A Special Someone's 38th Birthday!

My darling husband (who, ahem!, hasn't blogged in FOREVER--yes I am calling you out on that, Mr!) just celebrated his 38th yesterday.  Actually, because his birthday falls on a Monday and that's kinda lame, we celebrated over the weekend and will continue to when his mom comes into town next weekend.

Just to chronicle what an awesome wife I am, I got him the following:

No, I did not get him 4 chicken legs.  It's a 5 quart saute pan that he's been lusting after, oh, for like EVER.

Chris used it to make chicken and we had a side of farmers' market lima beans (I think that's what those were) and leftover Jerusalem artichokes.  By the way, did you know Jerusalem artichokes are neither from Jerusalem nor are they related to artichokes?  There.  Now you know and you can look smart in front of all your friends. 

I asked my lovely friend Lauren what she would do with two quarts of Jerusalem artichokes and she pointed me in the direction of this recipe.  Should you ever come across Jerusalem artichokes, I highly recommend this.

Then on Sunday I felt like making something different and we decided on crab and corn empanadas with roasted poblano sauce that I had seen on Healthy Delicious.  OMG, YUM.  And super easy.

I paired it with watermelon salsa, some leftover black beans and fried plantains:

Okay, so maybe using the 5 quart saute pan for the plantains was a bit overkill, but a certain someone was super excited about his birthday present.

And finally, last night after work I threw together this super easy peanut butter pie.  I figure when you're going for something like peanut butter pie, it's probably best to consult Paula Deen. 

So the picture's not exactly great looking, but it is delicious.  Oddly enough, the cream cheese totally makes it.  It lends a creaminess, richness and enough tang to keep it from being too sweet.

Anyway, happy birthday Chris! 

And, because I'm obsessed with my cat, here's a ridiculously cute picture of her little frog legs as she was camped out on top of her scratching thing and staring at the wall:

I'm sure she wishes you a happy birthday, too.