Make sure to head over to BloggedIn to read a feature interview of yours truly! Lauren, the interview was a lot of fun. Thanks for thinking of me!

When I think about Tart’s, I think about a crazy aunt who often jet sets off to Paris and brings everyone back exotic gifts that cannot be found anywhere in your hometown. She is always traveling on glamorous adventures, leading a life of glitz, yet always keeps an element of mystery to her life. Her life makes church goers blush and tends to seem a bit risqué.

Pie’s, on the other hand, always conjure up a vision of down home comfort…. wearing your favorite fleece pj’s, snuggled up under a favorite quilt, sitting by the fire and absorbing a great book. Family picnics, church bake sales and old fashioned bakeries always come to mind when I think of pies.

While all the June Cleavers of the world were making pies, the Glamourpuss was baking tarts. So, what will you think of me when I tell you I have been on a major tart kick lately? Will my reputation as a family friendly blogger go up in smoke? Do you think I am longing for a different life… wishing to jet set and be a part of glamorous adventures in worlds beyond my own? Well, not so much… The truth is I purchased a few new tart pans and was eager to try each of them out. I have made three different kinds of tarts in the past week, and although not as comforting as a slice of apple pie, they are just as delicious, if not a little risqué. If you are willing to risk your clean as pie reputation, I suggest you take a walk on the wilder side of life and delve in to the world of tarts. Everyone deserves a little glamor in their life.

Five Star White Chocolate Fruit Tart (from Recipezaar.com)

¾ cup butter, softened

½ cup confectioners’ sugar

1 ½ cups flour

1 10oz package white chocolate chips

¼ cup whipping cream

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened

Assorted Fruit

1. Heat oven to 300°F.
2. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Blend in flour.
4. Press the mixture onto the bottom and up the side of a 12 inch round pizza pan.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until just lightly brown.
6. Cool completely.
7. Carefully melt the vanilla or white chocolate chips and the cream either carefully on the stove on very low, stirring constantly, or in the microwave.
8. Beat in the cream cheese.
9. When crust is cool, pour on the melted chocolate/cheese mixture, spreading evenly.
10. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until ready to serve–at least 3 hours.
11. Slice the fruit of your choice and place on the tart in an attractive manner.
12. This is best eaten the same day it’s made

I had a most wonderful evening last night. Sandie, over at one of my favorite food blogs, Inn Cuisine, and I finally met. Sandie and I are both from the Kansas City area and we have been chatting on the phone for the past couple of months. We have been talking about getting together for awhile now and it was Sandie who planted the thought that we should go to the Harvesters Forks and Corks benefit event in downtown Kansas City together. A couple of food obsessed food bloggers meeting at a food and wine event? It sounded like a perfect idea to me!

Last night when we met, I seriously felt like I had known her forever. Sandie, her mother-in-law (who happens to be one of the sweetest and coolest MIL’s I’ve met), and I were in complete euphoria as we went from booth to booth tasting some of the most amazing food and wine from the finest establishments in the Kansas City area. From a delicious sweet corn and crab bisque, to some amazing scallops, to a most interesting basil chardonnay sorbet, we enjoyed a night of gorging ourselves for charity. Tough job, but somebody’s got to do it.

What I enjoyed the most about our time together, besides the instant friendship, was being with other people who have such a great appreciation for food. People who take a bite of things and explore the flavors of each morsel they taste. I have no idea how much food we ate and how much wine we sampled, but I do know that by the end of the evening, and well into today, I was still feeling completely stuffed. We felt a bit guilty eating so much when we were at a charity even to raise money for the hungry, but we couldn’t resist all of the incredible food.

One lesson we did learn… always eat dessert first. By the time the hours had passed and we made it around the Grand Ballroom, the one thing we were on a hunt for was gone. The famous Creme Brulee, that we heard everyone raving about, had been snatched up by all of the other attendees. Don’t feel too sorry for us… we managed to have plenty of other desserts. So many that it was impossible for us to try them all. It is my goal in the next few months to try and recreate the Carrot Cake Roll that I tried. Oh…My… Gosh! Delicious!

Thank you Sandie and Linda for such an enjoyable evening. I look forward to having a new foodie friend and to our Forks and Corks outing being an annual event! Next time we’ll remember to go for the dessert first!

The weather here in Kansas City is finally gorgeous. We have been having sunny, mid 70 degree days. Those of you who have been with me for awhile know how thrilled this makes me. I have made no secret of my detest for winter, so finally having days that are as close to perfect as I think we get in Kansas just makes life all the better!

Yesterday we spent the entire day..from sun up to sun down, outside. The kids played and played and played. We all got our first sunburns of the season (apparently a requirement with fair haired, fair skinned kiddos) and came inside at the end of the day absolutely exhausted.

So, on days like this, what does everybody crave for dinner? What is the official meal of carefree spring days? How about a big, steaming bowl of hot chili? No?? Yeah… chili in 70 degree weather is just about as much of a perfect match as Star Jones and Al Reynolds… which is not a match at all.

Being the rule breakers that we are, our family did enjoy big steaming bowls of chili for dinner. The reason being I have had this recipe from the March 2008 issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray bookmarked for quite some time and I couldn’t stand the thought of waiting until winter comes along again to give it a try.  It won the magazine chili cookoff and for very good reasons. This chili is hearty, robust and soooooo good. I think it just might be our new go to beef chili recipe.

If you are happily kissing winter goodbye, but want to savor one or two more comforting recipes from the winter months, I say go for it. It just gives you that much more to look forward to trying again when the colder months return.

