I would call what we are getting ready to go on a vacation, but I don’t think I can. To me a vacation involves a lounge chair, an umbrella drink, the sand in my toes and the sound of the ocean waves in my ear. In my mind, the word vacation is not equivalent to riding 40 hours in the car with three children 5 and under. I am sure when we return, you are going to see a long run of posts about adult beverages as I am sure after that kind of trip, cocktails are deserved and in order.

I am really excited to see my brother and his family. His wife, Ginger, makes the most incredible tasting enchiladas. We will get to spend some time with my good friend Melissa and her family, which we haven’t done in at least 4 years. We will finally get to visit my sister-in-laws house in Pittsburg, PA too and we’ll get to see the rest of the in-laws at the end of our vacation for summer birthday parties.  Yes, long hours on the road are ahead of us, but the destinations will be worth it.

I thought I’d share with you the links to some of my favorite strawberry recipes. These are links to recipes I have not posted yet, but that I love very much!

In the meantime, if you are looking for a yummy and patriotic treat for your kids, make sure to check out my Kid’s Cuisine post from today. You can find it here.

Now, on to the recipes:

This is my all time favorite milk shake recipe - Sonic Strawberry Cheesecake Shake

This is my favorite way to have a simple strawberry treat - Maple Sauce for Strawberries 

Just like the one from McDonald’s - Yogurt Parfait 

Another yummy trifle - Strawberry Angel Trifle 

Enjoy! 

Written for Just Baking on the Well Fed Network

I know you all have been there. You are standing in the checkout lane of a grocery store and a magazine photo catches your eye. Maybe it is one with the current celebrity gossip. Maybe you are more of the House and Garden type and spot a cover with a gorgeous room makeover. If you are like me, it is the food magazines that are the most tempting. I will see a cover photo of something delectable and fight with myself not to pick up the magazine to purchase it.

A few weeks ago my friend Kathy called with a request. She had purchased a copy of Family Circle magazine while she was at the grocery store simply because on the front cover was a photo of a cake that was entirely to tempting to go without. Her request, since she claims to not be a baker, was for me to make this dessert. Several days later she stopped by with the recipe including the photo and I could tell right away why her taste buds were interested in having a bite of this treat. Before me was a four layer white cake stacked with cream and strawberries in the middle. Since I love strawberries in almost any form, I told her I was up to the task.

This cake makes a beautiful presentation. The layer after layer of summer goodness is just too good to pass up. I was surprised at how mild the flavor was though. I am a sweet and sugary sweets girl, and this cake was not nearly as sweet as I would have liked. Kathy, my family and some other neighbors loved the cake, so I would call it a hit.

From Family Circle Magazine

Berries ‘n’ Cream Cake

Nutrition facts per serving:
calories: 439
total fat: 29g
saturated fat: 14g
cholesterol: 146mg
sodium: 306mg
carbohydrate: 39g
fiber: 2g
protein: 7g

When Lisa over at La Mia Cucina announced that her and Kelly were hosting a Salad Extravaganza, I knew just the recipe I was going to submit. Believe it or not, we eat more than just desserts around here at the Dine and Dish household. I love salads and we have a salad with dinner almost every night. My kids love salad too. We all get good dose of veggies at night with our evening salad. My five year old always asks for "more leaves". My three year old calls some of the pieces in a Spring Mix salad "trees". So, we eat a lot of leaves and trees.

This "leaves and trees" salad is one of my favorites, even though it is a new to us salad. My friend Tina brought this to Easter dinner and we all gobbled it up. This is the kind of salad that I sneak downstairs at night and stand in front of the open refrigerator eating. Yes… it is eat in your PJ’s when you cannot sleep and have a craving good. In fact, I think I have to go grab a bite right now.

Strawberry Romaine Salad with Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing

OK - I have a question for all of you. How many of you have gained weight since you started your food blogs? It’s confession time! I started my blog at the very end of November and at that point I had exactly 10 pounds of baby weight left to lose. Well, as of a couple of months ago I had gained an additional 7 pounds. I am blaming this unfortunate weight gain on my need to cook and research for my blog and on all of the tempting blogs I visit.

I decided a few weeks ago that it was time to do something about this so I joined the Weight Watchers online program. I follow a spin off of Weight Watchers called the Wendie Plan. This plan allows you one Super High Points day. I use this super high points day to eat whatever I want. If I am craving something really bad for me, I know that if I just wait, I can have it on that day.  In the three weeks since I have been on the program I have lost 8 pounds. Knowing that I don’t have to give up anything has helped. Tracking the food that goes into my body is another thing that has been helping me. If I want some cookie dough, I just account for that during the day and make sure I save those points to go towards that.

