Dinner to the tune of glee, or why ketchup + PB is not a bad idea

Yesterday I had two friends over for dinner & Glee and made some simple yet tasty dishes! I made a this pasta dish for a main course. A certain husband of mine, who will remain anonymous, said that peanut butter mixed with ketchup sounded gross and would have no part in the creation or consumption of this dish. He missed out--it was quite delish! I used natural chunky peanut butter and garnished it with cilantro, though the recipe suggested garnishing it with cheddar and red peppers. Cheese + PB + ketchup sounds a little weird, even for me.

We rounded out the meal with baked beets and sweet potatoes:
chop 3 beets and 2-3 sweet potatoes into ~1" cubes, douse with 1/4c EVOO & enough veg stock to cover the bottom of the pan, sprinkle with salt, black pepper, and rosemary. Toss. Bake for 1h at 400 degrees, or until the beets can be poked through with a fork.
And sauteed beet greens:
saute 3 cloves sliced garlic and several chopt beet stems in 1T EVOO. Fill pan with clean (not necessarily dry) beet greens. Cover until the greens cook down a little. Cook until the greens are tender. Add some salt and balsamic vinegar.

The meal ended with two AMAZING desserts: Sarah's apple tart (apparently just flattened pie dough, apricot jam, sliced aples) and cupcakes from Georgetown cupcakes (apparently featured on TV) courtesy of Kate!

I wish I had taken pictures of all this deliciousness. At least I found my camera recently--in a shoe box along with my wedding shoes and my stunna shades. Who knows what possessed me to store my camera there? No idea. So, I will treat you all to a picture of Dapper Dan menacing us all from inside a soda box.

Also, here is a picture of my beets before I chopped them up to roast. Isn't the inside pretty? These beets were more savory than regular beets, less sweet. I made borscht with this kind, too, and it had a very different flavor--also good, but more like celery and less like carrots.