Ben's Birthday

Tuesday was Ben's birthday. We had a very quiet day, and while he was at work I cleaned the house and baked some yummies.  When he got home, this is what I had.

How's that for a birthday spread?

I made pumpkin spice cookies, (from a pre-made mix, for some reason I really struggle with from-scratch cookies), and a no-bake cheesecake, which he requested. (Again from a mix...I have never had success with cheesecake either....those are my 2 baking weaknesses...cookies and cheesecake. Sad. Maybe I just need more practice).  We went to Roselli's Pizza for dinner, which is a place we've been with friends one other time. It was yummy and we had lots of leftovers to take home.  That was pretty much it for the actual day.

This past weekend we had a cookout with his parents and a few friends.  It was a nice evening, Ben grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, and better cheddars (my new favorite grill item). If you don't know what they are, basically it's a sausage with cheese in it.  Extremely tasty, but not a very healthy choice, so we don't eat them very often. SO much sodium. Yikes.  Anyways, we had ice cream cake at the birthday boy's request, and the ladies who came over helped me make cheesy bacon potato bites (from this blog), mini carmel apples, (based on this recipe), and chips and salsa.  It was a very successful evening, and I think we all had fun.  Ben's parents spent the night with us, and the next morning I tried a quiche for the very first time. It was surprisingly successful.  I used this recipe from Savory Sweet Eats and it was awesome, although time consuming.  The night before I shredded the cheese, which took the longest, because I only have a small hand grater, not a box grater (I should put that on my Christmas list!). I had a block of cheddar and a block of swiss.  It took forever.  Luckily I didn't use all the already-cooked bacon from the potato bites the night before, so I was able to throw that in the morning of.  I also bought pre-cooked diced ham, and pre-cooked sausage crumbles from Jimmy Dean. (I was nervous about it, but the sausage was really good).  Thank goodness I had the pre-cooked meat, because in addition to mixing up the egg mixture, I had to brown my crust before putting in the filling.  I had never used a pre-made pie crust, but I think pre-made is a misnomer.  It's pre-mixed and ready for the oven. Not pre-made.  Anyways, I struggled to get the egg mixture in on top of the cheese and meat, it kept spilling out the sides.  However, when it was finally done cooking and ready to eat, it looked beautiful and tasted awesome too!

All in all I would say that Ben's birthday was a success!