Foo - Wife's birthday today.. what to make for dinner?

Usually I am very good at coming up with a menu. Today I am stumped. What to make? Beef tenderloin? Seared Tuna? What would be a good birthday meal? (She likes almost anything). Any ideas?

(I have a nice bottle of Campaign chilling down... so perhaps something that goes well with the bubbly? Er.. wait.. just about everything goes well with the bubbly..)

you leave it pretty wide open there.

Assuming champagne is the drink of choice, I would choose a lighter dish; chicken or lighter fish/seafood.
good french white/cream sauce would be good.

roasted vegetables.

you leave it pretty wide open there.

Hehe.. thats part of the problem.. my brain just isn't working today (as probably has been evident in my posts this morning ;) )



Assuming champagne is the drink of choice, I would choose a lighter dish; chicken or lighter fish/seafood.
good french white/cream sauce would be good.

roasted vegetables.

Roasted Veggies- that sounds like a winner. Chicken, probably not as we have it quite often, so maybe something more "Special".. though Cornish game hens might be good...

Cream sauces are one of the few things she doesn't like too much (forgot about that).

I'll have to see what the fish monger has today. Maybe a nice clams/tomatoes/white wine sauce/linguine. Hummmmm...

Cook her whatever ya'll ate on your first date.

Wife's birthday today.. what to make for dinner?

reservations.

Cook her whatever ya'll ate on your first date.

That would get some laughs. First date, we went to a movie and had dessert. She made it for me- a frozen cheesecake she forgot to thaw. I ate an entire, frozen solid, block of cheesecake.. a few years later she told me how much she appreciated me eating it- it was HORRIBLE, but I kept a smile, and nom, nom'd the whole thing down! :roflmao2:

Well, at least you have dessert covered.

here's the easiest most delicious pan sauce recipe ever.

toss chicken breasts in a zip lock with flour until just coated
heat 3 T oil over med heat
cook chicken breasts, 5 min eac side, or until done

remove chicken from pan BUT leave drippings
add 1 cup chicken broth to the pan
stir with wooden spoon to loosen drippings
add 6 oz cream cheese
let melt, stir with wire wisk
(if sauce is too thin, add 1-2 T corn starch as needed)

Put chicken breasts back in pan, turn over to coat with sauce, cook an additional 2 min

serve over FRESH boiled noodes. (fresh pasta makes all the difference!)
Top with fresh basil and quartered cherry tomatos

devour.

If you like zucchini, I can also give you a delish stuffed and baked zucchini recipe that compliments it.

Thanks artiface- that does look like a very nice chicken dish/sauce.

I'd be happy to see your stuffed/baked zucchini recipe. I'm not a huge fan, but my wife loves Zucchini. :)

marinated swordfish
angelhair pasta

I'd be interested int the zucchini recipe also.

Zucchini also is good roasted, as is any type of squash, cherry tomatoes, eggplant.

or lemon/garlic/cracked peppercorn with parmesan chicken breasts and wide spinach noodles (usually make my own if i have the foresight)

Dunno how ya'll feel about getting your scrump on after eating garlic, but it's damn tasty, and if you both eat it, does it matter if you have garlic breath? :)

garlic is a necessity of life.

garlic is a necessity of life.

As is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listerine when it is garlic + wife :p

heh

I have a special place in my heart for asian fusion, so I'd say furikake mahi mahi with stir fried fresh veggies and sweet potato slices. Furikake also works well with most white fish, I use it on tilapia quite frequently because it makes up for the frozen white fish almost lack of taste.

I'm going to have teriyaki furikake chicken breast tenders tonight with steamed brocolli.

Also, LaChoy makes a most excellent garlic ginger sauce. One of the few things my boyfriend and I both really like, especially baked on a turkey breast tenderloin.

I have a special place in my heart for asian fusion, so I'd say furikake mahi mahi with stir fried fresh veggies and sweet potato slices. Furikake also works well with most white fish, I use it on tilapia quite frequently because it makes up for the frozen white fish almost lack of taste.

I'm going to have teriyaki furikake chicken breast tenders tonight with steamed brocolli.

mmmm.. that sounds quite good! Unfortunately, I'm vehicle less today, and the Asian market where I'd get Furikake at is too far away.. but I'll definitely put that in the short list for some day soon! :)

you can make a quick stir fry sauce/marinade with soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger and honey.

something with puppies.

What to make?

Love is the answer.

What does she like best? In my wifes case it would be lasagna. And luckily I make a pretty decent lasagna.

Love is the answer.I think thats dessert. jk. There are some nice recipes here. Arti's pan sauce sounds yummy.

What does she like best? In my wifes case it would be lasagna. And luckily I make a pretty decent lasagna.

That is a very hard question to answer... It depends on so many variables, I dont even know where to start. The good news is- she likes almost anything.. its that "best" part that is hard.

That is a very hard question to answer... It depends on so many variables, I dont even know where to start. The good news is- she likes almost anything.. its that "best" part that is hard.

Well, then I think anything you make will be just fine:D

Cornish hens cooked on the grill and roasted veggies.

