I have been blogging for almost four years now, and while I am no expert at all to food blogging, I have seen a lot of things as the food blogging niche has completely exploded into something beyond belief. When I first started blogging, there was a small, intimate handful of us. Now, there are more food blogs than any one person can keep track of… it has gotten quite insane!

What I have noticed over the years, however, is there seems to be two different groups of bloggers. Neither “type” of blogger is good or bad… there are just two totally different philosophies on how they will build their blog.

One type of blogger is the blogger who is all about growth and development of their blog. It is all business and getting to the top of the mountain with ultimate success and financial reward as their main motivation. They are not in it to build friendships. They are not in it to assist others. They are in it for themselves and to become a brand name in food blogging. They believe the information they have is proprietary and they don’t really want to share their blogging tips, photography tips, etc. because it might help to make someone more successful than them. Twitter and other social media outlets are used as a marketing tool versus a chance to engage with others. This isn’t saying that they aren’t nice and kind… there are many bloggers who fall into this category who are some of the nicest people in the world. Their motivation when it comes to blogging is just purely business.

The other type of blogger is the one who thrives on building a community of people to help and support each other with their blogging efforts. They rally around each other, celebrate successes, promote each others blog posts, and do not see the other bloggers as competition. They look at working mostly with PR companies and brands that want long term, mutual relationship.  Their first thought isn’t “what’s in it for me” but instead “what’s in it for us”? Sure, it may take them longer to make it to the top of the mountain, but more than likely they won’t be standing there alone…they’ll have a support network of people they’ve built relationships with standing around them cheering them on.

One of my personal goals with blogging is to help as many people as possible find their way along their own, authentic blogging path. This is one of the reasons why I started Adopt a Blogger a little over three years ago. I wanted people to have a person they could trust and count on to provide that sense of community in this big blogging world. Adopt a Blogger will be launching again this month with a new website and a new format! I hope, if you are new or experienced, you’ll join me in building up our blogging community.

I am also excited to announce that I will be speaking about the value of building a blogging community at the BlogHer Food 2010 Conference in San Francisco. I’ll be on a panel with some bloggers that I truly admire: Elise from Simply Recipes, Ree from The Pioneer Woman and Alaina Browne of Serious Eats (I know… pinch me now. I am so lucky to be paired with such a great group of talented ladies!)

So with that, I leave you with this thought (and a link to a killer banana bread recipe from Simply Recipes). What kind of blogger are you? Do the actions you do everyday in regards to your blog speak volumes to the world about how you want to be perceived as a blogger?

The post Building a Blogging Community (Recipe: Banana Bread) appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Someone who was expecting their fourth child asked me the other day how going from three kids to four kids has been. I feel sorry for the poor lady because she asked me on one of those days when I was feeling quite overwhelmed, and I was bluntly honest with her!

I love my family and I love my kids more than anything. I am so proud to be their mom, but yes… going from 3 to 4 kids has totally kicked my butt. Leah, the baby, is about as easy of a baby as one can ask for. She is happy 99% of the time, is laid back and totally melts my heart with every smile she gives me. Ella, the 3 year old, is still challenging, but she can go from making me want to pull my hair out to making me want to pick her up and hold her all day in the matter of a few minutes. She is “spirited” as her teacher says, hilarious and full of spunk. Kelly, who just turned 6, is a mini-mom. She is so helpful and honestly sometimes I feel has a better handle on everyone than I do. Jacob, my 7 year old, is growing up to be such a kind and funny young man. We can have real conversations now… meaningful conversations. It is so interesting to see how his brain works! With Nick’s travel schedule, Jacob has really jumped in to help out when Daddy is gone….

Read More

The post Recipe: Corn Chowder with Chicken appeared first on Dine and Dish.

Guess what? I am posting something today and it is the very thing I just made and am eating while typing. It must be something outrageously good if it is getting to jump ahead in line, don’t you think? Something like chocolate caramel covered cheesecake? Ooeey gooey cheesy lasagna? How about the most decadent homemade ice cream ever? Absolutely, not. Today, the food that has gotten me over the moon excited is Popcorn. Yes… popcorn! And not even an exotic flavored popcorn. Plain salt and butter popcorn.

I know, right? How could popcorn, even plain popcorn, be delicious enough to get this much attention from me? Well, it is…you have to trust me on this one.

We normally eat microwave popcorn around here, but two weeks ago I decided to buy some popcorn kernels and try to make popcorn the old fashioned way. Not quite sure what I was doing, I made my first batch of popcorn and it was good. Not great, but we liked it fine.

My girls were requesting popcorn today so I decided to Google stovetop popcorn to see what I could come up with. The first recipe that showed up was Elise’s recipe for Perfect Popcorn. With 115 comments raving about the goodness of this plain, buttered popcorn, how could I go wrong? I will admit that I was skeptical that it could be that good, because, really…its popcorn, people. I am here to tell you that you cannot go wrong with this popcorn recipe. It is so buttery (but not grease on your hands and soak through a bag buttery), lightly salted and cooked to perfection…not a single kernel to break a tooth on either!

If you want to pop up a batch of Perfect Popcorn, you can find the recipe on Simply Recipes. I suggest running, not walking, to the nearest store to snatch up the ingredients today!

Like a little flavoring to perk up your perfect popcorn? Give these recipes a try:

• Herbed Buttermilk Popcorn from 101 Cookbooks
• Peanut Butter Popcorn from Frantic Home Cook
• Popcorn Cereal from Tammy’s Recipes
• Vanilla Caramel Popcorn from Baking Bites

The post Popcorn? Delicious Popcorn? (Recipe – Perfect Popcorn) appeared first on Dine and Dish.