I have had the chance to have a few email conversations with both of my adoptees and I must say… they really don’t need my help at all. Bloggers these days seem to be so much savvier then I ever was back in the day… you know, when I had to walk uphill to school, against the wind, without shoes carrying an 80 pound backpack full of textbooks. Yeah… those were rough days. Makes me cold and tired just thinking about it.

Katie, from The Cutting Back Kitchen, is a menu planning, coupon / deal finding queen. She lives in OH and is married to a prince of a guy as well. I wish I had the sense of mind to be so smart with my money when it was just my husband and I. Katie’s blog is a fantastic resource for parents, singles, couples… anyone wanting to save money, cook delicious food, and figure out how to live a great life on a budget! I have a feeling I’m going to learn as much from Katie as she will learn from me!

Stephanie, who writes the blog Desserts for Breakfast, is a lovely CA native. She is a graduate student in linguistics, but I secretly think she should drop all that and just focus on food photography and styling. She is quite talented for being on the newer side of blogging. Stephanie’s blog is full of delicious, indulgent, rich and decadent desserts… all written up with clever writing and beautiful photography!

I hope you will visit both of these blogs and say hi… welcome them to my ever expanding family and give them a little of attention, please. Ask my kids – you kind of have to fight for it around here.

Now, on to menu plan Monday. My menu this week features some really delicious recipes, but I have to give an extra shout out about what we had for dinner tonight. Have you ever eaten at Bonefish Grill™? Have you ever had their amazing Bang Bang Shrimp™? One of the tastiest things on the planet, in my opinion! Well, this past week I found a copycat recipe and made it tonight… Oh. My. Gosh. This stuff is so good. Warning you though… it has quite the kick to it, so if you don’t like spicy food, you might want to skip this recipe!

• Monday: Copycat Bonefish Grill’s Bang Bang Shrimp™ from Recipe Secrets
• Tuesday: Maid-Rite Sandwiches from Recipezaar
• Wednesday: Chicken Pot Pie from Recipezaar
• Thursday: Homey Grilled Ham with Katie’s Scalloped Potatoes, from The Cutting Back Kitchen
• Friday: Worlds Easiest Roasted Tilapia from Kalyn’s Kitchen
• Saturday: Altamont Grade Schools Poor Boy’s, from my childhood
• Sunday: French Dip Panini from Panini Happy

I hope you all have a great week! What’s on your menu? Don’t forget, for more great menu ideas, visit Menu Plan Monday at I’m An Organizing Junkie!

The post Meet My Adoptees & Menu Plan Monday (Recipe – Bonefish Copycat Bang Bang Shrimp™) appeared first on Dine and Dish.

OK – now about the vanilla! When I was younger, I think it was around the time I was in Kindergarten, my grandma Sumner was demonstrating to us all how to properly use a sharp knife. I don’t remember much, except all of us kids were standing around watching her when the knife slipped and she cut her finger pretty badly (in my mind, she cut the tip of her finger off, but I don’t fully remember!). That lesson in how to properly use a knife (or not!) stuck with me because I now refuse to cut anything without a cutting board.

Fast forward 30 years later and I am in my kitchen getting ready to make my friend Sandie’s Creme Brulee. I had a couple of really tough vanilla beans that would not slice open. Being the genius that I am, I picked up one of the beans, held it in the palm of my hand and attempted to cut it open that way. That was not a brilliant decision because the knife slipped and cut open the palm of my hand. Ouch!

One good thing came from that experience. I discovered the joy of Vanilla Bean Paste. Vanilla Bean Paste is much easier to use than vanilla beans, it is less expensive, and has a stronger flavor than pure Vanilla Extract. Plus, you get those great little bean specs in everything you make!

Last week the folks from Singing Dog Vanilla and Red Ape Cinnamon contacted me about trying their products. I am currently trying the Singing Dog Vanilla Bean paste and love how strong the vanilla flavor is! I tried it in these cookies and the frosting and the sweet vanilla flavor was really defined.

Now you get the chance to get your own bottle of Singing Dog Vanilla Bean Paste. All you have to do to be entered in the giveaway is to leave a comment on this post. Make sure you complete the form with your email address so that if your name is chosen at random, I can contact you! If we get over 100 unique comments on this post, I’ll throw in a jar of their Red Ape Cinnamon for the winner as well. All comments must be left by 11pm CST on Wednesday, September 16th. Good luck!