Anyway, why am I posting about all of this boring weight loss stuff? Because I want to share a recipe with you! One of those things that we make on a weekly basis is rotisserie chicken. We make it a few different ways, but this recipe is my favorite. Rotisserie chicken is one of those things that you can stretch and stretch into many different meals. Put the chicken on top of salads, use in quesidillas, have it on sandwiches, etc. The possibilities are endless and when you make it at home you know exactly what you are getting.

If you are interested in losing weight but do not want to count points, check out the Just A Beach Kat blog. Her plan for losing weight by eating a diet full of color is a really great one! Make sure you click here to find out more. She’s a genius!

Herbed Rotisserie Chicken

There used to be a time when I did not see the point of making homemade cookies. Why bother with all the trouble when you can get refrigerated cookie dough? What could be easier than snipping open the package, slicing some dough and then baking them? Why would I want to go through the hassle of dirtying up a bunch of dishes just to make cookies? Typically, back then, a container of sugar or flour would last me more than 6 months. I moved the same container of table salt and the same box of baking powder to two different apartments after my annual leases were up. Cookies were all about the dough to me anyway. If I was craving some cookie dough, I would just go pick up a tube of Toll house and call it good.

Back then can also be known as pre-marital bliss. Something happened to me when I got married. Not right away, but shortly after. I began to observe what would happen when my mother-in-law would visit. She never came to our house without a bucket of homemade baked goods…cookies, bread, bars, etc. She would hand over the goods to my hubby as soon as she walked in the door and a smile would cross his face as he searched through it to see what treats were in store for him. I’d watch in wonder as he would light up…pulling out this and that. After observing this ritual time after time it finally hit me. To my husband, baked goods equaled love. That seems very simple. He equates the bucket of goodies from his mom with the love she has for him. She loves him so she bakes for him. This was a new concept to me, but one that I knew I could handle. I was going to become a domestic goddess and my husband was going to love me for it.

It only took one or two homemade cookie making attempts before my husband saw where this was all heading. One day, he came home from work with a present…. a brand new Kitchenaid Mixer. I remember him telling me, "If you are going to play the part of a baker, you have to at least look the part." With an excited hug and a kiss, I set out to make some cookies. I wanted these cookies to be filled with love, so I called his mom up to get the recipe for his favorite cookies…Chocolate Star Cookies. I was a little nervous about stepping over the special mom/son boundaries to get this recipe from her, but when I spoke to her she gave it up easily and seemed happy at the thought that her son was finally being properly taken care of.

Many, many, many years later love and cookies fill our home. I bake several times a week and as they say… "You’ve come a long way, baby." I love the hugs and kisses and special thanks I get when I bake something for someone I love. It may be self-gratifying, but it feels good to be able to share the love that comes from homemade goodness with others.

Chocolate Star Cookies

Whew - it has been a long week! I spent this past week teaching preschool crafts to 100 3 and 4 your olds for our church Vacation Bible School program. Yes…100 three and four year old children came through our classroom each day to learn a message and do a craft each day. I am used to being around my own kids, but these three hours of other peoples children every day wore me out. I came home in the afternoon and could not wait to get a nap in. It did not help that my husband was in New York all week on business either. I had to be in full-time Mommy mode 24/7.

By Friday night I was ready to pull my hair out and knew I needed something strong to help me relax into weekend mode. I needed an adult beverage. Something as far away from kid friendly as possible. I had a bottle of Grand Mariner and remember seeing an ad in Gourmet magazine awhile back for a Grand Mariner margarita. It was a simple recipe.. one part Grand Mariner and lime juice and two parts tequila. You shake it all up in an ice filled cocktail shaker and then strain it into a salt rimmed margarita glass. Soon after Nick was home, I made my Grand Mariner margarita. When I took my first sip I was completely disappointed. It just was not what I was looking for. I finished it (of course!) and then set out to find another recipe. I hopped onto Recipezaar and did a search by ingredients…Grand Mariner and Tequila. I found this recipe for a Top Shelf Margarita. We had the ingredients necessary to make this yummy beverage and I anticipated that it would be little sweeter than the straight up Grand Mariner margarita.

This margarita was the perfect end to a crazy week. The flavors melded together wonderfully. It was just sweet enough and it packed just enough punch to put me into full weekend mode. We finished the evening with an impromptu gathering in our front yard. My husband got the fire pit out and several neighbors came over. We hung out into the late hours of the night, with our children falling asleep on our laps and us enjoying the fire and conversation. This was the type of night that summers are made of.  

