Hubby’s Birthday Dinner

Since we were out of town this past weekend, I decided to do hubby’s birthday dinner tonight. I normally make him his favorite steak dinner for his birthday (or other special occasions), but the key is that I get the meat from The Fresh Market. I was super bummed about having to go across town, braving an hour commute to the store (I hate traffic!), but I found out there was a new Fresh Market on my way home! Woohoo!

I started by making his cake. I got a box mix of Betty Crocker at FM, but they were out of chocolate frosting (yellow cake + chocolate frosting = hubby’s fave cake), so I decided to just make some icing from scratch later. I love this Cake Release stuff for baking. It really helps me get the cakes out of the pans. I popped 2 8″ cake pans of yellow cake batter into the oven while I cleaned off the dining room table.

I also trimmed some gerber daisies I got while at FM and set the table.

Once the cakes were done and the oven was free, I prepped the roasted potatoes. I got them ready to bake so I could add those to the oven once the next step was complete…the app!

I got to work on the appetizer. I sliced pieces of baguette on an angle, drizzled them with olive oil, and toasted them under the broiler (I didn’t burn them this time!).

Before grabbing a quick bite, I added the pre-prepped roasted potatoes to the oven so they could start cooking. I served the toasted baguette slices with some alouette spreadable cheese in the garlic & herbs flavor.

After taking a break to enjoy some bread & cheese, I got the salads prepped. I just got an Earthbound Farm Organic frissee salad mix and served it plain. I spent too much on dinner to get lots of toppings and didn’t have much around. We usually end up eating plain lettuce salads with meals and I kinda like them that way. I do always use salad dressing, though, and tonight, I topped my salad with my fave – Drew’s Rosemary Balsamic.

I ate my salad while I cooked the steak…filet! I know this isn’t the “proper” way to cook a filet (since I cut the medallions into smaller pieces), but this is how it works with my dad’s recipe and we think it’s quite tasty.

While the steaks cooked, I sauteed some asparagus, and turned the oven off since the potatoes finished early (but left the potatoes in to stay warm).

Once everything was done cooking, I just had to plate up the food so we could enjoy!

Yum!

After dinner, I got started on the from-scratch-icing. I used the recipe on the back of the Hershey’s Cocoa box.

Then, it was cake frosting time.

Then, it was sprinkle time (hubby loves sprinkles).

I love cake!

My (first) slice. Working on the second now…heehee.

Happy birthday, Hubby! Love you!