Birthday Bash

Lobster stuffed beef tenderloin, roasted red potatoes and yellow buttermilk cupcakes, oh my!!! For my father in law and nephew's birthdays, we had a dinner party in our home. We kept the meal to meat and potatoes, with a little lobster thrown in to spruce things up.  My sister in law, Janet, made the amazing lobster stuffed beef tenderloin. It was extremely tender and flavorful.  She made a garlic butter sauce as a garnish to drizzle over the meat and fish.  I kept things simple as well, making basic oven roasted red skinned potatoes and yellow cupcakes. I spent a long time icing and decorating the cakes to get some practice with my decorating tips. I have a lot to learn, but it was definitely fun! I used Martha's Stewart's Yellow Buttermilk Cupcake Recipe and Wilton's Buttercream Icing Recipe  for the cake and icing.I used M&Ms,colored sprinkles and marshmallows for a decorative touch. The potatoes were awesome, spiced up with some white pepper and dill. Without further ado, here are the recipes used to make our dinner party a success.

Beef Stuffed Tenderloin  from allrecipes.com (Similar to Janet's recipe)
3 whole lobster tails
4 pounds beef tenderloin filet
1 cup butter
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 cups white wine
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic salt
8 Slices of bacon to garnish
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add lobster tails, and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from water, rinse and remove shells. Cut tail meat in half lengthwise. Cut tenderloin lengthwise, to within 3/4 inch of the bottom. Fill center of meat with lobster tails. In a saucepan, melt butter with lemon juice, garlic powder and 1 cup of the wine. Drizzle about 1/4 of the butter mixture over the lobster. Tie the tenderloin with kitchen string. Rub tenderloin with olive oil and place in a roasting pan. Pour remaining wine in bottom of pan. Sprinkle with cracked pepper. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Top tenderloin with bacon for the last 10 minutes of cooking. Stir garlic salt into remaining butter mixture, and serve with slices of roast.

 
Roasted Red Potatoes  from cooks.com 
4 to 5 red potatoes, medium size
1/2 stick of butter
3 tbsp. Lawry's seasoned salt
2 tsp. white pepper
2 tsp. chives, chopped
2 tsp. dill weed
Instructions 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and scrub 4 to 5 medium-size red potatoes. Chop potatoes into small pieces approximately 1/2 to 3/4 inch in length and width. Place chopped potatoes into ungreased glass baking dish approximately 8 x 12 inches. Cut one stick of butter into 1/4 inch slices and place over potatoes so that potatoes are covered. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons Lawry's seasoned salt over butter. Sprinkle 3 teaspoons white pepper, chopped chives and dill weed over salt. Roast in oven 45 to 60 minutes, turning potatoes every 15 minutes.

Roasted Pepper Coulis over Broiled Chicken & Fusilli

There was a tough crowd in my house tonight. In an effort to get more veggies in our diets, I took stock of what was in the refrigerator. A fiery red bell pepper and gleaming yellow bell pepper caught my eye. Off to the cookbooks and Google I went.  I decided to make pepper coulis and serve it over broiled chicken and fusilli pasta. This was really a plan within a plan, since I thought I could introduce the plain chicken and pasta to the kids and slowly add some of the coulis to get them to try it.  I went balls out with my husband - spooning a hefty amount of the sauce over the chicken.  I was in love at first bite. I was so proud of my first coulis. Then I looked over at my biggest child - my husband. He was poking the chicken with his fork, a skeptical look on his face. He delicately licked sauce off one fork tine. Then made a face. "What is this?" he asked, pushing the chicken around the plate. I slowly and carefully explained how I made the pepper sauce. Then he decided it was the chicken he didn't like and ate the sauce over the fusilli. The baby tried a tiny, tiny bit over her pasta and seemed to like it. My son went nowhere near it, but at least he ate the pasta. Anyhow, I highly recommend this recipe, which I pieced together from different recipes I researched. Enjoy!

Roasted Pepper Coulis
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 TBSP Balsamic Vinegar
1 TSP Sea Salt
1 TSP  Freshly Ground Pepper
1/4 cup of veggie or chicken stock

Heat oven to 450F.  Clean and rough chop peppers. Combine peppers in a roasting pan or Corningware with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt and pepper. Roast in oven until fork tender, around 20 minutes. Check peppers at the 10 minute mark and mix them around in the pan. Remove when done and allow to cool for five minutes. Remove peppers from pan and add to blender. Add the oil from the roasting pan to blender. Add 1/4 cup of stock to blender. On low, blend on the slowest setting. Once it starts combining, change method on blender to puree. Serve over chicken and pasta.

Roasted Veggie Pasta Primavera

This was a lazy week for the family. My husband, a teacher, had two in service days, followed by a four day weekend. I tried to keep the meals simple, but also wanted to try something new.I added a different twist to an old favorite, Pasta Primavera. Instead of just sautéing the veggies or steaming them, I roasted the veggies and added butternut squash for a nice change. The result: simple, yet nutritional and yummy. Enjoy!

Pasta Primavera(Serves 4)
1/2 -3/4 box of Spaghetti Rigatti or Angel Hair Pasta
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 butternut squash, seeded and peeled(use an apple peeler), then cubed
3 TBSP olive oil (2 for sautéing garlic, one for tossing veggies prior to roasting)
1 TBSP Kosher salt
1 TSP pepper
1 TSP parsley
1 TSP onion powder

Prepare and chop veggies. Take all veggies, excluding garlic, and toss with seasoning and 1 TBSP olive oil. Spread out on baking sheet and roast at 375 for 25 minutes or until fork tender. While roasting veggies, boil water and cook pasta. Drain when complete. Heat 2 TBSP olive oil and add garlic. When veggies are done, add mixture to pan and coat. Add pasta and combine all ingredients. Enjoy!