Sandra Drops the Ball... Again

This week's cookbook is Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade 20 Minute Meals. I'm not really a big fan of Sandra, and honestly didn't realize I had this cookbook. I found it shoved to the very bottom of my stack of cookbooks... where did you come from?

So I thought I'd give her a shot and I made Spicy Peanut Noodles and Five-Spice Eggplant. The results:

I ran into some troubles with the noodles. The recipe calls for soba noodles and I honestly couldn't find them anywhere. So, I used egg noodles... because they are also sold in the asian food section... and I have a whole bag in my kitchen. I was also supposed to use Thai seasoning, but couldn't find it anywhere. Penzey's, who sells nothing but spices, didn't even have Thai seasoning. The nice lady suggested I use lemon grass instead. I think it was the lemon grass that gave this dish a funky wang. Plus it definitely could have used some chicken in there. Other than that, not awful.

The eggplant was another story. I bought the Five Spice from Penzey's, but I just don't think it was my cup of tea. The recipe was really just roasted eggplant with seasoning sprinkled on top. It doesn't hold a candle to eggplant my favorite way: parmesan! I guess everything is better fried and covered in cheese! I don't know where she found her eggplant, but mine looks nothing like it!
Here's my beef with Sandra Lee; these aren't recipes. You can't really cook in 20 minutes. You need at least 30, right Rachael Ray? The noodle recipe was pretty much: cook noodles, add sauce. Eggplant: Cut eggplant, sprinkle with seasoning, roast. Duh.

I'd choose Rachael over Sandra any day of the week.

Daily Cuteness

Just some pics of Jack showing off his new walking skills:

I felt really emotional when we showed up for Sunday dinner and Jack was just running around all over the place. I hadn't seen him in almost two weeks, and back then he was just kind of teetering around. I just can't believe how quick he's changing! Jack & Grandpa:

We all sat in a circle, blocking him onto the deck, and he pushed his little car around. He's such a big kid now... no more baby Jack!

Funniest thing ever; there's a little trunk on the front of his car and he would stop, walk around to the front, open up the trunk, and put his pacifier in. Then he'd push the car around for a bit, stop, and take the pacifier out. Totally amusing.
No picture, but he knows "touch down!" and throws his arms up when you shout it. This kid is hilarious.

Marathon Training: Week 15 Recap

Scheduled workouts in pink, actual workouts in purple.

MONDAY: Rest Day / 5 Miles. Tired legs!

TUESDAY: 5 Miles / Cross Training. Only lasted 30 minutes on the bike today. Did some abs at the gym. I just like playing with all the different exercise balls they have. :)

WEDNESDAY: 5 Miles / 5 Miles. Ran with Brooke in the afternoon. There are some serious people on the trails on Wednesday afternoons. I saw more 6-packs than I ever see in the AM.

THURSDAY: 5 Miles / Rest Day.

FRIDAY: Rest Day / 20 Miles. Blech. I don't know what happened, but within the first couple of miles I was light-headed and dizzy. I had to run back to the car and eat a granola bar. I always keep snacks in my purse because... I'm always hungry! The rest of the run was just kind of blah. I'm really glad we did another 20 two weeks ago or I would be very nervous going into the race. The point is: we finished. So that's all that matters I suppose.

SATURDAY: 20 Miles / Tailgating. What? That's not a workout? Have you ever walked up the stairs to the top of the stadium? This so counts as cross training.

SUNDAY: Cross Training / 5 Mile Tempo Run. I wasn't going to run today. I was totally going to skip it. But then we had dinner with the fam and Brooke told me she ran today and I felt really guilty. So I went to the gym with Drew and ran on the treadmill. I think this was a tempo run; I'm not exactly sure what that is, but I think its a run that progressively gets faster. Anyways, I started out at 9:30 minute miles and steadily increased to 6:40 minute miles at the end. That was the very end btw. I mean like the last 0.15 miles. I finished in 42:34. Boo-ya! If my faulty math is correct that averages 8:30/mile.

Total Mileage: 35 / 35

OMG. I'm totally freaking out that the serious training is over. Freaking out. Now we start tapering and there is absolutely no room in the next 3 weeks for any kind of improvement in fitness or athletic ability. Scary! No more really long runs before the marathon!!! Yikes.