Tex-Mex Corn Chip Chili (March 2008 issue of Rachael Ray Magazine)

45 min | 10 min prep | SERVES 6

We lost a friend to cancer yesterday afternoon. Crissy was the wife of one of my husbands high school best friends. She had a daughter, Gracie, six years ago and then found out just shortly after that she had cancer. Cancer has been a part of her life since then. Crissy fought a very valiant fight… always keeping things real and soldiering on.

Tonight, as I reflect on Crissy and her life, I cannot help but think what power cancer has over people. The power of cancer is a scary thing.

• Cancer has the power to make a woman who is full of life… outgoing, boisterous, and funny… lose all of her external spark and vibrance.
• Cancer can make a mother, who knows that her time is short and fearing the memory of her will be lost, plead with people around her to “No matter what, please let Gracie know I was a great mom and I loved her very much.”
• Cancer has the power to make a man throw out the notion that showing emotion is not acceptable. Distraught at the thought of life without his partner, cancer has the power to make a man overcome with the desire to make things better and to wish that he could do anything to turn back time. A widower at the age of 34, cancer has the power to make us all realize how truly unfair life can be.
• Cancer has the power to make a husband cling to his wife. After spending time and being witness to what his friend is going through, cancer has the power to make a husband plead with his wife “no matter what happens, please don’t die before me.” Cancer makes us realize how lost we would be without one another.
• Cancer has the power to make a precious six year old girl, who has never known her mom without cancer, be forced with the harsh reality that this time it is different. Mommy won’t be coming home with you tonight to tuck you in and dry your tears.
• Cancer has the power to bring people together, to fight for the cause and to hopefully bring a cure home soon. Like the LiveSTRONG day A Taste of Yellow Event, hosted by winosandfoodies…I can guarantee the food blogging community will do their part to raise the awareness of the devastation and power of cancer.

I know that Crissy is now a spunky, beautiful angel, lighting up heaven’s gates. Crissy will be missed by all who knew her, and will be remembered for her strength, smile, character and most of all… the impact she made on her daughters life in the short amount of time.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

45 min | 20 min prep | SERVES 10 -12

I was thinking tonight how much my husband and I view time differently. He, like many men, is one of those people who can sit down and watch the same movie… over and over and over again. I, on the other hand, rarely will watch the same movie twice. I think that there are so many movies out there I haven’t seen, why would I spend time watching the same movie again and again? Of course, I have those few favorites that I will watch more than once, but seriously… my husband can get just as glued to the TV the first time he watches something as he does the hundredth. You can ask him a question while he is watching Star Wars Episode I for the twentieth time and he seriously has to pull his eyes away to answer the question…like he has no idea what is going to happen next. Oh and another thing… you know that television sports channel that shows old college football games? He can watch those football games over and over as well and still get excited about them! Here I am with a mile long list of never seen television shows on TiVo and he is watching a football game from 1980 again.

My husband, unlike myself, is one of those people who knows how to maximize the time he has as well. He can get more done in an hour than I can get just sitting down and thinking about what I need to get done in an hour. He has some kind of overactive efficiency gene or something. He amazes me that way!

An example of his overactive efficiency gene in action could be the dinner we made together today. We had a whole chicken in the fridge and since I am a whole chicken weenie (meaning the thought of putting my hands under the skin of a chicken or inside the cavity completely grosses me out), he got pulled in to help. The recipe we used is very straightforward… nothing fancy or difficult. However, by the time I even had the first couple of steps done, he had done everything else, including cleaning the prep dishes. He probably updated our will and designed our next house in that time as well… I probably was too busy pokeying along with my part to take notice.

Anyway, this is not a recipe that requires a whole lot of efficiency and unless you are a “whole chicken weenie” like me, really doesn’t involve pulling someone else in to help out. It takes a couple of hours to cook, so if you want, prep the chicken, pop it in the oven and then sit down and watch Harry Potter, again. Either way, when it is done, you will feel very efficient having a delicious, moist and flavorful dinner ready for all to enjoy.

Lemon and Garlic Roast Chicken (from Recipezaar.com)

2¼ hours | 20 min prep | SERVES 4

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. On a work surface, mince the garlic with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt.
3. Transfer the garlic to a small bowl and whisk in the lemon juice, rosemary, sweet paprika and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, whisk in the olive oil.
4. Using your fingers, gently loosen the skin from the chicken breasts, thighs and drumsticks; try not to tear the skin.
5. Season the cavity of the chicken with salt and pepper and put the chicken in a roasting pan.
6. Using a small spoon, pour all but 1 tablespoon of the seasoning mixture under the skin of the chicken, rubbing it into the breasts, thighs and drumsticks.
7. Rub the butter under the skin of the breast meat.
8. Rub the remaining 1 tablespoon of the seasoned oil all over the chicken and season it with salt.
9. Put the reserved lemon halves in the cavity of the chicken and tie the legs together with twine.
10. Roast the chicken for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices from the cavity run clear and the chicken is browned and crisp.
11. Let the chicken rest in the roasting pan for 15 minutes.
12. Tilt the chicken to drain the juices from the cavity into the pan; transfer the chicken to a carving board.
13. Pour the pan juices into a bowl and skin the fat from the surface.
14. Strain the juice into a small saucepan and keep warm over low heat.
15. Carve the chicken and serve with the pan juices.

Update your bookmarks and your RSS feeds and hold on to your hats… Dine and Dish has moved! I’m so glad you found our new home.

Hello friends! I’m so glad you made it and hope you’ll stay awhile. Aren’t our new digs gorgeous? I am so excited to be making a change. My home 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 absolutely 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 partnering together to do a fun menu segment at BloggedIn, so stay tuned!

If you like what you have seen in the past over at my Squarespace Blog, I hope you will consider joining me 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