Hello friends! Dine and Dish is moving to a new home at www.dineanddish.net, and boy are our new digs gorgeous, or what!? I am so excited to be making a change. My home here on squarespace was lovely, but I feel like Jules over at the fabulous Everyday Design captured my personality perfectly with the new design... and she was done in like a day! Quick, affordable, amazing, talented....the list could go on. Jules, thank you again for your wonderful contribution!

The move has been absolutley effortless on my part. With a recommendation from Jules at Everyday Design, I hired Lauren from WebEx Hosting to do the transfer and I feel so blessed to have met her. She is such a great person with a fantastic sense of humor and personality...an instant friend! Please make sure to check Lauren out at BloggedIn News & Networking. We are partering together to do a fun menu segment at BloggedIn, so stay tuned!

If you like what you've seen here at my Squarespace blog, I hope you will consider joining me over at my new home! I've loved having you on this journey and look forward to our continued relationships.

Everywhere I go these days, it seems like I run into people who are trying to find balance in their lives. I am among those searching for the perfect balance between home/work/family/fun. I have to say, I'm not doing such a great job of it lately. Work seems to be taking on a life of its own, and balancing that with the family and fun stuff is taking a lot more skill on my part.

I have often wondered what the secret is to life balance. How do those of you who are really good at balancing do it? I have a feeling that part of it is being willing to say no to things, and I know that is something I struggle with.  I recognize that achieving it all is not possible, but figuring out what exactly I am willing to let go of is difficult.

There are certain parts of my life where balance comes easy and usually that has to do with cooking. When I am in my kitchen cooking, I feel balanced. I feel like I really have my stuff together when I make a meal. Because, let's face it... knowing what's for dinner and actually getting it on the table can be one of the first areas to go out the window when your life is out of whack. If I want to feel even just a tad bit accomplished, I cook.

My friend Candace called one time and asked, "What exactly is a clove of garlic?" As I was explaining to her that garlic comes in bulbs, and a clove is a piece of that bulb, she started laughing. "No wonder my salsa tasted horrible. The recipe called for 3 cloves of garlic and I thought a clove was the whole bulb, so my salsa had 3 bulbs of garlic instead of 3 cloves!!"  Ohhhh... talk about out of balance flavor! I love garlic and all, but I am not sure that I could even down something with three bulbs of garlic in it!

Balance is a tricky thing, even in cooking. Too much of one thing, no matter how tasty, and it can throw everything else out of balance. Just like life, with cooking, balance is important.

One of my favorite salmon recipes, Garlic Lovin' Salmon, takes the flavor balance just to the brink of over the top. This simple and delicious recipe takes on the power of garlic and combines it with lemon and pepper to achieve the perfect combination of flavors. If I could achieve perfect balance like this recipe, life would be good!

Garlic Lovin' Salmon

30 min | 15 min prep | SERVES 4

Pie Crusts... some cooks swear that lard is the secret key ingredient. Others swear that the secret ingredient that makes their pie crust outstanding is Vodka. Me? I just swear...  not just a little swearing. A big bunch of drunken sailor swear words come out of my mouth each and every time I make pie crust. I have yet to make a pie crust without having some sort of random issue. The crust sticks to the board, I roll it too thin. I roll it not thin enough. It burns. It shrinks. I've been tempted to try the much acclaimed Vodka pie crust recipes, but I am afraid that with how frustrated I get when I make pie crusts, I would use the few tablespoons needed for the crust and by the end of the night the bottle will be gone because I will have drowned my pie crust frustrations in vodka. Remember the pie crust bag? Well, that worked dandy for awhile, and then it stopped... it stopped being my favorite pie crust tool. Oh - and forget trying to make them pretty. How the heck do y'all do that? My mom has patiently worked with me demonstrating how to properly crimp and let me tell ya'... I must have missed the crimping gene because my pie crusts are never, ever even close to pretty.