Sugar Cookies (from the kitchen of my friend, Jo Ann Emerson)

• ¾ cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 t vanilla (I used 1 Tbs Vanilla Bean Paste)
• 2 ¾ cup flour
• 1 t baking powder
• ½ t salt
• Extra Special Buttercream Frosting (recipe follows)

In a mixing bowl, cream butter & sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until light and fluffy. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Chill for 1 hour or until firm.

On a floured surface, roll a 1/3 of dough to ¼ inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutter. Place on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 375^o for 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Repeat with remaining dough. Frost. Yield: 2 dozen large cookies

Extra Special Buttercream Frosting (from the kitchen of my friend, Jo Ann Emerson)

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup vegetable shortening
• 2 lbs. powdered sugar
• ½ t salt
• 2 t clear vanilla (I used 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste)
• 6-8 oz. whipping cream

Cream butter and shortening until fluffy. Add sugar and continue beating until well blended. Add salt, vanilla and whipping cream. Beat on high speed until icing is fluffy. Note: This frosting should be refrigerated. Yield: 7 ½ cups

This recipe makes enough to frost 2 batches of sugar cookies or an extra large cake. Always start with a little whipping cream and gradually add (humidity affects the amount needed).

The post Singing Dog Vanilla Bean Paste Giveaway (Recipe – Sugar Cookies with Vanilla Bean Frosting) appeared first on Dine and Dish.

After I got over my rejection, I perked up quickly. I now had a photo I could submit to one of the newest food photography sites, TasteSTOPping! Tastestopping is the very witty creation of one smart blogger named Casey. Casey created Tastestopping as a place to share your rejected photos with the world. Now your sad, lonley rejected photos have a place to call home.

Between Culinary Snapshot, where you can learn from the community about how to improve your photos to get them accepted on the “food photography elite” sites (and share your photos & tips as well!), and Tastestopping, where you actually kind of hope your photos will get rejected from the “food photography elite” sites so you can participate in the fun, the world of food photography is one hot topic!

This Taco Salad is something I am positing over at Culinary Snapshot (and if it doesn’t get accepted at any of the “food photography elite” sites, you’ll find it on Tastestopping too!

On a side note, I do have to say that Tastespotting and Foodgawker have both been very kind to me and my food photographs. I would hate to be the people behind the scenes having to pick and choose which photos get the golden pass!

What are some of the other food photography sites that you like to visit and why?

Western Taco Salad (Adapted from the back of the Western Dressing bottle)

Ingredients

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I get called “Supermom” by a lot by people. I’m not sure why, but people think that because I have four kids, a traveling husband, a social life and a work-at-home job that I am some kind of person who is able to balance everything going on in life with ease. Those of you who know me in real life know this isn’t the case at all. I really want to put that image of me to rest.

I truly believe that whenever you have so much going on in your life, something else suffers. Sure, I get to work from home, but you know what? While I’m writing right now, my kids are watching the movie “Hotel for Dogs”. I’m not mothering them. Instead, they are stuck in front of the TV. Ask my husband about how well I balance…I can’t remember the last time we actually went to bed at the same time because I’m typically up late at night working. I spent the morning with my kids at Shatto Dairy Farm. Because of that choice, I didn’t spend my morning cleaning, therefore my kitchen and office are still a wreck. See…. something suffers if you try to have it all.

I am no more of a “Supermom” than my sister, who is now a single mother, raising two teenage kids, working a full-time job as a teacher on top of a part-time job of teaching music lessons. She still manages to feed her children, care for them and have a good relationship with them.

Supermom is a myth and I would be thrilled to pieces if moms stopped trying to live up to these unrealistic, super high standards. Yes, there are people out there who seem to have it all…they can balance kids, work, home, marriage, social life, etc. I guarantee you that if you sit down and really talk to the “supermom”, get to know them and their life, you will be told that they really struggle with balance and trying to maintain it all. With everything they are achieving, something else in their life is suffering.

Anyway, just had to get this little rant of mine out there 🙂

Supermom would have gotten up early and made these lovely Banana Pancakes for her kids breakfast. Instead, “supermom” slept in some with the baby, had the older kids get their own cereal, and pretended all along like she meant to have a breakfast for lunch day. So long, supermom!

There is still time to participate in the newest Culinary Snapshot “Through My Lens” event and be a part of the giveaway for the really cool camera strap. Check it out at Culinary Snapshot!

The post The Supermom Myth (Recipe: Banana Pancakes) appeared first on Dine and Dish.

For those of you who are not familiar with Julie & Julia, it is a movie based on a book based on a blog by Julie Powell. Julie decided one day when she was trying to find some great purpose in her life, to spend 365 days devoted to making each recipe out of the famed Julia Child cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1. Just as Julia Child paved the way for TV chefs today, Julie Powell paved the way for all of us food bloggers out here. Her blog was honestly one of the first times I had heard about the world of food blogging.

