{date night :: happy hour at home}

I've always been a vocal supporter of dating while married. Sounds easy, right? I think that for a lot of couples, however, it can be difficult to find the time to actually date your spouse. Robert and I have always made an intentional decision to date after we got married, and there are definitely times when we spend more "couple" time together than others. 

One of our favorite things to do, however, is to just have date night here at home. To celebrate the end of another week, whether it was stressful or wonderful, we'll come home and have happy hour in our living room. That means homemade bar food and drinks to match, along with a movie that we've been meaning to watch. 

When I was asked to try Stella Artois' new Cidre, I knew exactly what I wanted to make to go with it. Let me tell you, none of it disappointed. 

I'm all about the semi-homemade here in the Duff household, especially when it's date night (and I have a beer or glass of wine waiting for me). I don't want to be slaving in the kitchen all day; I'd rather be spending time with my husband. that means that pretty much everything I make has some easy, store bought element to it.

My favorite grocery store of all time is (obviously) Trader Joe's. Pretty much everything here came from Trader Joe's, and I even found my new favorite sauce: Aioli Garlic Mustard Sauce. So good.

Hamburger Sliders with Gouda and Bacon

• 1 lb. ground beef, seasoned with salt and pepper and shaped into mini patties
• Par baked baguette
• Gouda cheese
• Mustard sauce (Aioli Garlic Mustard Sauce)
• Bacon

My secret for making sliders is frying up the bacon, and then cooking the hamburgers in the bacon grease. Healthy? Absolutely not. Delicious? You better believe it. 

Slather some of the mustard sauce onto the baguette (cut into appropriately sized "buns" of course). Once the hamburgers are cooked to your liking (i.e. red and raw or well done), throw some gouda and cooked bacon on there, and put it on the baguette. That's it. Ten minutes tops.

Sweet Potato Fries with Honey Mustard Sauce

So this is where the semi-homemade comes in. I just fry up the frozen sweet potato fries from Trader Joe's in canola oil and top with some brown sugar. As for the sauce, take that same mustard aioli/sauce, and just add some honey. Done and done. 

If you need a little green for your plate, make a quick salad with some bagged greens and mix a portion of the honey mustard sauce (above) with some balsalmic vinegar and olive oil. So. Easy. 

Robert and I ate this meal in about five seconds flat, and seriously enjoyed the Stella Cidre that went with it. Pretty much the perfect pairing, and the perfect date night.

It's Cidre, not cider. 

Compensation was provided by Stella Artois via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Stella Artois.