OK boys, show me your cookies!!

More on that in a bit! :-) Let's back up to Thursday ...

I went up to St. Cloud as I'd helped to arrange having Aaron Doering ...

give his talked on his Polar Husky Arctic expeditions. I'd heard him speak at an RTC banquet several years ago and had enjoyed it very much back then. I enjoyed it just as much this time. He's so enthusiastic, energetic, engaging. There were 20-something River Runners there and I think they enjoyed it as well.

A fun little getaway!!

I ran 7 miles Friday morning, had breakfast in St. Joe and then it was back to Rochester Friday morning to get ready for this morning's breakfast run at my house. I had lots of baking to do.

All told, I ended up making 2 pans egg bake (one vegetarian, one with KC's delicious pork sausage), 1 large recipe steel cut oats, a dozen chocolate/chocolate chip muffins, 16 scones (they were a big hit), 3 kinds of cookies, banana/walnut/chocolate chip bread, pumpkin/walnut/chocolate chip bread, 24 cinnamon rolls, and had 3 loaves of Great Harvest bread (cinnamon chip wheat, pumpkin swirl--bit hit, and cinnamon swirl with raisins and walnuts). I sent some of the quick breads and cookies home with people, but I must say we made a pretty huge dent in that food!

A couple of River Runners came down Friday evening. Pat and Ron.  I was so happy to have them here. :-)

I showed them some of the sights in Rochester ...

and then we went for dinner at Victoria's. At the first parking ramp we tried, the arms at the entry weren't working. I guess the (small) FULL sign was on but none of the 5 cars stuck in the entry had noticed either. We all ended kup backing out of the garage. Found a spot at the next ramp I tried. At Victoria's I had the Asian salad ...

of which the first bite caused an extreme coughing spell. And I mean EXTREME. I was practically gagging. Just couldn't stop coughing. (I've been coughing for about 2 weeks now.) My eyes and nose were watering. So embarrassing. I think something in the dressing caused it. Very good, but I had to bring most of it home. Then we were leaving the Kahler/Marriott ramp and the darn machine wouldn't take my ticket. I tried and tried and tried. There were cars waiting behind me. Finally I pulled ahead and pushed the help button. The arm went up, but then I couldn't back up to pay the $2.14. Arghhh!!!

After being back home for a short time, it was off to meet Tim Miles and his St. John's cross country team, who were staying in Rochester on their way to a big (30 school) cross country meet in LaCrosse. I'd volunteered to bring them (Tim and 27 runners) cookies, so the 3 of us headed up to Motel 6 shortly after 9:00 to drop off "the goods".

We chatted with Tim for a while. At one point, I said to the guys, "Show me your cookies!" and took a photo.

Ron and Pat got a BIG laugh out of that, and I don't think they'll ever let me live it down. They said something about it being the "quote of the year". We did get some mileage out of it, that's for sure. :-) This was to be breakfast ...

and this, along with cookies, was supper.

Ron, Pat and I laughed and talked until after 11:00 PM. :-) I got up about 5:00 to finish the final preparations for brunch for 35 hungry runners!!

It was SOOO much fun! I'm just in my element when I'm in the kitchen with a house full of friends. Love every minute of it.

After everyone left it dawned on me that I'd forgotten to get out the huge bowl of fruit I'd cut up. Darn!!

I ran about 1.5 miles this morning when they headed out, but I had egg bake in the oven so had to get home to tend to that. I'll head out later this afternoon for a run. I'd like to do 15 in preparation for Rails to Trails on 11/1. We'll see how it goes. It's so nice to see the sun this afternoon.

A couple of recipes were big hits today. They were kind of my own creation (combinations of various other recipes.) Here they are:

Renee's Steel Cut Oats

1 part steel cut oats (I used 2 1/2 cups)

4 parts liquid (I used 10 cups, 4 cups apple juice, 6 cups water)

Dried fruit (I used a handful of Craisins and a handful of chopped dried apricots)

Put in a crock pot on low overnight. In the morning add:

Cinnamon (a tsp or so)

A little vanilla

Chopped pecans

Cut up pear

Brown sugar

This makes a crock pot full. Probably fed about 10 or so. Enjoy!!

Renee's Egg Bake (John Dinusson said it's about the best he's ever had! :-) Thanks, John)

4 slices bread, toasted and cut into cubes

2 c. seasoned croutons

1/2 box of frozen chopped spinach, excess liquid squeezed out of it

3 sweet peppers, chopped

8 oz. sliced mushrooms

3 scallions, chopped

1 1/2 c. shredded cheese (I use colby jack)

6 eggs, beaten

2 cups fat-free half and half

1 tsp. dry mustard

Freshly ground pepper

Spray a 9 x 13" pan with cooking spray. Put the bread cubes and croutons on the bottom of the pan. Saute the mushrooms and peppers in a little olive oil. Place on top of the bread/croutons along with the spinach and scallions. Top with shredded cheese. Mix the eggs, half and half, dry mustard and pepper. Pour over the contents of the pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until set and brown on top. (If you don't want it vegetarian, you could add cooked sausage or bacon.)

Until tomorrow!