***Marathon Training Tip of the Week: Practice Everything! The 20 miler is supposed to be a dress rehearsal for the actual race. You are supposed to do everything the same: eat what you will eat the night before, wear what you will wear race day, drink the drink available on race day, take the GU or gels or whatev you will take on race day. I totally didn't do this. Running on Friday totally messed with my life. I hadn't done laundry and had to wear old ratty socks and the top I wore in my first marathon 3 years ago. And I forgot that it rubs my arm and hurts after several miles! It is never a good idea to go into a race in new gear because you never know how/where it will rub you wrong. The same goes with sports drinks/gels. You never know how your tummy will react. Best to find out during a 20 mile training run than on race day.

Very Important Announcement

Kansas State University Snuggies are now available at GTM in Manhattan:

Run, don't walk, to GTM. Look how excited I am! Game day will never be the same.

Marathon Training: Week 14 Recap

Another week over and done. The marathon is less than a month away! Craziness. This was another step-back week with a shorter long run to keep me sane! Scheduled runs in pink, actual runs in purple.

MONDAY: Rest / 5 Miles. I should have taken today off. I had to walk a lot in the last couple of miles because my legs were so tired.

TUESDAY: 5 Miles / 8 Miles. Ran with Brooke. Lots of fun, especially since we went to Einstein after!!! Is it sad they know us there? I'm no longer a regular at any bar in town, but I'm a regular at a bagel joint. Awesome.

WEDNESDAY: 8 Miles / Cross Train. I did 37 minutes on the bike before nearly dying of boredom. I'm reading a new book called Chi Running and while interesting, its not really enough to keep me on the bike.

THURSDAY: 5 Miles / Rest Day. My legs are sore.

FRIDAY: Rest Day / 5 Miles. I didn't think it would be a big deal running 5 the day before my long run since the long run was so much shorter this week. I don't think it helped though. I followed my run with an On Demand Ab workout with a title of something like, "Totally Ripped & Hardcore Abs" and the guy in the video was slightly less than ripped. He was kind of big, and I couldn't take him seriously because I'm pretty sure if he'd have taken his shirt off we'd have seen that my abs are more ripped than his... which means he's got squishy tummy. Funny stuff though.

SATURDAY: 12 Miles / 12 Miles. No biggie, right? I mean we blew through 20 last week, so this should be a breeze. Nope. It sucked. It was long and hard (that's what she said) and we got lost. Brooke actually said, "I can't wait to do 20 next week." Yeah, that's how bad it was.

SUNDAY: Cross Train / Hangover Recooperation. I really need to learn to say, "No Jess, I don't think you should open that second bottle of wine. One's enough for me thanks." I'll work on that.

TOTAL MILEAGE: 30 / 30

***Marathon Tip Of The Week: Find a friend! Training with a running partner is so much more fun than training by yourself. Brooke is the perfect running partner for me b/c we run the same pace, have similar goals, and both of us have too much pride to say we want to quit this stupid f-ing 12 miler. It really is hard to skip out on a run, knowing that I'd be letting her down. Plus, having someone to chat with makes the miles go by so much quicker! It's also a good idea to have a backup in case your running partner gets knocked up. Sam stepped in when Brooke was pregnant with Jack. She also has all the traits of a good running partner, except she lives 3 hours away. But it was still nice to know someone was out there running all those miles too and to have someone to call after a long run to talk about how it went. Oh, and then she went and got knocked up half way through marathon training. So my advice is to find a training partner: someone with a similar pace, similar goals, and a similar commitment to those goals. Then ask them about their preferred method of birth control.

Playing Catch Up

I'm pretty sure I've missed a week or twelve (no, not that many) in my cookbook-a-week challenge. So, this week I played catch up by making 3 recipes out of two different books. First up: Weber's Real Grilling. This book was a Christmas gift from Brooke & Bryan. Usually we just use it as a reference for how we're supposed to grill a certain kind of meat or veggie, but they have all kinds of tasty recipes in there too. Last year Drew made me a cake on the grill for my birthday. He's so sweet. :) I chose Shredded BBQ Chicken Sandwiches and Basil Parmesan Corn on the Cob.

Big Fabulous Plate:
On the "Playing Catch Up" Theme, Kylie came over for dinner! I hadn't seen her in... like a really long time. So we got to play catch up over dinner. She brought with her Asian Cole Slaw and organic wine! She knows me so well. :) Both were delicious. Can everyone see how I've all but destroyed our kitchen table? This is why we can't have nice things.

The chicken was fine, but probably would have been better had I just used Gate's sauce or something rather than trying to make my own. The corn was kind of meh. But I think maybe it was the corn and not the recipe, which included basil from my back yard! It might have been slightly overcooked as well. We win some we lose some.

