A Birthday Feast...

Ryan's birthday dinner involved many firsts.....

Not the first time for this, but I asked Ryan what he would like for his birthday dinner......

It turned into a Chopped challenge, he named off a few ingredients for each course of the meal:

Appetizer: Popcorn

Side Dish: Marshmallows

Main Dish: Peanut Butter and Jelly

Dessert: Oreo and Ice Cream

Curious as to how this was the result?  His original response, was "same as last year."  I remembered the hours it took me to make the Chicken Pho and Spring Rolls, so I encouraged him to think of something else.  His next response, "peanut butter and jelly sandwiches."  If only I knew then, what I know now, but I responded with, "you can't have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for your birthday dinner."  Which then led to a birthday feast...

Appetizer: Bacon and Parmesan Popcorn

Main and Side Dishes: Peanut Butter stuffed Chicken breasts with PB&J sauce, marshmallow pastry puff, and marshmallow, strawberry salad with strawberry vinaigrette. 

And the granddaddy of all dinner finales.....Oreo Ice Cream Cake

The shocked birthday boy

Believe it....

Quit drooling on your keyboard...

Everything turned out very well, I was especially happy about the ice cream cake.  Only one problem, I did not like the peanut butter stuffed chicken (Ryan enjoyed it), I felt it was bland, not visually appealing, and when compared to the other meal components, it was a fail.  Not one to accept failure, and since everything was completely made up by me, I decided to give it another try.

I thought of this idea the next morning while working off the ice cream cake on the treadmill.

Bacon wrapped PB&J meatballs....MUCH better....

Birthday Dinner: Part 2, the next evening

And if I wasn't busy enough creating the dinner menu, it is also Russian custom for the birthday boy (or girl) to bring in treats to the office.  So, I made these tasty treats for Ryan's birthday party at the office...

Coca-Cola chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter cream cheese frosting...

It goes without saying, Russia does not provide me with many options to fill my time, so when it comes to spoiling my husband on his birthday, it is worth every minute.

Ryan enjoyed the dinner challenge so much, he has decided to create a monthly challenge.  Stay tuned to see what his next mystery ingredients will be, and what I'll create...