Birthdays!

This dinner was also a celebration of Bethany and Wesley's birthdays.  We cooked at Ian and Jeanette's house in Seattle, wanting to take advantage of the deck with a beautiful view to grill and eat outside.  Unfortunately, the one day in a stretch of great weather that we chose to make a meal based on being outside, it rained!  But the rain was light enough while we were cooking that we were still able to grill outside and eat dinner on the deck without getting too wet.

The main dish was Open-Faced Tuna Sandwiches with Arugula and Sweet-Pickle Mayonnaise from Giada at Home by Giada DeLaurentiis.  We used the recipe as a guide, but changed a few things.

Rather than use dried herbs de Provence on the tuna steaks, we chopped up fresh herbs from the garden

We also made a garlicky Aioli from the September 2011 Food Network Magazine to have in place of mayonnaise, and had dill pickle relish along with it.  Since we were making salad and vegetables on the side, we also left off the arugula on top of the sandwiches.

The rest of the meal was also grilled - our vegetable side dish was Grilled Summer Squash from the July/August 2011 Food Network Magazine

This was a mixture of Summer squash from the garden at Cornerstone, as well as some that we purchased, since the garden was not yet at it's peak for squash

Instead of topping it with ricotta salata, we used a raw goat's milk feta cheese

Our salad was also grilled, using only that portion of the recipe for Chicken Skewers with Grilled Romaine, also from the July/August 2011 Food Network Magazine.

These were very delicate heads of lettuce from Ian and Jeanette's garden 

After spreading the dressing on them, they were quickly grilled and then topped with grated romano cheese

Because this was also a birthday celebration, we decided to make a dessert that Bethany would love, which means it would include chocolate and peanut butter!  We chose a Peanut Butter Cream Pie recipe by Emeril Lagasse.

The filling had whipped cream folded into it, so it was very light and fluffy...but it also subdued the peanut butter flavor some.  With the extra whipped cream served on top, it was kind of a lot of whipped cream!  The pie was good, but we would probably try a different recipe next time, and look for one with a more dense filling containing lots of peanut butter! 

And of course, we have to include a picture of the now two-year-old birthday boy!