Top Shelf Margarita 

 On a side note, I have missed reading all of my favorite blogs this week! I cannot wait to catch up with you all to see what wonderful recipes  you have in store for me.

Written for Paper Palate on the Well Fed Network

I ran into a slight dilemma when I sat down to write my article about the June 2007 issue of Gourmet magazine. I opened up the magazine to find page after page after page torn out. No, my kids did not get a hold of the issue. My husband, who loves to grill, took the liberty of browsing through the magazine and tearing out recipes he wanted to try. He must have removed half the magazine because the copy in my hands was very sparse.

Once I was able to acquire a complete issue from the library, I could see why my husband was so eager to rip and tear this issue to pieces. The June 2007 issue of Gourmet magazine is full of very appealing recipes. Mouth watering photos and simple summertime ingredients will tempt all of us into giving some of their current recipes a try. From Crisp Chipotle Shrimp with Corn and Scallions to Cheesecake Marbled Brownies, this issue has something for everyone. The recipe that tempted us the most was for Pasta with Green Vegetables and Herbs. My herb garden is growing well, and this beautiful and delicious dish was a perfect accompaniment to the warm summer weather we have been having. You can find the recipe at the end of this article.

As far as articles go, this issue had at least one well written piece that brought me to tears. Daniel Zwerdling wrote A View To A Kill… an eye opening article about chicken megafarms and giant processing plants and the inhumane treatment of broiler chickens (as they are called in the industry). This article documents the unethical conditions the chickens are in from the day of their hatching to their final living moments. According to Daniel and many experts in the industry, finding a gentler more humane way to harvest chickens could be very simple and methods have already been created to make it easy for mass chicken merchandisers and fast food restaurants to turn over to these procedures. Getting them to agree to this and to comply to this new method seems to be the biggest issue.

On a lighter note, turn to page 136 of the June issue of Gourmet and you will find an article titled Earthly Delights. This article features a gorgeous garden and encourages us to eat the food you find at the source. A garden inspired meal always tastes better with a makeshift table and chairs right among the veggies and herbs.

As my husband will attest, the June issue of Gourmet magazine is well worth the purchase simply for the abundance of great recipes. If you are looking for some eye opening content as well, make sure to pick up a copy of this issue.

PASTA WITH GREEN VEGETABLES AND HERBS
Mixing aromatic herbs like mint and basil with asparagus and peas creates a beautiful green dish. Salty feta sparks it up.
1 pound thin asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup frozen peas
1 pound linguine
2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
1 cup packed fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 1/2 ounces feta, crumbled (1 cup)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 scallions, thinly sliced

Cook asparagus in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling well-salted water until just tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a large heatproof bowl, then add peas to boiling water and cook 2 minutes. Transfer peas with slotted spoon to bowl with asparagus, then add linguine to boiling water and cook until al dente.
While linguine cooks, pulse basil, mint, oil, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup feta in a food processor until chopped, then add to vegetables.

Reserve 1/2 cup pasta-cooking water, then drain pasta in a colander. Stir reserved cooking water into vegetables, then add pasta, parsley, scallions, and remaining 1/2 cup feta and toss.

Makes 4 servings.

Gourmet
Quick Kitchen
June 2007

There is nothing out there that is quite as gratifying to me as smashing, kneading, chopping, beating, etc. the heck out of food. When I am stressed, give me a recipe that calls for doing something inhumane to the ingredients and by the time I have an end product, my stress is gone.

This morning, my kids were not getting along at all. From the moment they woke up they were bickering with each other about every little thing. They were apparently frustrated with each other and needed a quick intervention. I decided to try to distract them some. They could help me make breakfast, and while doing so, they could relieve some of their obvious stress by smashing some strawberries. I got out two bowls and divided the berries among them. I gave them each a vegetable smasher and they went to town destroying their own little bowl of berries. Instead of fussing and arguing, I heard giggling and laughing. Before I knew it, the first step to our breakfast muffin recipe was done and the mood of my children had changed dramatically.

Together we finished adding the ingredients, stirring it up and making the muffins. We ended up having a lovely breakfast of delicious Berry Smash muffins. The kids were so proud of their part in making breakfast and I was just thrilled to have a morning where the bickering was squelched from the start.

For your own at home therapy session, give this recipe for Berry Smash Muffins a try.

Berry Smash Muffins (from Recipezaar)