So, what's a girl to do when in her desperate need to get her computer fixed, she calls her uber technical neighbor (never mind that my husband is a computer guy... his computer skills are soooo not useful unless I wanted to put a giant mainframe in my house) and in order to convince him to come fix the computer she exclaims... "If you do it, I'll bake you something... anything!" Feeling pretty confident in my baking abilities, I knew it was a payment that would be simple to make. That was until he says... "I love blueberry pie. I'd love for you to make me a blueberry pie." Seriously? I can bake! I can bake breads, cakes, cookies... just about anything, and what does he choose? A flippin' pie. My nemesis in the kitchen and the one thing that causes curse words to come flying out of my normally somewhat clean mouth at a fervent pace.  But, I made a foolish promise and that promise was one I had to keep.

I found a pie crust recipe that I had not tried before. The pie crust tasted great... rolled out pretty smooth and only caused a few curse words to escape my lips.  The pie, however not pretty, was amazing. Blueberry pie... I've never made it, never tasted one and now I think I have a favorite fruit pie! One of these days, I'm going to make a pie crust and it will not make me cuss. It is my goal this year to be a successful pie crust maker. Now, I have an excuse to practice. Blueberry pie... well worth the pie crust frustration and a good reason to continue to practice.

Bakers Secret Pie Crust Recipe (from Allrecipes.com)

• 3/4 cup cake flour
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 5 tablespoons shortening
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
• 3 cubes ice
• 1/2 cup cold water

Measure butter & shortening onto a plate, put into freezer for about 20 minutes.

Measure cake flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse for a few seconds to mix.

Take 1/2 of the cold butter and 1/2 of the cold shortening, put into processor with dry ingredients and pulse off and on for about 1 minute. Scrape down twice while doing this.

Blueberry Pie (from Recipezaar.com)

One of the most annoying/challenging/predictable parts of living in the state of Kansas is the weather. People always say "If you don't like the weather in Kansas... just wait!" It is so predictably unpredictable. One day this week we had temperatures in the 70's. It was so lovely. Our entire neighborhood was out playing, chatting, firing up their grills and enjoying the warm sunshine beating down. By this weekend, we are supposed to have snow falling from the sky again. Yep - if you don't like the weather in Kansas, just wait because something new will be coming along the next day.

Throughout the month of March, Spring teases us with these little glimpses of what we have in store... the mild and lovely days where capris and sandals are the norm. People begin to emerge from their homes after the long winter hibernation, and the driveway happy hours are happening on every block. Giggles are heard from the children who have stored up their energy and driven their moms crazy all winter long. The ice cream truck travels through the neighborhoods ringing its familar bell, and baths are a requirement every night because of all of the outside messy adventures the kids get themselves into. Bedtime is later because you don't want to miss a minute of what is going on outside, the outdoor grill and patio set finally get to be used again and life just seems more carefree!

Yes... I know Spring is coming and I absolutley cannot wait. Oh wait... oh no... Warmer weather means skimpier clothes. I am not going to be able to hide under my jeans and big bulky sweaters anymore. Swimsuit season?? Eeeeeeeeks!!

Well... as I do every winter, my winter hibernation has not helped me in the weight loss department at all. I didn't gain anything over the long winter, but I certainly didn't lose any weight either. It is time to start thinking light... to start thinking about healthier options and fresh veggies.

One really fun way to present your salad veggies is in a parmesan cheese bowl. An edible bowl to go along with your salad is perfect for spring... you won't have a dish to do and it saves more time for playing outside!

Speaking of playing... we are heading out of Kansas to find the sunshine for a week. We are going to Florida to visit my best friend and her wonderful family. We are going to hit the beach for a few days and do a couple days of Disney. We are so looking forward to being refreshed! When I return, some big things will be going on at Dine and Dish... stay tuned!

