Homestyle Birthday Dinner
September 14, 2010
My husband had a birthday last week. On the 7th. What’s so great about this is that its the DAY AFTER OUR ANNIVERSARY.
Our wedding was one year ago, and it really was the best day of our lives… or one of them. And after we got married, we spent four perfect days at Big Cedar Lodge… which happens to be one of my top five places on earth.
And when we woke up on the seventh last year and my husband turned 28, he told me that a new wife and a lifetime to spend with her was truly the best birthday gift he could ever get. I LOVE him.
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This year he turned 29. And this is what I made him for his birthday.
First off, I arranged the following foods on the table for him. He LOVES these items. And we don’t usually get them, so they were a special treat.
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As for the meal itself, I didn’t blog the recipes because the beef pot pie is my friend Angie’s secret. The chocolate cake I’ll teach you some time.
Also, neither thing was very pretty. Just very rustic, down-home, and delicious.
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Look! I didn’t even crimp the edges of the crust! What kind of baker am I?
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This cake.
Is SO GOOD.
And I’ll tell you exactly how to make it.
Go to http://www.foodnetwork.com.
And do a quick search for Beatty’s Chocolate Cake.
It’s a Barefoot Contessa recipe. And to quote Barefoot… “It’s just fabulous.”
I would highly recommend making it a day ahead though. The icing is literally a thousand times better the second day. If you eat it right after you make it, the texture is like straight butter. If you wait and eat it the second day, it’s like FUDGE.
Enjoy the cake! And if you want to try my husband’s birthday beef pot pie… come to my house for dinner!
2 Comments
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Pretty / Hungry 
Critz, Since I admire you soooo much as pro cook, I need you to do me a favor. One of my biggest disappointments in life is the fact that I CANNOT make cookies. They turn out like biscuits… regardless of how careful I am. Can you do a “demo”/excellent recipe for me sometime? AND I am going to attempt to make your ganache cake this week! I’m super excited!
I’m SO not a professional, but you’re sweet. 🙂 Do me a favor when you make the ganache cake. Don’t use a mix. Use the “Beatty’s Chocolate Cake” recipe from foodnetwork.com. Not the icing… just the cake itself in place of the mix. That mix I used just got a little dry.
As for cookies… I’ve never had mine turn out like biscuits so I’d be happy to show you a demo! BUT, I’ll be honest and say that most of time I just buy the Tollhouse Ultimates dough from the store. (The kind that’s already formed into little balls in a tray for you.) It tastes better than any recipe I’ve found anyway!