning to cook. I wasn’t able to come home for Thanksgiving that year. And while I was pretty good with my decision (if you’ve ever driven from SF to Reno/Tahoe on a holiday weekend, you’ll get it), I was also pretty bummed that I was going to miss out on my mom’s cooking. So I called her one day, asked her for this recipe. After buying $20 worth of shelled pecans, I figured I really couldn’t afford to get it wrong. (PS. Buy them at Costco! Waaaay cheaper and still good quality.) Turned out, they’re totally easy and a HUGE hit with almost anyone you give them to!

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Pomegranate Cosmopolitan Martini

October 6, 2016 By The Hungry Dater Leave a Comment

My mom makes the best flavored martinis. For some reason, she’s just super good at it. I’m always a bit shy to try a new cocktail recipe. I think it’s probably because liquor is so expensive that I’m afraid of messing it up, so I seem to get one right and just stick with it for long periods of time. Haha. My mom is awesome at it though. She finds a flavor she likes, adopts it, adapts it, and it comes out tasting delicious!

Probably her #1 go-to specialty drink is this cocktail. I don’t know why this feels like a Beginning-of-Fall Drink to me, but I felt this was the time of year to share it with you. Perhaps it’s because the garnet-y pomegranates are now starting to come into season. I think it also has something to do, though, with the fact that this is cool and refreshing, while still employing some of the heavier Fall-ish flavors. The perfect cocktail to enjoy on a warm, but crisp, Indian Summer evening in my dear old Reno, Nevada!

There’s little fanfare needed for this delicious cocktail, so without further ado, enjoy the Pomegranate Cosmo!

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