Ari spent most of the evening with his head in Kylie's lap, demonstrating why we never have people over:

Next up! While I lived with Kylie she taught me all about the wonders of the crock pot. She used to make the best stuff in there! Kylie, Sam, Blair, and I used to have Thursday Night Family Dinners where we'd make a huge meal and watch the OC. This often times involved the crock pot, but always involved dessert. So I pulled out my copy of Fix-It and Forget-It: Feasting with Your Slow Cooker.


The recipe: Chocolate Pudding Cake. Did you know you can make a cake in your crock pot?! Me neither, but you can. And it is good:

There's also a "light" version of this cookbook that I'm definitely going to have to try. Because this one is the opposite of light. I'm sure everything in there is delish, but light it is not. Heavy is a good word. Heavy and delish.

Oh, and the stuff they say about organic wine: totally true. It kicked my ass. And I loved every second of it.

My Year of Cooking Dangerously

I've been kicking butt and taking names with this whole reading thing. I swear I've read more books in the last 6 months than I have in the last 6 years. I'm very big on reading books before I see the movie version. When I saw the trailer for Julie & Julia I was so excited to see it, then Kelly brought it to my attention that the movie was actually a book first. I had to put a hold on it at the library which actually only took a couple of weeks. I think there was like a year wait for My Sister's Keeper.

I don't even know where to start. This book was so good. It combined all my favorite things: cooking, cookbooks, blogging, and Julie. She is seriously hilarious. Her profanity is a tad excessive, but not offensive. I'm interested to see the movie b/c I have a feeling her character will be very different than in the book. I can't picture Amy Adams saying, "Balls to that." But maybe I'll be surprised.

The book is so entertaining, I actually found myself pausing to say out loud, "I love this book!" I just couldn't contain myself. I tried to imagine myself making the things she made. She had a very hard time finding the ingredients because things common in France in 1950 were slightly hard to come by in 2003 NY. I think I'd have an even harder time: where would you go in the KC metro to find bone marrow or brains? Where does one find a duck? I did get a good chuckle when I was at WalMart yesterday and looked down to see a package of chicken livers. Gross. The book did not make me want to cook. The recipes actually really sicked me out. Entertaining none the less! Can't wait to see the movie!

Another note: I think the book might be hard to get through if you are in anyway a conservative. She takes a lot of stabs at Republicans throughout the book as she works at a government agency so the topic comes up quite often. If it were the other way around and she were liberal-bashing, I might find her much less endearing.

Now, do you think there's any chance of turning my cookbook of the week post into a book/movie? I would play myself and Zac Effron could play Drew and who wouldn't want to see it? I don't live in a fantasy land at all...

Success!

It was an exciting day in Jamie-Land today. It doesn't take much to get me excited, but these are all big and exciting things to be sure.

Know what makes me happy? New running shoes!!! Know what makes me even happier??? Purple running shoes!!! I've been wearing the same style of shoe since I started running seriously (sort of seriously) and it has always been in boring blue and white. Earlier this summer I went to Garry Gribble's to buy said running shoe and was thrilled to death that they'd added some yellow to this season's design. But I never expected this:

Best part of my new job: I get to expense running shoes. Woot! To add to the excitement, my race number from the Head for the Cure 5K had a 20% off coupon for Mizuno's from Garry's. It was meant to be.

Next up on the list of excitement for today: Cinnamon! I have a serious obsession with cinnamon, almost as much as I do with peanut butter. I like to mix them together in fact. I'm in love with this spice store in Old Overland Park called Penzey's. I found it after my friend Katrina told me about their amazing sandwich sprinkle. It changed the way I eat grilled cheese. Good stuff. So I signed up for their catalog which now comes with a coupon to try their new products. This month's product was their new cinnamon blend... perfect timing as I'd just run out of China Cassia Cinnamon. Here's a blurry picture, because I'm sure you care about cinnamon as much as I do:


On to the biggest, most exciting news of the day:

I found pumpkin!!! I checked 3 different grocery stores while I was out today and finally found it in the organic section at HyVee. The HyVee check out gal was even surprised. She said it must have just come in today because they've had people asking for it all week. She then proceeded to question me about what I'm going to make with it while other people waited to check out. I told her pumpkin muffins and she asked how you make those. Like, she wanted details... flour, sugar, and pumpkin wasn't good enough for her. I was getting some serious stare-downs from the people behind me.

And here they are, the pumpkin protein muffins I've been dying to make for weeks... topped with some of the new cinnamon. Woot! They are super tasty (I already ate 2).

