Birthday queen!!
Before we got to celebrating Karen, I spent the afternoon doing a little nesting. I washed all the laundry in the house, cleaned the baseboard under my desk (which my dirty shoes scuff all the time), straightened up, reading some Ina May Gaskin and made some date balls!
Emily calls these Coconut Date Energy Bites but date balls is just easier to say
I made her recipe except I swapped toasted sunflower seeds for pumpkin seeds. The recipe is AWESOME and they were so easy. Loved the addition of oats and sunflower seeds. Sadly I ran out of coconut so mine don’t have the pretty sprinkled donut hole look. I ate two for a snack, put 5 in the fridge and frozen the rest!
Cocktail hour:
Followed by a delicious dinner!
We had turbot filets that I picked up at Whole Foods in some blackening spice. This fish was delightful! Just covered in seasoning and then seared in a pan of hot safflower oil until crispy on both sides.
Caprese salad on the side
Can’t get more delicious than garden tomatoes and basil! With slices of fresh mozzarella and drizzles of aged balsamic, olive oil and sea salt.
And finally, we roasted up these quirky tiny potatoes I found at WF. 400* for 40 minutes after tossing in roasted minced garlic, salt, olive oil and pepper.
For something different, we made a yogurt-dill-lemon sauce to go with them. This was just about 2/3 a cup of plain yogurt with about 1 heaping tsp dried dill, 1 scant tsp lemon, 2 pinches salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes.
And of course, the birthday desserts. We enjoyed two amazing items from Paradox.
A Buttermilk Tart – loved the crunchy raw sugar on top!
And a classic NY Cheesecake – incredibly thick and rich!
Happy Birthday To You!
lynn @ the actor's diet says
big happy bday to karen!
Kelly Ann says
The best birthday present for Karen would be a little bundle in her arms…
Greg says
Beautiful lady. Happy Birthday, Karen. Tried Emily’s Date Bites when she posted them a couple of weeks ago. Delicious!
Cait's Plate says
What a lovely celebration 🙂 A happy, happy birthday again to Karen!
Katie @ Peace Love and Oats says
Looks like a beautiful birthday dinner! And those date balls sound good, especially with sunflower seeds
Kaila says
OMG that dinner looks SO delicious! Every part of it I am almost 100% sure I would love! Th eroasted veg, the caprese salad, and ESPECIALLY the fish! It looks like its cooked perfectly!!!
Diane says
That dinner looks AMAZING! I am going to definitely make that soon.
Marge says
A wonderful birthday celebration.
Happy Birthday Karen.
j3nn says
Such cute little ‘tatoes! Everything looks deeelish. 🙂
Carly @ Snack Therapy says
Love those baby potatoes! And happy birthday to Karen!
Allie@LiveLaughEat says
Happy Birthday, Karen!! You come up with the best post titles.
sarah @ So Sarah Laughed says
love those potatoes!
Stephanie says
The little potatoes are so cute! I need to look for them at my WF!
Brie says
Baby potatoes!!!!!
KathEats says
: )
Christine says
What a nice dinner! You are lucky to have such a good relationship with your MIL. I hope she gets to lend a hand during the first few weeks after the baby is born. It was always such a help to have people helping with meals, laundry, dishes, etc… after my babies were born. Sending you labor vibes!!!
Angela G. says
We had hoped my youngest (he’s 3) would be born on my sister-in-law’s birthday (ironically, her name is Karen also!). Nope. He wanted his own day. He came the following day. Maybe Baby KERF feels the same way! Happy birthday, Karen! Looks like a fun and delicious celebration!
Julia says
Those potatoes are darling!!! At first glance I was sure they were chickpeas. What a lovely, scrumptious birthday celebration!
Angel7 says
That seared fish looks really good — seared to perfection!
Matt looks so much like his mom 🙂
http://faithfulsolutions.blogspot.com/
McKenzie Morgan says
Your mother-in-law is absolutely stunning, just like you!
Becca says
*Squeals* Those potatoes are soooooooo cute!
Katie @ Talk Less, Say More says
What a lovely dinner. And Happy Birthday to Karen! 🙂
robin says
What a lovely looking 60, happy birthday Karen!
Kel says
Happy Birthday Karen!
Meagan says
Today’s my birthday too! Guess Karen and I have the same one!
KathEats says
Happy b day!
Averie @ Averie Cooks says
Happy Bday to Karen and fab dinner and fab looking date balls/energy bites – love making raw little bites like that. Fun to toss stuff into the food proc and just see what happens!
cathy@1970kikiproject says
wishing a happy birthday weekend to karen!
i guess baby did not want to share his birthday with his grandma!
Kristen @ The Balanced Bowl says
Like so many others here I am LOVING the itty bitty potatoes!!!! Why do we love tiny little foods so much? I don’t know but if I spotted those on a grocery shelf there’s no way I’m going home without them! Ha!
Happy birthday to Karen. 🙂
Fran@ Broken Cookies Don't Count says
Happy Birthday, Karen! The salad looks incredible and those little potatoes are too cute!
Karen says
A huge happy (belated) b-day to Karen!! A photogenic celebratory dinner for sure!
My rainy Saturday looked a lot like yours. Oh, and Emily’s date balls are working their way up my priority list this weekend – yum!
Chelsea @ One Healthy Munchkin says
Happy birthday to Karen! I can’t believe how tiny those potatoes are – I’ve never seen ones like them before!
i heart salt says
It’s 9:00 a.m. and no post…..anybody else thinking what I’m thinking? Maybe Karen’s birthday present is a day late? ;0)
KathEats says
I rarely post before 9:30 — but thanks for the wishful thinking!
i heart salt says
Some good friends of ours had their first yesterday (a girl!) so I was hoping the same for you!!
Kelsey says
Ha.. I thought the same thing! Dang.
Emily @ www.main-eats.com says
Happy birthday Karen! Looks like a great way to celebrate!!!
amelia says
Lovely dinner and lovely guest of honor. I hope those desserts were as tasty as they look! Happy Birthday Karen!
chris says
Our little Love Bug was born the day after Bob’s birthday, just sayin… Love and 60 hugs y’all!
KathEats says
The coincidences in our families are just crazy!!
Julie@seize the veggies says
Love those tiny potatoes…more skin to enjoy!