It's My Birthday and I'll Eat if I Want To

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I had to make a crucial decision. As usual, crucial decisions revolve around the food I intend to eat. And, to make it even more crucial, it was revolving around my birthday. I'm a little behind in telling about my birthday, but since I have the whole month to celebrate, I guess I still have some time!


Hubby, Amazing Daughter, and I decided (against our better judgement) to start Round 2 of the HCG Diet. We knew November would be a tough month, but we decided to go for it. I decided to wait and celebrate my birthday with Amazing Daughter, (I got her permission first. I didn't want WW3 to start!) in December. 


We've had a much harder time staying focused this time around. I don't know if it's because of the gloomy weather, the chilly weather, or what, but it has been challenging. Typically, we start getting ready for hibernation by eating everything in sight, as soon as the weather starts getting cooler. After the daily discussions on whether we should continue the diet or just wait and start again in the spring, Hubby announced, on my birthday, that he was going to just try to maintain, and start again in the spring. (Since my birthday is in early November, you see how long he lasted!) Jennee and I were still straddling the fence on what to do.


Now, a few days before this announcement was made, Jennee asked me if we were doing anything on my birthday, because she was being asked to work that evening. I said, "Go ahead and work. I'll just wait and we can celebrate our birthdays together, if it's alright with you!!" Add a big smiley face here.


I had already cheated the day before when I celebrated my birthday with my mom, sister, and sister-in-law. We made plans to go to this very lovely "tea room" for lunch. They make a wonderful strawberry pretzel dessert, which is our main reason for going there. 


We are usually pretty frugal when we go out, but on this day, we all went a little crazy. We started off by ordering these multi-berry scones, with ...arrrgggg...brain fart.... some kind of -shire cream. I KNEW I waited too long to blog about this! All I can think of is herefordshire - herefords are cows, so I'm quite sure that isn't it! Or, Wilshire, no that's not it!  Now, I've gone and ruined the whole, very elegant, English mood. I'm counting on my English friends to set the record straight. Anyway, it was quite delicious,and I felt it was my duty to eat every last scoop of  _______-sire cream!

This was my meal: Spinach and red pepper quiche, lemon tea bread, and strawberry pretzel salad.

Usually, we all end up ordering the same thing, but this time, we branched out and we all ordered something different.

Chicken Salad

Potato Soup and Cornbread

Creamed Chicken and Noodle

This was the setting:

 After we were stuffed to the brim, we asked the waitress to take our picture. 

My Sis, Sis-in-law, Me, My Mom

So,the following day, Hubby makes his announcement, and I decide "Why fight it?" and go off the diet, too. Then, the flickering light bulb turns on, and I declare, "OH, well, we can go out for my birthday after all!" Yipee! I said that part silently. The only problem was that Amazing Daughter was now working until 7:30; I had to call Son to alert him to the change in plans, and hope he could hold out for a late supper. And, Hubby was running late in getting back from a job. After all was said and done, we managed to meet at our favorite Mexican restaurant at 8:00.

 I didn't have cake, but I did have this:

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Double Nickel Today!

Today is my birthday, and I've hit the "double nickel" as Hubby and I have been calling it. Hubby hit the double nickel in January. So, we are both, officially, Senior Citizens. It was bad enough getting that first letter from AARP, a month before I turned 50. That happened way before I was ready. Now, I'm trying to wrap my arms around the fact that I'm a S.C.  But, I guess now I can look forward to getting my Ohio Buckeye card. I can flash that everywhere I go and get a 10 % discount on coffee, meals...whatever. (To tell the truth, I don't even know where to go to get my Buckeye card! Come to think of it, Hubby doesn't even have his Buckeye card. Guess I'll have to do some investigating.)


We celebrated my birthday on Sunday. Hubby started the day by making me breakfast. 

That Hubby of mine can make some pretty good breakfasts. This is our version of Egg McMuffins. I think you'll agree, that ours is superior! Yep, that was a very tasty breakfast.


After church, Amazing Daughter and Son went with us to the best Mexican restaurant in the state! It is almost an hour's drive, but worth every minute. It's called Nuevo Acapulco, in North Olmstead, Ohio. Ever since we discovered this place, this is where I request to go for my birthday!

 This was my plate of deliciousness. Tacos el Carbon. I order this almost everytime, but, it is just so yummy that I can't order anything else. There is some kind of spice that is so distinctly different, and I absolutely love it.  

 BD ordered the gigantic burrito. I wonder how they came up with that name? Yes, he ate the whole thing!

 Hubby ordered the super mucho burrito. He ate the whole thing!

 Jennee also got the Taco el Carbon! She may kill me for using this picture, but, I think she's too busy with NaNoWriMo to be reading my blog!

 And, here's me and Hubby. Try as he might, he kept closing his eyes for every picture!

If only son, JT, and granddaughter, Sweetie Pie, could have been there, the day would have been complete!

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Try it, You'll like it! Tuesday - Sour Cream Cheese Enchiladas

This was our first introduction to making Mexican food. It is not at all spicey, so if you like a little heat, feel free to add some jalapenos! The original recipe calls for only 8 oz. of sour cream, but   we were always fighting over the sauce, so I doubled the sour cream. At our house, this is known as "Chinese Enchiladas". When the kiddos were little, that's what they thought we were saying! 

So, if you try this, I hope you'll like it!

Sour Cream Cheese Enchiladas
1 lb. ground beef
1 chopped onion
16 oz. sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup catsup
1/4 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cumin
Salt and garlic powder to taste
1 pkg. flour tortillas
1 pkg. Monteray Jack cheese

Brown beef and onions together.

Add the next five ingredients. Season with garlic powder and salt.

 Mix together and heat, then remove from heat.

 Grate cheese.

Warm the tortillas in the microwave for about 45 seconds or so, just so they are pliable and won't crack when you try to roll them. 
Divide cheese evenly into each tortilla.

 Wrap the tortillas and place in casserole dish. (It is usually a tight fit, and I have to put 2 along the bottom of the dish.)  Pour mixture over the top and bake at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes.

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