Birthday Dinner

Ryan celebrated his 28th birthday yesterday and we had a great time celebrating with him! I enjoyed planning and cooking up a yummy dinner for him and our friends. With the help of Mandi, everything came together!

Fresh cut sunflowers... they are beautiful and add a lot of happiness to our table!

The theme was skewers! I made rosemary skewers and chicken/beef kabobs. The chicken kabobs were like last recipe that I posted, but the beef was a new recipe and it hit the spot! The rosemary skewers were beautiful and delicious. They add a lot of presentation to food!

We had ALOT of kabobs! This was before they were cooked:

And for the Recipe - Here are some pics of those beautiful Rosemary Skewers!


Rosemary Skewers:

I used about 15 rosemary sprigs. I didn't buy cut rosemary at the store because in those little packets, you usually only get the top part of the rosemary sprig. I instead bought a whole rosemary plant from a local nursery and clipped off my own springs from the plant. And, I will be planting it in our garden for future rosemary! This allows you to have more sturdy "skewers" so you can thread more on!

Ingredients: Adapted from Pioneer Woman

15 rosemary sprigs

Kalamata olives (pitted)

Marinated Artichokes in a glass jar

Salami

Mozzarella (I bought the buffalo mozzarella that was already formed into bite-site balls, or you could easily cut a block of mozzarella into bite size cubes)

For the dressing:

1/2 cup olive oil

3 Tbs balsamic vinegar

salt

pepper

red pepper flakes

roasted garlic (1-2 cloves, diced or mashed - i.e. almost like a paste)

Directions:

Thread your ingredients on the rosemary sprig "Skewer". I started with an olive, added a piece of salami, then a piece of mozzarella, next the artichoke... you get the picture!

Then, plate your skewers and wisk the dressing ingredients together. Pour dressing over skewers and Viola! I didn't use all of the dressing, but you would if you made more than 15, fyi. I refrigerated mine until the party started, so they can definitely be made ahead of time and ready for your guests when they arrive! This actually gives the rosemary time to "infuse" into the ingredients and make it that much more yummy! I am thinking and getting pretty crazy with other things to add to these.. My first would definitely be roasted red bell pepper or cherry tomatoes. Just a thought!

I leave you with this recipe that will make you salivate! I will put up the beef kabob recipe next time... Oh, and I made Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream as well.... More on that later!