Suzy Homemaker

Today it was time to play Suzy Homemaker. This afternoon, I made gaiters (they keep dirty, sand, stones out of your shoes when running trails) for Andy and Trevor for the 50K on Saturday. (Jeff already has some. :-) Ultrarunners seem to embrace the wild and crazy, hence the fabric choices for the gaiters ...



Jim Benike's gaiters

 Jim got his gaiters from Dirty Girl. Well, I guessed at what might be the website, and gaiters weren't what was for sale there. So I Googled Dirty Girl Gaiters and came up with the correct, and appropriate, website: http://www.dirtygirlgaiters.com/ I chose the most male, non-flashy fabric that was available last night at Hancock Fabrics for Andy and Trevor.

I'd made myself a pair last year so I knew they were easy to make, and used Jim's as an example of sizing for the guys'. A little serging ...

a little zigzaging ...

and presto ... they were done.

These are mine. Pink, of course. Maybe they will make an appearance at Living History Farms.

Speaking of Living History Farms, I was reading Runners' World on the Stairmaster (I've been doing 1 1/2 to 2 hours each evening) and I saw a photo of the race. Yikes!! Double yikes!! And O'Leary wants me to RACE this thing!!

Here's the text from the article: "The mostly cross-country route requires more Army basic-training skills than technical trail mastery. You'll finish wet and dirty--but if you're like 75 percent of the field, you'll be back next year." OhMyGosh. I don't know if I really knew what I was signing up for ...

I think I forgot to mention it last week, but my Boston Marathon entry has been verified and I'm officially "in". Yippee!

Well if you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I like a bargain. I was at HyVee last night and they had another deal on Cheerios. I got 6 boxes of 25.25 oz. Honey Nut Cheerios for $4.something each. That's 151.5 oz. of cheerios. Nearly 10 pounds. I got an automatic $10 off at the checkout and I had a $2 coupon and then got another $6 off my grocery order coupon at the checkout. I'm not sure if I had to pay anything for these or not (just kidding!), but it was a good deal!!

More Suzy Homemaker stuff. I had the day off today and since it was still really nasty outside (the fierce winds blew all my patio furniture over, and blew the covers off my chaise lounge and grill, which I found against the neighbor's fence) I decided to make muffins, of the English variety. They're super easy, and super fun. I make the dough in the breadmaker and then roll it out 1/2" thick and cut with a 3" cutter (you could use a can, or whatever you have that's the size you want to make).

The surface of the dough, and the surface that you're rolling on, is sprinkled with cornmeal. Then you cook them on a 350 degree griddle for 10 minutes per side.

It's as easy as that. It caused a little chatter on Facebook today, which was fun. :-)

They're quite yummy, especially when they're still warm, with a little butter on top ...

I'll post the recipe on my recipe blog later tonight. Then for supper, Eric had asked for a Cooking Light pasta recipe that I hadn't made in a while. It's penne pasta with a Provolone cheese sauce, roasted butternut squash seasoned with rosemary, shallots, bacon (for the non-vegetarians), and freshly grated Parm on top. It's really quite yummy.

Roast the butternut squash in a 425 oven

Saute the shallots

Combine the squash and shallots (and bacon, if using)

Make a white sauce, and stir in the Provolone cheese

Combine the cooked mini penne pasta with the cheese sauce

Put pasta/sauce in a 9x13, top with squash mixture and freshly greated Parm

Bake at 450 for 10 minutes

Absolutely delish. Combined with a salad, a meal fit for a king ... er, queen. :-)

Tomorrow, I'll make cookies for Thursday evening. And Friday will bring more baking as well. I'm in my glory in the kitchen.

Saturday, Off-Season Striders will be meeting at Brothers Bar & Grill on South Broadway at 7:30 for a run, followed by food (and most likely ... beer).

I'll post a few more of my kid pix for fun. I've really enjoyed looking through them.



Suzy Homemaker then as well




My sister and I




Me and my brother Mark

 Until tomorrow, be well.