Parmesan Cheese Bowls

1. Spray an 8-inch non-stick saute pan with vegetable oil spray.
2. Heat the pan over medium heat.
3. For each Parmesan bowl, sprinkle 1/3 coarsely grated Parmesan to the bottom of the saute pan, distributing the cheese evenly across the pan.
4. Allow the cheese to bubble for about 30 seconds before adding an additional 1/4 cup of finely grated Parmesan.
5. When the cheese starts to turn golden brown, remove from the pan and place over any (flipped upside down) bowl you would normally use.
6. Now, I like to place a paper towel (or two) over the grated Parmesan to soak up any oil, while I gently press/mold the grated cheese to the bowl.
7. Allow a few moments for your Parmesan bowls to cool before removing.

When I was younger I used to always have the radio on. When I would wake up in the morning, I would listen to music when I was getting ready for school and work. I remember bopping around the house/apartment/room to the music. I would also always fall asleep with music on softly in the background. Even after I was married, my husband and I would listen to Sting, Jim Brickman or Enya as we fell asleep at night.

I am not sure when all of that music listening stopped. I imagine that it happened after my kids were born and my house contained enough noise to drown out any music I was listening to. Either that or I didn't turn the music on because I did not want to wake the baby. It also could have been when I would get out voted by all the little people in my house and the Top 40 hits got replaced by The Wiggles soundtrack and Raffi. Day after day of that is enough to make any mom throw out all of the radios in the house!

I did not realize, until this morning, how much listening to music in the morning can change your mood as you are getting ready. The baby was messing with the alarm clock and somehow got the radio turned on. As I was drying off from my shower, the sound of music filled the room and I was suddenly uplifted. Getting ready this morning was a completely different experience as the kids and I bee-bopped around the house turning the routine into fun.

It is interesting to me the different ruts we get in and how getting out of those ruts can be something as simple as turning the music on!

The recipe I am about to share comes from the March/April 2008 issue of Simple and Delicious Magazine and yes... it does have somewhat of a tie in to my rambling above. If you live in any community where you are invited to events where you are asked to bring an appetizer, you can almost bet that at least one person will bring some form of Spinach Artichoke Dip. What they choose to accompany it may vary... crackers, pita bread, veggies, etc. Another popular appetizer is stuffed mushrooms. I'm always bringing stuffed mushrooms to things. Well, the folks at Simple and Delicious Magazine gave us all who are stuck in the "same old same old" appetizer rut, a cure! Spinach Artichoke-Stuffed Mushrooms! Yep... how brilliant is that? They combined two very popular and simple appetizers into one tasty treat. Incredibly easy to put together, impressively delicious and a perfect way to switch things up just a enough to keep people on their toes.

Spinach Artichoke-Stuffed Mushrooms

• 1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 can (14 ounces) water-packed artichoke hearts, rinsed, drained and chopped
• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1/3 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 4 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 30 to 35 large fresh mushrooms

Directions:

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, mayonnaise and sour cream. Stir in the artichokes, spinach, mozzarella cheese, 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese and garlic salt.
Remove stems from mushrooms (discard stems or save for another use). Fill each mushroom cap with about 1 tablespoon of filling. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.
Place on foil-lined baking sheets. Bake at 400° for 16-20 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Yield: 30-35 appetizers.

One of the most popular recipes on my site is a recipe I posted "way back when". Back when I was a newbie blogger, I posted a recipe for Oooey Gooey Monkey Bread. In that post, I encouraged people to get messy with their kids. Allow them to use their hands to eat and let all of their inhibitions go out the window.

I know that people are going to that particular post for the recipe, as I get a ton of hits on that post each day. I hope what folks are taking away from it, besides a really yummy recipe, is the thought to let loose some, HAVE FUN (if you haven't seen this video, you MUST!), and that living life without pristine cleanliness is often times a great way to live!

What are you doing to let loose a little? My mom called me the other day and shared something she read on the wall of her doctors office. It was something about raising happy children, and one of the suggestions was to make a cake and let your kids eat it without using their hands! Can you imagine the memory that would make in their minds? Well, we are doing it this weekend and I'll let you know how it goes!