Humm.. just came across one I did a while back that was a hit:

Seared bay scallops with pastry wrapped roasted veggies and a white wine sauce. That sounds yummy, and the fish monger has some very nice looking scallops today.

wait...you got a real fish monger?

we have either Albertsons (which means frozen) or Whole Foods (which means whole paycheck)

wait...you got a real fish monger?

we have either Albertsons (which means frozen) or Whole Foods (which means whole paycheck)

Yes, we do. Just about 100' from my office (or a half mile walk from home) is the shop. He goes out to the pier in NYC every morning at 4am with his refrigerated truck, and picks up whatever looks best. His shop is AWESOME for seafood.

<--- Jealous

<--- Jealous

Hehe.. as well you should be!

That is one of the things I will REALLY miss about NJ when I leave here. I grew up in Minnesota- very little fresh seafood there (a few of the higher end grocers get a single type of fish in fresh, 1 or 2 days a week). So I'll take advantage of it while I'm here! :)

Down here, we get pretty decent seafood, but we are just far enough from the coast to make obtaining it an adventure.

I love scallops. Go for the scallops.

Thanks artiface- that does look like a very nice chicken dish/sauce.

I'd be happy to see your stuffed/baked zucchini recipe. I'm not a huge fan, but my wife loves Zucchini. :)


I'd be interested int the zucchini recipe also.

Zucchini also is good roasted, as is any type of squash, cherry tomatoes, eggplant.

There are few things I make following measured recipes, so bear with me. I usually split 1 zuchinni for 2 people (I eat alot of veg's though) if you quartered them you could probably serve 4 people on 1 zucchini.

1 zucchini, cut off top and bottom
slice in half lengthwise
run a spoon down the middle to scoop out the seeds/soft center, and to make a groove for the stuffing.
if your halved zucchini doesn't sit flat, use a potato peeler to peel just a slice off the bottom so it sits well.

dice:
1/2 onion
1 seeded tomato

mix together:
diced onion & tomato, bread crumbs (ummm here is where the measurement fails, I just guess. maybe 1/3 cup?), a shake of garlic powder, dash of each dried basil and oregano, and a few tsp of olive oil (so its moist & sticks together).

Top with fresh grated parmesan and bake at 375ish (?? again my irregular cooking methods fail me) until zucchini is soft- about 30 minutes or so.

I usually throw it in the oven before I start the chicken, and its done about the same time.

Even if you're not a zucchini fan, the stuffing is good to scoop out and eat :)

how was the romantic night for the wife? inquiring minds want to know what was for dinner ;)

Well, then I think anything you make will be just fine:D

I think the fact you're making her dinner is pdg! :thumb:

how was the romantic night for the wife? inquiring minds want to know what was for dinner ;)

It went great! I ended up doing the seared scallops with roasted veggies wrapped in puff pastry. That with a nice bottle of champaign, and some german chocolate cake made for a great meal.

But I have taken notes on all the great suggestions and have a few weekend menus planned.

Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions!

I think the fact you're making her dinner is pdg! :thumb:

Me making dinner is the norm here- I love cooking, she hates it. She doesn't mind doing dishes, I hate dishes (though I did do them Friday night).

It works great! :)

how was the romantic night for the wife? inquiring minds want to know what was for dinner ;)
It went great! I ended up doing the seared scallops with roasted veggies wrapped in puff pastry. That with a nice bottle of champaign, and some german chocolate cake made for a great meal.


If it went so well, why are you dorking out on the internet with bike geeks? I do like the scallops idea -- I'll try that with my wife sometime.

One super easy trick that takes no skill whatsoever and impresses those who don't know how to cook is to grill lobster tails. You can even buy 'em frozen. Just boil for 6 minutes, split open with poultry shears, and then broil for 6 minutes. Add lemon and butter to taste.

On the side, you can get away with anything, but tortellini in a nice alfredo sauce (go heavy on some interesting cheese and the basil) and a salad with many different kinds of greens, dried cranberries, a bit of parmesan, and a light oil and vinegar dressing goes well.

If it went so well, why are you dorking out on the internet with bike geeks?

Look at the original posting date my friend. Dinner was Friday night, and after 48-hours, I finally needed to come up for air ;) :p


One super easy trick that takes no skill whatsoever and impresses those who don't know how to cook is to grill lobster tails. You can even buy 'em frozen. Just boil for 6 minutes, split open with poultry shears, and then broil for 6 minutes. Add lemon and butter to taste.

On the side, you can get away with anything, but tortellini in a nice alfredo sauce (go heavy on some interesting cheese and the basil) and a salad with many different kinds of greens, dried cranberries, a bit of parmesan, and a light oil and vinegar dressing goes well.

Salad/Tort Alfredo sounds good. My wife isn't a huge fan of lobster, so it probably wouldn't have been a great idea for her B-day, but I'll definitely drop the recipe in front of her for my B-day (I LOVE lobster.. mmmm..)

The scallops were great- seared them off in some olive oil, then sauteed some ****ake mushrooms in the resulting oil/scallop juices. Threw in some baby carrots and peas. Wrapped all the veggies up in a puff pastry pocket, and finished them off. My better half was very happy with the results. :)

Me making dinner is the norm here- I love cooking, she hates it. She doesn't mind doing dishes, I hate dishes (though I did do them Friday night).

It works great! :)

ah - well, I am sure it is still very much appreciated.

If I ever surprised my wife by making dinner she'd either have a coronary or accuse me of hiding something!:innocent:

I do the dishes, tho:roflmao2: