Michael's birthday

Happy birthday!!!! Michael wanted a home-cooked meal for his birthday, and I was happy to comply. He decided on stuffed shells, a vegetable side dish (I made Martha's lemon roasted broccoli and cauliflower), and, of course, his family classic, Wacky Cake.
I made the recipe based on this stuffed shells recipe, but modified it slightly. It ended up being something more like this:

1 package of pasta shells (cook for the time recommended for stuffing and baking, so they'll still be pretty firm as you stuff them)

Mix in a bowl:
1 package of low-fat ricotta (it's either 12 or 16 oz, can't remember)
~2 cups of fat-free cottage cheese
6-8 oz grated mozzarella
1/4 cup parmesan
2 eggs
1 tsp each: garlic powder, oregano, dried parsley, basil

Using a big ziploc bag with one corner snipped off (size of a dime), fill the shells and pack them into a 9x13 pan. Mine didn't all fit, so I put about 15 into a separate pie pan and froze them for later.

Top with 1 big jar spaghetti sauce (don't skimp--I needed 1.5 cans to cover the big pan and the pie pan), and another 1/4 cup parmesan. Bake, covered, for 25-35 minutes, at 350. You can remove the foil during the last few minutes to brown the cheese, but be careful, or the pasta will get dry, crunchy spots in it. Let it sit for a few minutes before serving.



I also made Martha Stewart's lemon roasted broccoli and cauliflower. I first made this for Michael over a year ago, on our second date. Awwww....

It's a really yummy recipe. Roasting is seriously the best thing you can do to cauliflower or broccoli, period. It takes away all the bitterness and brings out all the sweetness and savoriness. Mmm. The lemon is a really nice touch, too. Having whole slices of it gives smoky, intense, bright spots to the dish—you don't actually eat the lemon, but having it roasted right on top of the broccoli and cauliflower is a totally different experience from just using lemon juice to dress the veggies.
One thing I always forget with this recipe is that 475 is WAY too hot. It should be at 400 or 425, and still watched carefully. If you do it at 475, you will for sure lose some delicious bites of vegetables to burning, and that's no good.



And finally, I made Michael's childhood favorite, the Wacky Cake. His mom made this for him and his siblings during all of their birthdays growing up. I kept asking Michael if there was any way I could make it a little more exciting or fancy—if it's his special birthday treat, it should be more special than the same thing he and all his siblings got for years, right? So I asked, do you want a different frosting this year? Maybe cream cheese or something? Do you want a raspberry (or other fruit) filling in between the layers, and then chocolate frosting on the outside? Do you want a pastry cream filling? Cut the cake layers in half to fit in even more frosting/filling? How about a "crumb coat" layer of peanut butter frosting, and then the chocolate frosting on top of that? A ganache? Chocolate chips? Sprinkles? He said no to all of them! I was surprised he let me put birthday candles on top, for goodness' sake. :) I guess there's no messing with childhood memories!

Happy birthday, Michael! This was a fun meal to make!