If you are stuck in a "can't quite get the whole let loose thing" rut, I am posting a different recipe for a pull apart bread that can be a babystep for you getting started.  I hope that you are enjoying your life because it can be very short... you might as well make the most of it and have fun!

Pull-Apart Caramel Coffee Cake from the March/April issue of Simple and Delicious Magazine

• 2 tubes (12 ounces each) refrigerated flaky buttermilk biscuits
  
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
  
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

I am not a procrastinator on all things, but there are some things that I procrastinate with until the last minute. Writing my freelance articles is one. It seems like my best written articles come to me when I have waited until the very last minute to write them. I do my best work with a tight deadline. Unloading the dishwasher is something else I am great at procrastinating on. It isn't like unloading the dishwasher is a hard task and it only takes a few minutes to complete, but I always procrastinate to the very last minute on that chore!

When I was growing up my mom would leave my older sister and I at home during the days of summer. She was getting her Masters degree and took classes during the day. Each day, she would leave us a list of chores we would have to get done while she was gone. It never failed that I would start my chores at 4pm and she was expected home at 4:30. I mastered the art of procrastination at a young age, and that art still sticks with me today!

This recipe I am about to share with you... I made in December, right around the holidays. I have been meaning to share it with you for some time because it is sinfully good, but kept procrastinating about it. Something else comes up to write about, or I would push it aside meaning to do it later and then forget. Now, it is the end of February, and the magazine I got this from is no longer in print. It was a Better Homes and Gardens special interest publication called Christmas Baking. It is a magazine stuffed full of wonderful dessert recipes for the holidays or any time of the year. Twenty-five amazing cakes, pages and pages of chocolate desserts, wonderful pie recipes... this cooking magazine is a keeper that I know I will turn to again and again.

If you stumble across this magazine or the magazine it was previously published as (Simply Perfect Holiday Baking 2005) I highly recommend it! You'll open it up and won't procrastinate at all on finding favorites that you want to make. Now, writing about them may be a totally different story!

Colorado Chocolate Pieces

Cupcakes:

1 1/3 cups hot water

2 tablespoons instant coffee crystals

1 box (18.3 ounce) chocolate fudge cake mix

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

20 soft caramel candies, unwrapped

Filling and Topping

1 container (16 ounce) chocolate frosting

1 jar (7 ounce) marshmallow crème, chilled

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ cup sweetened flaked coconut, toasted

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour 20 cups in two 12 cup muffins pans. For the cupcakes stir the 1 1/3 cups hot water and coffee crystals in large bowl until crystals dissolve. Let cool. Add cake mix, oil, and eggs to coffee in a large bowl. Beat 2 minutes or until well blended.

2. Fill each muffin cup halfway with better. Place one caramel in center of each. Pour remaining batter over caramels. Bake for 12 minutes or until cakes puff. Cool cupcakes in pans on racks for 15 minutes. Carefully remove cupcakes from pans.

3. To assemble, cut off tops of cupcakes; reserve tops. Frost cupcake bottoms with chocolate frosting. Spoon 1 tablespoon of chilled marshmallow crème on each frosted bottom. Replace cake tops. Dust with cocoa powder, sprinkle with coconut, and serve. Makes 20 cupcakes.

You all are probably starting to think that I should change my blog name to Dine and Whine instead of Dine and Dish, aren't you? Have I been crabby the past couple of posts or what? Sorry to bring you all down, but thank you for pulling me back up. The comments on my last post about the restlessness I am feeling really put things into perspective for me. The post struck a chord with many of you and your personal accounts and advice are so appreciated.

