I'm poor....but it's Date Night.....what to do....0_o

Now I have found great way to cook sweet potatoes. They may not always seem so appealing in the store, but once you slice one of these babies open, it'll change your mind. All you need is one sweet potato for two people (depending how big the sweet potato is, you might be able to get more than two servings) Which usually runs for about a buck or two at the store. Give the skin a good rinse and then slice vertically down the potato. You are basically making the slices from 1/4-1/2 wide (which is really a personal preference how you want them)

I have a little grill from Ikea, so I grabbed that and put the slices of potatoes on the grill. Now in the first few moments of the potatoes on the grill, go to the fridge grab some butter and a microwave bowl, and take about half a table spoon and pop it in the microwave. Drizzle the butter over the top of the sweet potatoes and flip them.  You'll be repeating this for the other side.

Now while that's cooking. We have another thing to start prep on, our veggie! I'm going with eggplant tonight,  because it was on sale for $1 at the grocery store. One eggplant will serve about 2-3 people. Cut the eggplant similarly to the sweet potatoes. Then grab your olive oil, balsamic vinegar and some Italian seasoning and/or basil. I always have this stuff around.  If you don't have these ingredients, you should pick some up they are very versatile, I use most of them on a daily basis. Now put all these ingredients in a bowl and we will be glazing our egg plant slices in it.

By now, our sweet potatoes should be done, so grab those of the grill and throw them in a bowl ( I let them sit in the microwave, so the heat doesn't escape really quickly. ) Our grill is now clear for the egg plant. Again it's a personal preference how long you cook the eggplant, the longer, the mushier. =)

We need a protein,  and nothing impresses a guest more than a piece of Filet Mignon. Now, I'm not a huge beef fan,  I usually lean more towards turkey burgers and grilled chicken. However, in those rare occasions that I eat steak, not too much beats out a perfectly cooked piece of filet mignon.

FILET MIGNON?!!?!

yeah, I'm sure that would taste great... but I'm poor so what's the workaround? And my answer to most of these questions is good shopping. Trader Joe's carries a little package of filet in it's meat department. Usually runs about $9 a pound. (Which for those of you who don't know, that is an insanely good price for a pound of filet).

So total our price, with all fresh ingredients is running about $11 . That's it!! You'd spend more getting two meals at the drive through of McDonald's.  And everyone loves to be cooked for, whether they want to tell you or not.

So, that's it, put it on the plate. I almost always have left overs for the next day too. 

Oh, and the sweet potatoes are a wonderful leftover snack!! I'll put them in a little Tupperware and take them to work and eat them like softer potato chips. Homemade and  healthy potato chips.