Happy Birthday to my husband, Bob! He's a wonderful fellow, and today's his 61st birthday...... He spent it as back-up ambulance driver for our local all-volunteer ambulance service. Isn't that incredible? Our little town of 2500 people has two great ambulances, staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year by ALL volunteers. This amazing group of extra-ordinary people rotate on and off of 24-hour shifts, ready to drop everything at a moment's notice and rush to the aid of their fellow citizens. Today has been a good day in our little town-- no ambulance calls today. No one has had a heart attack, a car wreck, a fight or attack of domestic violence.......  It's a good day when that alarm doesn't go off.

Since we couldn't go out to eat to celebrate Bob's birthday, I cooked a DELICIOUS dinner at home tonight. As per his request, we didn't have a birthday cake. Bob's meticulous about sticking to his low-refined-carbs diet. Instead, we had all 'legal' dishes in our dinner:
                                    Rosemary Baked Chicken Breasts
                                   Whipped Spiced Sweet Potatoes
                                   Green Pea Salad
                                   Cranberry Sauce

Here's how I did it:

Rosemary Baked Chicken Breasts
        Place 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed, in a baking dish. (One of mine was very thick, so I sliced it in half horizontally to make 2 thinner breast segments. This way, all pieces were about the same thickness for even cooking.) Sprinkle both sides of each breast with Cavender's Greek Seasoning (about the best all-purpose seasoning that exists). Using fresh Rosemary if you have it, strip the leaves off an 8 inch stem and distribute under and over chicken breast pieces. If using dried Rosemary, use 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon of leaves, to taste. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until juice runs clear when pricked with a fork.

Whipped Spiced Sweet Potatoes
      Peel 4 medium sized sweet potatoes and cut out any bad spots. Cut into chunks, approximately 2"X2"X2". Place in boiling water to cover. Boil for about 15 minutes, or until very tender when pricked with a fork. Drain and smash. Transfer to serving bowl, where you add 1 tsp (or more, if you want to) pumpkin pie spice, 1 tsp butter flavor extract, and 1/2 cup Splenda. Whip with electric mixer until smooth. If necessary, add a little milk to thin. This is wonderful, and feel free to add more cinnamon, Splenda, or even a dollop of butter if you desire. After all, it IS Bob's Birthday!

Green Pea Salad (Bob's very favorite cold salad)
      Drain two cans early sweet peas, pour into large bowl. Add yummy crunchy things, chopped into about pea-size, or a little bigger: carrots, celery, water chestnuts, green pepper.... whatever you have available. Add 1/3 cup onion, chopped fine. If you have them, add two hard-boiled eggs, chopped. Some people like to add 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese.  (Not me, I'm allergic.) Stir in 1/2 to 1 cup light mayonnaise, depending on how many other vegetables you added. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper, stir to mix, and refrigerate until serving. Keep in fridge, even better on the second day (if any makes it that long!).

Cranberry Sauce
     Open a can of jellied cranberry sauce. Poke a few holes in the bottom of the can, and shake out onto a serving dish. Slice into 1/2 inch slices. (Just kidding, I know you knew how to do this!)

This fragrant, filling, nutritious dinner meets all my good eatin' criteria: Tastes good, easy to make, good for ya! Serve it with a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc, if you're not on ambulance duty that day. Happy Birthday again to my dearest husband, and Eat good, my friends!