Birthday Dinner for Michael Jr.

Well Michael is 17 officially today.  I always make the same thing for him. His favorites:  hamburgers, mashed potatoes & shrimp.  Doesn't sound like it goes well together, but he sure likes it.

When I barbeque hamburgers, I mix spices into the hamburger before creating the patties.  I use garlic powder and montreal seasoning and simply mix it in.  You can't imagine the difference by mixing it in!

Shrimp is one of my favorite dishes, but it is usually expensive!  So I buy it when it is on sale.  I happened to purchase this shrimp for $5 at WalMart, which is pretty darn cheap for shrimp.  I hate how restaurants saturate shrimp with butter.  I cook mine a little different.  I simply put olive oil and garlic salt in a skillet, then put in the shrimp.  I cook it on medium, covered for about 5 minutes.  You can't imagine how amazing it tastes.  And it doesn't feel like I'm eating a stick of butter!

A hint on making mashed pototoes:  I use my kitchenaid.  It is so easy!  Put in the potatoes, stick of butter, a little salt and milk.  Turn on the mixer and all done!  Can't beat that and it is easier than hand mashing them any day!

Top it all off with a chocolate cake, with chocolate frosting and this has been Michael's birthday dinner for years. 

I'll be honest, Michael is not a big fan of my cooking.  He is a meat and potatoes type of guy and he doesn't like his food touching.  So anything that I make mixing any ingredients he is stand offish about.  Thankfully there is something that I can make that he likes!