Clearly it doesn't take much to make me happy: new shoes and carbs do the trick every time. Happy Monday Blogger Friends!

Bring Back the Burleys!!!

Saturday night was spent on the patio at Reverse... perfect weather, great atmosphere, fabulous friends, and this:
You stay classy Kansas City! Anyways, I'd like to formally start a petition to bring back my favorite Texan couple:


2J! We never get that right, do we Jaim?

Why am I making this ridiculous face in every picture from Saturday? I think we had to take this pic like 9 times... thanks Mr. Burley!

Drew pooped out and didn't join us for our fun night. He missed out on plenty of guy fun:

I think Jaime said there's a small tiny chance that they will move back to KC if Brian can't find a job in Omaha (when they decide to move in like 100 years) so I am officially hoping that Burley can't find work! Okay, just kidding... I just really miss them!!!

Big Ol' Chunky 1 Year Old

My favorite chunky monkey turned 1 last week! It's hard to believe he's been in our lives for a whole year. I can't imagine what we'd talk about or who would entertain us at Sunday dinner if it weren't for Jack. Brooke and Bryan had a party for him this weekend and here are some of the highlights:

Birthday boy showing off his mad walking skills:

Tell me those overalls are the best!!!
Oops! Someone got a little anxious and started into the presents early:
Not even exaggerating, this was one of the best cakes I've ever eaten. It was like wedding cake!
Testing out the cake:
Yes! It is good! He's definitely one of us... our family is big on desserts.
OMG. Please check out the awesome chaps that Grandma Gibson gave him:
They came with a sheriff vest and this super stylin hat:
Mom & Jack checking out all the new loot:
For video of the cake eating, check out Jack's Big Ol Chunky Blog. He's the coolest 1 year old I know.

Marathon Training: Week 13 Recap

13 down, 5 to go! And of those 5, there's only one more really long run left. Craziness! Here's how Week 13 looked with scheduled runs in pink and actual runs in purple.

MONDAY: Rest Day / Rest Day.

TUESDAY: 5 Miles / 5 Miles. Since this week's long run is really long, Hal cut the mid-week sorta long run down to just 5 miles. Nice guy that Hal.

WEDNESDAY: 5 Miles / 5 Miles.

THURSDAY: 5 Miles / 5 Miles.

FRIDAY: Rest Day / 3 Mile Walk & Yoga. When I started training I said I was going to do yoga once a week and the bike once a week. Yeah, that hasn't happened. But it felt good today!

SATURDAY: 19 Miles / 20 Miles. Why on Earth would we run an extra mile on this already super long run? I'll tell you why. We planned out our run as an out and back that would take us by QT around miles 7 1/2 and 11 1/2 so we could refuel (aka buy candy), but had to start so early that it was a little too dark to run on the trail. So we ran a bit down 119th street until it was light enough to jump on the trail and then reached our turn-around point 1/2 mile before QT. The drive for candy made us decide it was worth the extra mile. True, we could have walked the extra mile to our car, but both Brooke and I have a bit of an impatient streak in us. Plus to be completely honest, once you reach that distance walking really hurts.

Swim Suit Man made yet another appearance in yet another new swim suit. This one was bright blue. Very flattering! We decided that Corporate Woods is definitely his home-base... if you decide to go hunting for him... which I'm sure you will.

SUNDAY: Cross Train / TBD. Feeling pretty tired from yesterday and going on a couple of nights of not much sleep, but there's a chance I'll make it to the gym for some bike time. I need a new book to motivate me to go! Any suggestions?

TOTAL MILEAGE: 34 / 35

This was a good week! I know its only 1 extra mile, but something about running an extra 20 before the race makes me feel more confident going into the marathon. It was by no means an easy week, but I don't feel completely dead either. I'll take what I can get!

***Marathon Tip of the Week: Drink up! Hydration plays such an important part in how your run will go, but sometimes it can get a little tricky. I am a thirsty girl. I drink a lot of water. A lot. But I'm still trying to figure out my hydration strategy for the morning of long runs/the actual race. I know I drink way too much before I run b/c usually I'm hitting up the bathroom with in the first few miles... something I do not want to do race day. But I'm so freakin thirsty when I wake up! And I panic that I'm going to be dehydrated during the run and not run my best. I think the recommendation is to drink more the day before you run so that you are already hydrated and don't have to drink a bunch before you run. But I'm seriously parched in the mornings!!! Anyways, I need to figure that out, and this isn't turning out to be much of a tip... just that you should figure out your own hydration strategy so that you feel hydrated enough to run, but not so much so that you are making pit stops right out of the gates. Good tip Jamie. Genius.

Football Season Officially Begins!

Okay, it started last week, but I'm slow to post. If you didn't know, we love K-State. We love K-State football. And we love Bill. Just some highlights from last week's game... or tailgate rather, because who wants to look at pictures of a football game?

Who wasn't thrilled by the purple Bud Light cans??? I was. Kelly was. I just hope this isn't a short time thing, because it is going to be pretty hard for me to go back to drinking beer from a blue and silver can!

Drew looks grumpy, but really I just caught him as he was taking his jello shot. He's really enjoying and savoring the jello-y vodka-y goodness. Jello shots are sort of a tradition around our tailgates. I think it is absolutely fabulous that I have a mother in law who makes jello shots!

My favorite people! Well, minus one big ol' chunky 1 year old.

Toasting with our jello shots. We can't go into the game without taking a group jello shot. It's tradition.

I love this picture b/c of the shot being taken behind us.

Yea preggers! Doctor said Sam is having a baby in 2 weeks! Have you ever seen someone so fabulously pregnant? She looks so good! I'm pretty sure that along with a baby there are rainbows and sunshine in that belly too. She's just glowing. Well, and making a funny face. But to her credit she didn't know I was taking a picture.

If only Wichita and KC were closer. I miss my Ta-Town friends so much! And Game-Day Heather is also on my list of favorite things.

Worst picture ever, but I thought it was necessary to take a picture inside the stadium. Love you Drew!!!

Bill is back! Our seats are really high, which allows us a pretty good view of the entire stadium, but the first time I went up there a few seasons back (Ron's first year... we don't talk about those years much.) I had to fight some serious dizziness and paranoia that I was going to fall. I have a pretty strong aversion to heights. Anyways... look at that packed house!!! Everyone came out to see Bill!
After the game we stopped at my favorite place in Manhattan to fill up with Cokes and candy! I love you Dara's! I was pretty disappointed in the candy selection. No Laffy Taffy!

Cats won, not by a lot. But I'm excited for the season and to see what Bill can do with our boys.

Name That Vegetable

Any guesses?? Kind of looks like a mix between green onions and celery, right? Well it is neither! Lemon grass. Yep. Who knows what that is? Not this chic. So when it showed up in my Fresh Connect box last week I had to do a little looking to figure out a way to use it. I searched and found a recipe for Thai Curry Soup that didn't have a scary ingredient list. I doubled the mushrooms and scratched the shrimp because we had shrimp last week, and that was about enough for me for a while. I also couldn't find pad thai noodles so I used chow mein noodles. Not gonna lie, I have no idea what the difference is. But the soup was delish:


This was my first attempt ever at Thai food. I've only ever actually eaten Thai once in my life and that was at a restaurant in West Port. This whole local/organic delivery service is really making me step out of my comfort zone in the kitchen. Among other things (like making me a better person in general... kidding!) the box of fruits & veggies is getting me to try things I never would if I were choosing all my own produce. Along with Lemon Grass, last week's box included a big honkin watermelon and a mango. Those are two fruits I never buy at the store because honestly, I have no idea how to properly peel/cut/eat them. I gave it my best and it was a lot of work! Especially that watermelon. I've been force feeding watermelon to Drew for the last few days in an attempt to finish it off before our next box of produce shows up on Saturday. Point of these side tracked ridiculous ramblings: I'm really enjoying the all the "new" food adventures in our life and I'm so happy we decided to start using Fresh Connect. Love them!

WTF Pumpkin???

OMG. Did you know there is a canned pumpkin shortage going on right this second?!? I've gone to every damn grocery store in the metro area looking for a can of pumpkin to make pumpkin protein muffins from Good Things Catered and can't find it anywhere! WalMart had pumpkin pie filling... not the same thing. Finally I was at Hen House this morning and they have an entire shelf with labels for pumpkin, but the whole shelf was empty. Thinking the Hen House employees were just being lazy and not restocking shelves, I asked someone who worked there if there might be some in the back and he told me about the shortage. He said there isn't any canned pumpkin anywhere right now! Come on! It is September, the start of fall, the start of pumpkin season!

Okay, deep breath, calm down. Apparently the weather was bad last year and caused damage to the pumpkin crop which means no pumpkin on the shelves. But, Libby's says we'll see the new crop in stores by the end of September. Thank goodness! What would fall be without pumpkin bread and pumpkin rolls and pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake??? I can definitely see myself freaking out and buying a year's supply of canned pumpkin at Costco just so I don't have to worry about this next year. Now, what should I bake since muffins are out of the question?

Marathon Training: Week 12 Recap

Week 12 was another "step back" week. Call me crazy, but I'm not a fan of the "step back" week in the training program. I understand it is completely necessary, but I like the big mileage weeks that motivate me to get out and run. Step back weeks just give me an excuse to be lazy and skip running. Any-who, on with the recap. Hal's schedule in Sporty Blue and Jamie's run in Gibson Green. Just trying to keep you on your toes...

MONDAY: Rest Day / Rest Day. You'll be seeing a lot of these this week.

TUESDAY: 5 Miles / 8 Miles. Ran with Brooke in the early early morning. Early morning runs make me feel like a "real runner." I feel so tough and dedicated... what a great way to start the day!

WEDNESDAY: 8 Miles / Rest Day. Ouch, did I mention I tried some new lunge moves yesterday and totally overdid it and can barely walk today? Well, there you have it... impromptu rest day in the middle of the week.

THURSDAY: 5 Miles / 5 Miles. Again, the earlier I get up, the better runner I am. I kicked some hill-booty this morning.

FRIDAY: Rest Day / 2 Miles. 2 miles? What marathoner goes out and only runs 2 miles? This one! I was going to do 3, but fell short because of heavy legs and lacking motivation. Ari was not pleased.

SATURDAY: 13 Miles / 13 Miles. We skipped Swim Suit Man and the Indian Creek Trail today and opted for the Tomahawk Creek Trail instead. It turned out Team in Training was also running on the trail which was awesome. People in TNT are all about motivating each other, and there are so many of them that they didn't realize we weren't also members. So people kept shouting, "Good job! Keep it up! You're doing great!" the whole run. Very motivating. Brooke and I contemplated high fiving and fist bumping people as they passed. We'll have to seek them out in the future!

SUNDAY: Cross Training / Rest Day. I kept saying I was going to go to the gym all day, but by the end of what turned out to be a very busy day I was given the option of Minsky's, wine, & Entourage w/ Brooke & Bryan or sweaty bike at the gym. Which do you think I chose?

Total Mileage: 31 / 28

This was the first week I just totally blew off a couple of workouts, but I'm kind of okay with it. It was a busy week (business is good!) and I think my body appreciates the extra rest.

***Marathon Training Tip of the Week: Walk it out! A lot of people are totally against taking walk breaks while running, thinking it means they can't make it or they aren't tough enough to finish. On the contrary, there has been a lot of research that shows that taking walk breaks, especially during long runs, actually helps you run further and feel better. The idea is that when walking, you are using different muscles than you do when you are running. This reduces fatigue in your legs and actually makes running easier. I've found that mentally it is so nice to know that in X amount of miles or minutes I can take a quick break. And it is so much easier to drink or eat when you are walking! Trust me, I'm not coordinated enough to run and drink at the same time. I'd probably end up eating asphalt if I tried.

Long Time No Cook

Yeah, it's been awhile since I posted a recipe from a new cookbook. Oops! In my defense, I planned on serving this week's meal last week. I even invited Jess over for dinner and wine night, but my parents called that afternoon to tell us they were driving up to take us to dinner. 1. I don't turn down free dinner out, especially at Blue Koi. 2. Who thinks this retirement thing is going to last? Dad is clearly bored.

Back to recipes! This week's cookbook was a gift from Brooke on one of our very first Christmases together. I don't even think I was a Gibson when she gave it to me. Ahh memories...
I have a million Post-Its stuck throughout the book marking recipes I want to try. But this was my first time actually making one of them. I chose Garlic Lemon Shrimp Linguine because it was Friday night and pasta sounded like just the thing the night before a long run! Butter also sounded like just the thing.

I subbed whole wheat linguine for regular and used like half the butter and it still came out very buttery. It also asked you to simmer 1/2 cup of dry white wine into the sauce which didn't happen. We have wine at our house, but it's all red except for a bottle of Relax reisling, which I'm pretty sure isn't considered dry. Still good. See, even Drew thinks so:

I usually use bottled minced garlic because I hate messing with the peeling and such that goes into fresh garlic. I broke down and used all 8 cloves called for in the recipe and two days later my hands still smell like it! It reminds me of Rachael Ray and how she always talks about how she eats so much garlic that it permeates from her skin and she always smells like it. That's hot.

So yep, there you have it... another fabulous and tasty meal at the Gibson household. Has anyone noticed that we always eat on the couch?