who just turned 37???

Who doesn't love birthdays? It's a great excuse to show someone love through celebrating them, eating yummy food, and giving gifts. I like pretty gifts.

Our dear friend, Christa, was born on September 28, 1974. She starts the streak of 1974 birthdays in our household, followed by Ben and myself. Ro LOVES birthdays, so we decided to throw Christa a little Smith girl birthday party. Note: Christa's parents are throwing her a little par-tay this weekend, which Ro will not be able to attend. She tried everything: "Well Mom. I could stay up later." "It's okay if I'm the only kid there." And her quest to negotiate grew from there. I had the trump card - throwing our own party.

The kicker for me is picking what to eat. I have no idea why this is so difficult for me, but I experience this on a daily basis. I broke my own "people coming over for a meal" rule - I made not one, but two new recipes. What was I thinking? I'll tell you. I wanted something special, different, and this meant uncharted territory. Chicken in phyllo and vegetable couscous turned out to be delicious and pleasing to the eye. For dessert, Ro wanted to make a vanilla cake with vanilla icing. We settled on chocolate cake with buttercream icing (Christa LOVES chocolate).

Rowyn picked the candles for the cake - we didn't have a 3 (since Ro had picked smiley face candles for her third birthday) so Ro decided on a 2, 1 smiley face candle, and 1 pink candle. Ah, to be 3 again....

Speaking of cake...has anyone found a great "from scratch" cake recipe? I have not. I have tried several, and they are always sub-par. Betty Crocker came through for us once again. The buttercream icing was delish (Ben didn't realize I had made it which I think meant it was pretty good). Ro INSISTED on sparkles.

You will notice that we were sans balloons which is a rarity in the Smith household. Ro's party planning skills have slipped (she ALWAYS wants balloons for every party).

I digress. I thought I would share the chicken in phyllo recipe because it was so very good.

Chicken in Phyllo

1 red pepper, thinly sliced into strips
Fresh spinach, stems removed
Fresh basil leaves
3/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half
8 phyllo pastry sheets (I used PC brand)
1/4 cup butter, melted

Lay 1 sheet of phyllo on counter and fold in half (not length-wise). Brush melted butter on edges. Place one-half chicken breast in the middle, near the bottom of phyllo. Layer spinach leaves (I used 3, you could use more - I will next time), 1 basil leaf, a few pepper strips (I used 3 which seemed good), and some feta cheese on top of chicken.

Roll chicken and phyllo over once. Fold edges toward the middle and continue rolling to form a small rectangular package. Brush with a little butter. Place on a cookie sheet and cover with a slightly damp cloth while making the others.

Preheat oven to 375 and bake for 25-30 minutes (I found 25 was perfect).

My kitchen during naptime. 

I prepped everything during nap time, and assembled the pockets of pleasure ahead of time, wrapping them in plastic wrap and refrigerating them until I was ready to bake them for dinner. Here's something else I did. Since there was only 2 adult eaters and 1 child, I baked 4 of them. The other 4 were wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight so they could be freshly baked the following night.




Happy birthday Christa! You are much loved.....

Love our friends and family,
Tam