Birthday Dinner

I love making special birthday dinners. I get to cook all day and at the end I get to feed some delicious dishes to my family. Since having children it's been a bit tough to get these meals made but every once in awhile I try. I haven't done anything too complicated in awhile though.

So my dad's birthday was on Tuesday. The big 60! Happy Birthday Daddy! Yeah, so what if I call my dad, daddy!

So I made New stuffed potatoes, roasted veggies, my hubby made the steak and I made Dream Pie, a recipe from the new Taste of Home's Simple & Delicious magazine.

Basic Dream Pie
1 tbs. water
1 envelope unsweetened soft drink mix (I used orange Koolaid)
1 tbs. add-in
2 pkg. (3 oz. each) cream cheese
1 c. confectioner's sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. heavy whipping cream, whipped
1 graham cracker crust (9inches)
2 tbs. drizzle accent
Fruit Garnish

1. In a small bowl, combine the water and soft drink mix until dissolved. Stir in add-in.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat hte cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and soft drink mixture until fluffy. Fold in whipped cream. Spread into crust. Chill for at least 1 hour or until set.
3. Decorate dessert plates with a drizzle accent; top each with a piece of pie. Add fruit garnish. Refrigerate leftovers.
Yield: 6-8 servings.

Dream Pie Variations
Unsweetened drink mix: strawberry
Add-in: strawberry ice cream topping
Drizzle Accent: hot fudge, warmed
Fruit Garnish: fresh strawberries

Unsweetened drink mix: lemonade
Add-in: lemonade concentrate
Drizzle Accent: seedless raspberry jam, warmed
Fruit Garnish: lemon slice

Unsweetened drink mix: orange
Add-in: orange juice
Drizzle Accent: white baking chocolate, melted
Fruit Garnish: quartered, orange slice

My version, I used Orange koolaid, five alive juice, chocolate ice cream topping and canned mandarin oranges and peaches. It was good, very decadent but I couldnt' eat all of my piece. So here's a picture of my finished pie.


The stuffed potatoes I got from recipezaar.com. I can't find the recipe though, so I'll give you my version.

New Stuffed Potatoes
4lb. potatoes
1c. sour cream
1/4 c. green onions
1/4 c. cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste.

1. Bake potatoes at 400°F for 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Cool and then cut of top 1/3 of potatoe. Scrape out, dig out, not sure how to say that, potato. Leaving 1/4 in of potato all around.
3. Beat potatoe insides until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients.
4. Spoon back into potatoes. Brush with melted butter and bake at 400°F for another 15 minutes.

The come out looking like this:


Roast veggies was easy. Cut up zucchini, red pepper and asparagus, place on foil lined cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and italian seasoning.


Steak is my honey's specialty. We'd seen an episode on http://www.americastestkitchen.com/ all about the perfect steak. Honey modified it and used this recipe;
Steak Marinade
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4c. soya sauce (China Lily is prefered in this house.)
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbs. Italian seasoning

Another Picture: