Copy Cat: Cheesaritos

The Copy Cat series will be an ongoing series in which I attempt to re-create mine and others favorite restaurant foods.  There are always exceptions, but generally food cooked at home is more affordable than food ordered out - and often times more healthy.  Learning to create the foods we crave can save dollars and sometimes calories!

It should come as no surprise to my regular readers that I love cheesaritos.  I have been making these at home for years, but I thought I would do the work to create them as closely to the original as possible.  That is why this is called the copy cat series.

What you will need

Drain about half the juice off from the can of tomatoes, sprinkle in at least a teaspoon of chili powder, a touch more if you like it spicy.  I probably did a teaspoon and a half.  Once you've mixed in the chili powder add a splash of taco sauce and optional (hot sauce).  

I don't know what it is about seasoned cheese... but I think it has something to do with cheese. Yum.

I used what's known at the store as "seasoned pepper".  It's a salt-less blend of different kinds of pepper and some other "stuff" - and more or less a staple at our house.  Along with garlic.  Of course.

Spread both the tomato mixture and the cheese mixture onto a flour tortilla.  Notice how perfectly round this one is (hint: I didn't make it myself).  

mmm... Melty-licious cheese.  

Fold these into a roll. 

Now compare to the original.

or just eat.

So true story: I ate two of these, before I decided I should probably make them more "filling".   While they are savory, they are not exactly nutrient rich.  I added black beans to the - urm - third.  Also note: leftover tomato mixture saves in the fridge for a few days.  


Recipe:
Cheese Mixture

• 1 Cup Cheese / 1 Tbs Seasoning

Tomato Mixture

• 1 Can Tomato / 1 tsp Chili Powder
• 2 Tbs of Taco or Hot Sauce

1 flour tortilla

1.  Mix up both Cheese and Tomato mixtures separately.  Ensure that seasoning is mixed throughout the cheese as evenly as possible for best results.  

2.  Layer 2 Tbs (or whatever amount you feel like) on both mixtures onto the flour tortilla.  

3. Microwave for 30 to 60 seconds per cheesarito.

4. Roll it up and enjoy. 

Serving Analysis (1 Cheesarito):
1 flour tortilla - $0.11 - 140 kcal
2 Tbs Cheese - $0.30 - 111 kcal
2 Tbs Diced Tomatoes - $0.13 - 13 kcal
2 Tbs Taco Sauce - $0.05 - 3 kcal
A tiny bit of Chili Powder - $.02 - 1 kcal
A tiny bit of Seasoning - $.02 - 1 kcal
Total - $0.63 - 269 kcal

Taco Bell version - $1.29 - 328 kcal

My only guess as to why there are fewer calories in my version would be difference in the size of the tortilla shell.  Taco Bell shells are much larger. 

Race of the Month!

This news is a little after the fact, but Runner's World named the Torchlight 5K in downtown Minneapolis, MN their "Race of the Month".  Which is pretty cool, especially since I was in it.

Not only was I in it, but Huzbun and my Mom decided (or were begged) to run too.

Here we are at the start of the race!

Special Thanks to my Dad for the picture taking help!

Take Off! - look at those people go. 

This race had around 7000 people in it. So when the race starts you are physically prevent from going very fast (unless trampling on top of people is your style).  Though I did not trample people I did go for the dart in around and in between method for a while.  I was doing this so much that I figured I'd lost Huzbun and my mom somewhere in back, but suddenly Huzbun showed up right next to me.  Huzbun and I ran together for a while, and he was doing really well.  He's really improved since the last time we ran together.  Then there was opening in the crowd - and he pulled out ahead of me!!! crazy man! 

After that, I didn't see anyone I knew for the rest of the race. However, I did see a lot of great scenery.

 

I was using my HRM to keep track of my time during the race, since this is a Fun Run and there is no chip-timer.  At the 2 mile mark, I realized I was perfectly on track to meet my goal of running in less than 35 minutes.  Knowing this probably caused me to slack a bit.  Maybe I should have made a more serious goal.  In the end I finished with a time 34:40.  Really happy with that time, but still hoping to improve it in the future.  

Huzbun beat me! with a time of 33:20, which I was super surprised by actually because a few weeks ago he wouldn't of been able to do that (proud of him).  My mom was pretty quick too with a time of roughly 35:12.  I am really glad I got her out there, she said she wouldn't have done it with out a little extra push.  It's funny to me that we didn't see each other at all during the race, since we all came in within a short period of time of each other.  

     My mom and me at the end. 

Torchlight 5K is a part of the Aquatennial celebration in Minneapolis, MN.  So a long with the race there is a bunch of festivities to take part in.  Including live music, "free" beer for the runners, and other giveaways.  My parents and us really enjoyed the time together. 

All of us, enjoying the party at the end of the race.

I prefer the word "particular" to "picky"

While I am not the type to raise a fuss, or make a scene... I am (and probably always have been) a pretty particular person; this is hard for me to admit by the way.  Obviously, this extends to food.   As I get better at cooking and more exposed to good food, the problem is naturally getting worse and not better.  So one of the big advantages of having a food blog is that I can rant and rave about things and not worry (too much) if anyone cares.  I've made a point of not taking full liberty of this, but today will be an exception.

There are 5 Foods I won't eat.   There is of course a longer list of food that I don't enjoy or wouldn't choose when given options, but would generally accept when served.  However, these are the foods that are out 100% of the time.  I always do my best not to be rude about it, but I've shared a couple stories where I am not sure I succeeded. 

Mayo-Salad-Blah:  Let it be known that I do enjoy mayonnaise, it can enhance many a dip, or even plain on fries.  However - salad dressing (otherwise known as miracle whip) I have no love for you.  Anyway, this idea that a bunch of chopped up things like cabbage, potatoes, eggs or noodles, which are than slathered in mayo or salad dressing has yet to impress me as "good".  To me - it has the consistency of slime.  I also don't understand the idea of mixing tons of wonderful foods into a bowl, and then covering it in slime.  True Story:  I was in Mexico helping at an orphanage and the staff their served us a mayo-noodle-salad as the entire dinner.  In my hunger, and desire to be appreciative of their generously prepared meal - I ate as much as I could bear.  I then threw it all up "as discreetly as possible" 5-minutes later.  Rather embarrassing, but I still can't decide what is less rude... refusing food from a needier institution or inevitably throwing up the food you take.   This one has an exception: Huzbun has a way with Coleslaw, such that I don't mind it, if served shortly after made, and in small amounts. 

Disclaimer: In no way do I look accusingly on the people working and serving in the Mexican orphanage, the work they are doing there is incredibly selfless, and my entire experience there was wonderful, despite "throwing up" incident. 

Mushrooms:  The texture on these is impossible for me.  If you serve me something with mushrooms, I will pick them out (sorry!), the alternative is worse again.  True Story:  I went out with a bunch of my new found friends in college, and ordered the "Quesadillas", a seemingly safe dish.  These quesadillas had mushrooms (guys -let's just say: how wierd!) on them, but not wanting to draw attention to myself, I tried to make peace with the mushrooms and eat them anyway.  30 seconds later: I was running for the restroom.  Now, I pick mushrooms off.

Cereal:  It's just so plain, and there's all that wasted milk.  I get that some people drink the milk when they are done, but even when I did eat cereal I could never stomach that.  True story:  I use to be a normal person who ate cereal on a regular basis for breakfast, but one-day I just realized it wasn't that good, and I didn't understand why I was doing it.  So I stopped, and never started again.     


Easy-Mac:  I have never eaten this food.  It's simply because I don't get it.  I mean isn't the original macaroni and cheese in a box "easy" as is.  Why does it need to get "easier"?  Also, maybe it tastes fine, but I just can't believe that it would.  When I want mac-n-cheese I just get it the "hard-way".  You know, difficult things like cooking noodles, and mixing in cheese.   

Bologna, Spam, Vienna Sausage: I am not sure any of this needs explaining, but I really *can't* eat over processed meat.  Essentially, if it retains a geometrically defined shape that I can easily calculate the volume on (think: cube, cone, cylinder)... mmm not okay.  I'm guessing it's not totally healthy either, but it's just the*ralph* factor I'm talking about here.  Also, in terms of hot-dogs, there is too much variation to judge universally, but yeah some of them are out too.

 Do you have foods that you won't eat? What are they? Have you ever had to be rude about it?  How have you dealt with it in delicate situations?

Strengths - Link Lovin' #1

I don't know how many people are familiar with Strengths Finders 2.0, but knowing my strengths has been indisputably helpful in my life.  So everyone gets their top 5 strengths, one of mine is "Input".  Simply stated, it means I like to collect and share.  In my case, I am usually collecting and sharing information.  So Link Lovin' is my way of sharing with you.     

Noncircular Gears are Mesmerizing:  The titles says it all, but these were really astonishing to watch. 

Veggieworld: Why Eating Greens Won't Save The Planet:This article takes a scientific look at the argument and raises some good points in my opinion.

America the Mood Ring: Social Media graph thing.  Plus! Plus!

New Eco-Friendly Fast Food: While McDonald's is everyone's favorite bad-guy in terms of health and ecology, this seems promising. 

Other Blog(s) of Note:

• Cat Versus Human:  This relatively new web-comic is super funny if you have ever met a cat, and if you are like me you have met lots of cats.  

Sushi - Yum!

So this is a few pics worth sharing from a "Sushi Party" that I had with some friends a while ago at our house.  What many people don't realize is that Sushi is actually the definition for the way the rice is prepared, not the raw fish - that is Sashimi. 

A friend of mine and Huzbun's taught us how to prepare and roll the rice, but it's still takes a while to prepare - so we like to have a "party" to do all the work.  All that to say, I can't take credit for all of these, but they did turn out lovely.      

You can put so many different things in Sushi - that the sky is the limit... these have vegetables and cream cheese.

Peanut bits on the outside... avacado and cucumber on the inside.

These were ultra spicy - I have no idea what the Huzbun did to them. 

Oh and these have caviar sprinkled on top.  I love that addition, I also like how they are arranged. 

Hosting a sushi party is ultra fun, because I love seeing my friends personalities come out in their food.  It also is way cheaper than going out for Sushi.  In terms of overall at-home expense, sushi has a couple upfront costs that are most likely not in a standard American pantry.  Bamboo rollers, Seaweed sheets (Nori), and short grain rice.  However, none of these are exactly expensive.  In terms of additions - Ahi Tuna, and Sashimi Grade Salmon are not cheap...however there are many good additions that fit many budgets - such as imitation crab, cream cheese, cucumber, carrots, and avacado.  Depending on what additions you add or subtract you can eat sushi on many different types of diets .   

One downside of a the Sushi Party approach is you may have more Sushi than you can eat.  We always seem too.  Of course, if this is the biggest downside... it isn't much of one.   

Naan Trial #1

After having some mild success with other bread making ventures, I got the not-so-crazy idea that I could probably make Naan too.  Do you know what I am taking about?  The doughy flaky bread that tastes fluffy and delicious.  Best served warm.  The only place I've had this before is at Indian and Nepalese restaurants, or one time in Jamaica while visiting an Indian family.  I'm guessing it's available at grocery stores somewhere, but part of the enjoyment is eating it warm and fresh.   

Too come up with "how to make naan", I watched a half-dozen or so videos and read a few recipes.  It's been stated on here several times that I am not much of a recipe follower, however for something new I often read many recipes before deciding on one, or in this case using a combination of techniques and ingredients.    

Naan requires yeast - these packets are great if you are a not a regular yeast consumer and end up costing about $0.45 each.  Otherwise one teaspoon of yeast is about the same, and depending on how you purchase it, it can be less than $.05 for a teaspoon of yeast.

Sprinkle the yeast into a cup of warm water.  Temperature words like warm can be quite scary, but key here is not to over-think.   Just get warm water right out of the facet... warmer than for lemonade... cooler than for dishes.  Another helpful thing you can do is put some water in the dish - microwave for 1 minute... dump that water out.  This will keep your dish warm, and will be less likely "shock" the yeast, and more likely to incubate the yeast.   So - after a minute in your warm dish - your yeasty water should look like the photo above.

Sweeteners and Creamer.  Similar to coffee you need to add something to sweeten and cream your yeasty mixture.  In my case I used about 1 tbs sugar, and 1/2 cup of soymilk.   Other for sweetener include:  honey, sugar in the raw, and maybe artificial sweeteners.  Other options for cream include:  any other milk, or yogurt. 

After that's all mixed start throwing in your flour (and a sprinkle of salt).  Add enough that it all stays together in one ball, but remains pretty sticky.

This is still "too" sticky, but getting close

When the dough get to the correct consistency - start to knead it around.  Do this for about 6-8 minutes.  

Have fun with this step, and beat out some aggression in the process.  Also, you can set a timer for the 6-8 minutes if you must - but just beat it around until it feels pretty consistent.  Adding a couple tablespoons of oil here could really be useful but I (whoops!) did not do that.  

Once your dough glob, as we'll call it, is all kneaded up - let it rest while covered for a bit.  (20mins to 1 hour)

Ba boom!  - It's magically huge.  

Okay, smack that thing back into shape (umm - I mean pat it down), and knead it around a bit.  Then make 4 - 6 mini dough globs.  

  I did five, but next time I would do more. 

Ba -boom! They are big again.  

If you haven't caught on - it helps when you say Ba-Boom!

Now flatten these out into Naan shape (i.e. flat and round).  There are many techniques to do this, but I found a rolling pin to be pretty successful.  This could also be read as I found "pretending I was a pizza twirler" pretty unsuccessful. 

Once you get them into the desired shape - Bake them in the oven @475 degrees F for about  5- 10 minutes.  Watch them closely and flip them about half way through point on the baking sheet. 

Here's my semi-circular finished Naan.

Here's how I ate it.

Naan re-cap:  Don't forget the oil - however, it will not ruin the Naan, just make things more difficult for you.  Naan is uber cheap.  The yeast is the most expensive aspect - but if you buy it in larger quantities - less so.  

Cost of Naan

3 cups flour $0.30

1 pkg yeast (.25 ounce) $0.45
1 teaspoon salt $0.01
Olive oil  $0.14
Water $0.01
Sugar $0.02
Soymilk $0.15
 
Total $1.07

In terms of health - Naan doesn't exactly get a gold star.  It's high in calories, low in nutrients.  It's filling and delicious though - right?!  Also, because you made it yourself - it's preservative free and sodium low.  I also used organic - unbleached flour - which I think makes it tastes better and improves the health of it just a bit. 

Kirkland Gallery Blogger Event

A group of Minnesota bloggers was welcomed to a event at the recently opened Kirkland Gallery in downtown Minneapolis, MN.  Liz @ The Kitchen Pantry Scientist did a wonderful job of coordinating food.  We had sushi and spring rolls from Wholefoods as well as wine from Byerly's.  It's worthwhile to note that the Sashimi used in the sushi came from sustainable sources.  Liz talks more about that here on her blog.  I thought the spring rolls were divine, and loved the added touch of mixing in raspberries, which I have yet to see elsewhere - but will have to try myself.  

Not being an astute art critic these days, I was happy to be given a tour (along with everyone else) by James, the gallery owner.

The artist were really diverse and made use of various mediums and styles.

These horses really grabbed your attention... it was neat how they were made too.  A mixture of concrete and steal bits.  They are capable of withstanding the elements when placed outside. 

This piece was made to resemble a Rubik's Cube, which is perfect for the nerdy side of me.  And by side - I mean a large portion of me.   

Lenore @ Mom Culture, also put together a kids art "side show."  What a cute idea!

Overall, this was a super delicious, and fun event.  I feel pretty lucky to have met so many neat people via blogging, and this time was certainly included. Some really good conversations with fellow bloggers and the gallery owner too.   

An Extra Treat

At the end of the event there was plenty of leftover sushi, and no one was claiming it.  

So I took some over to where my Huzbun was hanging out with his friends, and boy was it appreciated.  I might of had a few more too.

Re-Focusing

Since, I don't feel like eating for less than $5/day for the rest of my life, but I do want to blog for almost the rest of my life - I've decided to change the focus of this blog up a bit.

The title of this blog is Foodalyst.  It's what you get when you cross a geek and a foodie, besides the beginning of a cheesy joke.  It will be about all the things I love food-wise (like tomatoes - um do you like my new header?) with hopefully a bit of analytical slant to it.  I am pretty analytical by nature, so this should come rather easily.  More importantly I want to continue to talk about affordability and health aspects or the things that affect "real world day-to-day" meal preparers.  Now, hopefully the words "day-to-day" didn't scare you off to much (I admit - I shuddered a bit), there is nothing to fear -because operating within a budget doesn't have to be boring! Eating healthy doesn't have to be bland! All this can be fun and interesting - and more importantly creative.  In fact - I would say creativity is necessary. 

Also, the tagline of this blog is "analyzing food and life".  Food is a pretty big part of our life, so I think it's all related in that sense.  However, this sort of gives me the leverage to talk about whatever else I fancy on here.  I can't provide a discrete list, but I can guarantee it will include:  blabbing about my new healthy hobby: running, perhaps a couple-non-food DIY projects,  and maybe (but hopefully not too much) talking about my crazy cats.

If this sounds like the kind of thing that interests you.  Stick around, or visit me repeatedly now at www.foodalyst.com - (should still be reachable by fivedollarfoodblog.blogspot.com for the time being).   Also, if you want more, you can follow me on twitter (@rubyleigh).

Day 90 - The End

or is this just the beginning?


So. In Conclusion we made it.  Sort of - we had a few cheats.  However, the good news is that I estimate we spent $468 less than we normally would in the last 90 days.  That figure includes all "allowed" eating out, and the "cheats".  If you go with the fixed $5/day value than the savings sounds much more dramatic - but not a full picture.   

What did we enjoy? or not enjoy. 

We enjoyed eating at home more.  Of course we enjoyed this before as well, but it really wasn't a habit.  I think this challenge converted us.  I think we will still be the types of people that eat out twice a week er so, but that is still and improvement.  

I enjoyed making coffee at home, but I certainly prefer it with "must be bad for you" liquid creamer, and "must be bad for you" liquid creamer was not always an option. However, even with "must be bad for you" liquid creamer... it's still much cheaper than the Caribou Coffee sold at my work for $1.75/cup. 

We missed steak - sorry can't help but say that.  However, we learned how to cook whole chicken and chicken broth.  Two things I would do in the future.

Enjoyed getting more comfortable in the baking arena - with things such as bread, tortillas and pizza dough. 

I enjoyed blogging (and hope to continue).  However, I am happy to longer feel obligated to report nearly everything that goes into my mouth.  That has been tiresome at times.

Will we continue to eat on less than $5/ day?


Short answer - No. However, I think we will be eating for less each day than we were, as we really enjoyed eating many facets of the whole eating on the cheap program.  Our previous cost for food was about $20/day (or $10/person) - This was largely due to eating out frequently, some food waste, and a fair amount of pre-packaged easy to prepare food.  I perceive that our cost will go up the $5/day, as social lifestyle makes it difficult to avoid eating out (and I'm not saying that isn't fun), and few other factors that may make for blog posts of their own. 

What were the hardships? 

Aww... not really - as I've already talked about.  However, there was a pretty unique circumstance:

Our roommate was most definitely eating our food.  While the effects on us cost wise during the challenge are hard to quantify.  I am pretty sure my coffee-mate creamer would have lasted longer, along with Huzbun's cereal... and I do wish those skinny cow ice cream treats (purchased pre-90 days) hadn't decided vaporize.  Many other food-related items were taken as well.  Worth mentioning, one batch of chicken broth was sabotaged, a pan was broken (one that was luckily under warranty), and a kitchen scale was melted (yes-melted).  In case you are interested, we no longer live with this person, which is an even longer story that doesn't presently relate to the theme of this blog.

Will I continue to blog?

Yes - I have had so much fun blogging my way through this experience, and have met a bunch of people as result - both virtually and IRL.  Details to follow, but I hope to continue this using this space to talk about economic factors and food, (hopefully) delicious recipes, new challenges,  and maybe boring you with some more running tales!  Most of all I hope to keep learning - as this experience has connected me to so many intriguing places in the blogosphere.

Day 89 - How "Challenging" is this really?

Today (or Day 89) brings us to the almost end of our challenge... and perhaps we are just at the point where $5/day eating has become "natural".  I naturally made my coffee in the morning, as opposed to purchasing it somewhere.  I naturally thawed some meat in the morning... so I wouldn't be panicked when I came home from work and was mad starved as well desperate to resort to restaurants.  The food we ate today wasn't incredibly interesting, but it was good.

My Huzbun had a bowl of cereal, I had a breakfast bar.  I ate Lean Cuisine for lunch... not sure what Huzbun had.  Then we grilled chicken and steamed vegetables for dinner.

I hope to do a longer piece on what we learned, what we liked and what we didn't like in the future... but I will keep myself to one observation for today.  Although we have labeled this a "challenge" and at times it has been challenging, days like today make it feel pretty easy.  It's really not hard for me to make coffee at home, it doesn't take that long, it generally tastes as good and sometimes better as coffee from a shop.  I thought we would have to give-up more meat, and while steak was not really in the budget - we seemed to eat plenty of meat. 

Between all the free BBQ food and food sharing we still ate pretty well.  Not to mention Huzbun's business food, roommate taking us out for dinner food, and people being just generous.  I hope that none of this generosity was brought on by our self-imposed situation (as we can in fact afford food)... and I do hope to pay it forward in the *near* future.

Talking about "paying it forward" brings me to some of the key reasons that I did this "challenge" in the first place.

1) Needs.  American society consumes much more than we need to.  We don't need coffee creamer.  We don't need steak, and dare I say it we don't need Taco Bell.  Eating on $5 / day has caused us to think about our consumption more and what we really need.  Also, not just our consumption of food.   

2) Money.  Probably a fairly obvious one, but to explore it further... money is a very transferable form of value.  For example, if I give you five dollars it will be worth five dollars to you.  However, if I give you a beanie baby (which I paid approx. $5 for) it could be worth any range of values to you.  That means that the $2 I save making coffee at home, the $30 I save by choosing to eat dinner at home... the few hundred dollars I've save the last couple months... as well as countless other examples could  translate directly into the scholarship fund at the college I work at or starving children in Haiti, not to mention many other worthwhile causes.  While I know this is not a perfect explanation, it's nearly impossible for me to escape the reality that money is like a closed loop system in which I am often choosing between Starbucks coffee or the welfare of others (or myself for that matter).  

3) Proving.  I think I wanted to prove that food was enjoyable - even on the cheap.  So many food blogs and cooking shows (all of which I am a major fan) choose to improve food only by upping cost, when much food can be improved by doing the exact opposite.  (Such as homemade bread, and pizza dough)  Perhaps I proved this.  I would also add here that there are ways to dress up food without spending too much extra (albeit more).  A little secret here: I hope to do more of this in the future (challenge or not)
  
Thoughts - what's difficult about eating cheap?  what's easy?  What makes eating affordable a good idea? (or is it?)

Day 88 - Quiet Sunday

Sunday turned out very relaxing after an otherwise crazy weekend.   I did make a version of Lasanga though

 Notice the use of non-Lasagna noodles.  These are Rigatoni, and yes they have a wikipedia page!

And the finished product ... after we took a few bites.

And here is what it looks like in our dish!  Huzbun and I love to eat food from bowls when we can.  I'm not sure what is so fun about it, but there's a charm to it.

I'm starting something where I look at what I have in the freezer then think of what I can make with the least amount of purchases.  Well I like to do this anyway, but the challenge has brought it to a new level.  So, at any rate, I'm calling this:

Empty the Freezer Lasagna
-1 lb Ground Turkey (browned) - seasoned with basil. 
-1 box Rotini
-1 cup chopped Spinach (frozen)
-1 jar Spaghetti Sauce
-Cottage Cheese
-Shredded Mozzarella

Just layer everything in - the order is not very particular here, but it is best if the noodles are well incubated in sauce otherwise they will remain crunchy.  Also, I prefer the mozzarella on top, but that is strictly preference.  Then cook everything at 350 degrees F in a water-tight pan, when they have reached temperature, drop the heat let them simmer for about 30 mins.  Simple.

UPDATE:  In case you are interested the Lasagna is Cole's... Huzbun's verdict = not as good as homemade. 

Day 87 - an impromptu 5K

or the way a 5K should be - I guess

So if you haven't already gathered I said yes... to an impromptu 5K

Maybe it was peer pressure... or the deluded, fat and alcohol induced mental state, but at 9pm on the eve of the race - I said sure, why not run a 5K.  I really didn't see a good reason not to... but I did make a point to chide people about not telling me in advance.

Maybe one good reason not to is that I was currently located no where close to - my running wear...and umm... Tennis Shoes!  Luckily (or unluckily), I was able to borrow some shoes, a pair of shorts, and a T-shirt.  As it turns out, I had a pair of socks with me.  Thanks to Becca's dad, I was also provided with a band-aid in case of blisters!

Well - as I'm sure you already gathered - I was surrounded by crazy people -

So the video is not the best quality, but I'll recap the important segment.

JACALYN:  We are going to run 9 minute miles!

RUBY LEIGH:  *rolls eyes in background*

So here's the starting line-up.

352 - Becca - Ran a half-marathon 2 months after giving birth to her first child.  - CRAZY!

448 - Jacalyn - Cross-country runner in highschool - PR of 22 minutes!  - CRAZY!

449 - Ruby Leigh - Decides to run second 5K with less than 7 hours of sleep and borrowed tennis shoes. - CRAZY!

Also, 450 and 347 - thanks for letting us know about the race!
(P.S. - I did not get permission to use their info)

Ok - Here we come!

.. wait .... wait

wait some more...

My mom, always conversational, says:  "How are you feeling?  Are you warm?"

Indeed, I was warm.  I blurted out something that sounded like "YEAHGH"

Then my dad, who was a runner for much of his life, starts yelling "Heel Toe, Heel Toe." That made me laugh - my dad is super hard core.     

 
 Well in the end I finished... with my best time!!! 35:41,  Becca came in at 28:12 and Jacalyn at 30:20... Some fast women!

 Oh and my parents plus Huzbun came to watch. 

Also Huzbun and Jacalyn's BF are responsible for all of the great photos. 

Running this 5K was a lot of fun!  So I love coffee after a run, and my friends do too apparently, afterward we treated ourselves to Caribou Coffee... I got my favorite over 500 calorie drink (Berry White Mocha).  It also used up $4.37 of the remaining $5.22.

While I'd consider running an impromptu 5K a win! ... there was much impromptu eating (that was for the record not less than $5) for the rest of this day.  This is why the amount left says $0.

Day 86 - Delicious-ness

My girlfriend from out of town invited us over to her parents house... for a pool party and delious-ness.  Her dad has one of those wonderful outdoor deep-fryer machine... Oh such a joy!  We had deep-fried wings, but the most wonderful part was deep fried fries.

First they sliced potatoes...

Isn't that the coolest kitchen gadgetry thing you've ever thought you needed?

Then they throw them into a vat of oil (a large vat.... and I'm guessing this wasn't olive oil either -not that it even matters at this point).  Also, I was informed here that the temperature matters.  You want to have an oil temp of at least 375 degrees F.

Then you let them sizzle away.


Here they are looking.... gorgeous!

Of course (for added health value), you then sprinkle them with salt... (nom), then you dip them in ketchup (nom)....

So not only did I eat a number of fries, a bunch of chicken wings...

I had some of this

and of course some kahlua brownies...

oh, and an interesting watermelon drink

My friend Jacalyn has the best facial expressions!

At some point in the middle of all this, someone, who will remain nameless... but she has red-hair and her name begins with a B and ends in an -ecca, asked me if I would wanted to run a 5K the next day... 


..... tune in to find out!