I do not have a lot to say today (first time for everything, isn't there?) but I have been holding on to this recipe for so long and keep forgetting to post it. This is a Recipezaar recipe... and was a spur of the moment try for me. We always have a lot of minute steak in our house and finding creative things to do with that type of steak can be difficult. This recipe for The Ultimate Steak Sandwich has to be the best use of minute steak that I have found. If you try it, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Oh - and PS... Adopt a Blogger 2 bloggers... I haven't forgotten about you!  I promise we'll get the second batch up and running in March. Please encourage the veteran blogs that you visit to participate because right now we are at about an 80 to 20% ratio, with new bloggers being on the heavy side. Can't wait to get started with you! Adopt a Blogger 1 bloggers, I'd love to hear how things are going with your match-ups. If for some reason you haven't heard from your match or things aren't going as you had hoped, please send me an email. Give me a few days as I work from home and my inbox is always flooded...but I will reply!

The Ultimate Steak Sandwich

I am a person bounded to my life by circumstances. I was born and raised in a small Kansas town. Altamont, KS was a town of 1,000 people and it really was a great place to grow up. It is the kind of place where, as a kid, we could walk the streets past dark, ride our bikes out of the view of our parents eyesight and they would not worry, sit outside the post office and chat with the strangers who walked by, and more. I did not appreciate it growing up nearly as much as I do now.

Now, I am married to a wonderful man whom I met in Kansas City, have a great family, and live in... Kansas... still. I have moved from the small town to the big city (Kansas City) but I am still in Kansas. I really do have a great life... we live in a neighborhood surrounded by some of the best neighbors you can find. I have some great friends. Our school district is one of the best in the state. The crime rate here is very, very low. My husband has a very good and stable job, that he just happens to come home griping about every single day, but all in all he is committed and is treated well.

So, why is it that I am feeling so restless? Why do I want to leave Kansas so bad? I have always longed to live in the south. Charlotte, North Carolina to be exact. I long for the adventure of picking up everything and starting new...an adventure with my family that we can do together and grow from.

I look at the weather reports for my favorite locations every single day. I read the newspapers from my favorite locations every single day. I go to www.findyourspot.com and dream of moving to the places that it recommends. Interestingly enough, the town that I live in now shows up as an option each and every time.

I have friends picking up and moving... not looking forward to it and I long to trade places with them. To carry on on the journey they are about to embark on.  I often wonder if once I got there, if it would be all that I dreamed of, or if I would finally realize that Kansas is not the wrong place for me after all. I think it is a situation where you don't know what you have until it is gone, but I have a feeling I won't realize that until I can experience it for myself. Someday.... someday.

In the meantime, I fill my time making those recipes that I consider to be truly Southern. Southern Buttermilk Biscuits is one of those recipes that, when it is snowing outside and the sky is gray, takes me to a place down south where the weather is more mild and the beach is near.  Where sitting out on the screened in porch and drinking sweet tea is a normal, every afternoon occurrence.... and Sunday's after church, Grandmother's everywhere are baking up a batch of buttermilk biscuits to feed to their family for brunch.

I am a person bounded to my life by circumstances... and when I really sit down and think about it, those circumstances aren't so bad. Nothing like a delicious breakfast, in a warm home, surrounded by your own family, to change your perspective some. 

Southern Buttermilk Biscuits (from Recipezaar.com)

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, or in the bowl of a food processor.
3. Cut the butter into chunks and cut into the flour until it resembles course meal.
4. If using a food processor, just pulse a few times until this consistency is achieved.
5. Add the buttermilk and mix JUST until combined.
6. If it appears on the dry side, add a bit more buttermilk.
7. Turn the dough out onto a floured board.
8. Gently, gently PAT (do NOT roll with a rolling pin) the dough out until it's about 1/2" thick.
9. Use a round cutter to cut into rounds.
10. You can gently knead the scraps together and make a few more, but they will not be anywhere near as good as the first ones.
11. Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet- if you like soft sides, put them touching each other.
12. If you like"crusty" sides, put them about 1 inch apart- these will not rise as high as the biscuits put close together.
13. Bake for about 10-12 minutes- the biscuits will be a beautiful light golden brown on top and bottom.
14. Do not overbake.