My friend Julie Lackey gave me the book Julie & Julia and I loved it and related so much to it! I can only imagine that I will be just as entertained by the movie (starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams).

Now, for the next part of this post. Being a mom of four kids makes it very difficult to get out to see movies at the theatre. A couple of years ago, some friends and I started a group called Chicks & Flicks.Chicks & Flicks is a mixed group of friends who get together about every 6 weeks to watch a movie in the theatre. We’ve seen “chick flicks” and we have watched movies our husbands would have enoyed as much, if not more, than us. If we were all to be there at one time, there would be about 15 of us in attendance. On most occassions, we have between 6-10 women. It is a great time, no pressure, no preparation needed kind of night. Our group was recently written about in our local Shawnee Magazine. To read about how you can start your own Chicks & Flicks movie group, check out the article. I shared a lot of great tips to getting your movie group started! I think it would be a great idea to have Julie & Julia be your first movie together. You can bet my group will be heading to the theatres on August 7th to check out Julie & Julia, the movie!

Disclosure: This blog post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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When I got out of the small town I grew up in and went to college, I finally lived “in town” for the first time in my life. I was so thrilled for simple things like pizza delivery and 24 hour convenience stores. Living in the dorms my freshman year was also quite a thrill because socializing with my friends could happen any time of day… no need to wait for someone to take me into town so I could “play”.

The one thing each town that I have lived in has lacked and I have wished for is Chinese food delivery. Sure, we have Chinese food nearby where I live now but it isn’t very good and it cannot be delivered. The lack of Chinese food delivery has meant that I have had to discover the next best thing…creating my favorite Chinese food dishes at home! I have never used a wok (although I keep thinking I would like to buy one) but making delicious Chinese food at home is quite simple and typically does not require a lot of obscure ingredients. By combining a few key items, you can create the flavors you are looking for without a trip to a specialty market.

One other thing the towns I have lived in are missing is the beach and the ocean. I’m not sure I can remedy that situation as easy as I could this one!

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs Cornstarch
1 Tbs firmly packed brown sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp black pepper
2 Tbs vegetable oil, divided
2 pounds flank steak or top sirloin, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 medium heads broccoli,cut into florets (approx 4 cups)
2 tsp grated fresh gingerroot

1. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, lemon juice, cornstarch, brown sugar, garlic and pepper. Set aside
2. Heat 1 Tbs vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef and stir-fry until almost cooked through (about 2 minutes). Transfer beef to a plate and cover to keep warm.
3. Heat remaining oil in the skillet. Add onion and stir-fry for 5 minutes. Add broccoli to the skillet with 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes.
4. Return beef to skillet with soy sauce mixture; add ginger. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens, about 2 minutes. Serve hot over rice.

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Tonight was Jacob’s meltdown night. He wanted to take a bath instead of a shower and completely lost it when my husband said that he had to take a shower. He lost it with a capital L, in a extreme way. He screamed and he cried and like always, nothing we tried would calm him down.

As you can imagine, when Jacob gets this way, my husband and I are on the verge of losing it ourselves. As the crying gets louder, our nerves get more and more shot. Typically we just leave him alone in his room and let him calm down on his own. Tonight, though, I decided to try something that I learned from Grey’s Anatomy, of all places.  Did any of you catch the episode towards the beginning of the season where Dr Yang and Dr Bailey were instructed by Dr Dixon (the character with Aspergers) to hug from the side to her to help calm her nervous system down? Apparently it is related to a technique called “Brushing” and it is supposed to work at making people calm. (You can watch the hugging scene from Grey’s Anatomy on YouTube here).

I walked in by Jacob in the heat of his meltdown, got down on my knees and held him from the side tightly. I spoke softly to him and within two minutes at the most, Jacob’s breathing was back to normal, his tears had stopped and he was calm. Just like that, his major meltdown ceased and he became completely cooperative again. Another benefit of this is that it calmed me down too! I tuned out his crying and just concentrated on keeping my voice soft and calming him down. I almost cannot wait for him to have another meltdown just to see if this technique works again!

It is amazing to me how the simple act of touch can work to completely change someone elses behavior. That feeling of comfort… of having someone hold you to soothe you is indeed remarkable.

The soup we had tonight did not calm Jacob down (it may have if I would have served it during the meltdown), but to me, a cup of soup is like a hug in a bowl. There is something about sitting down to the warm steam rising off the bowl, taking your first bite and having your whole body warmed by the contents that provides immediate comfort. This may not be the kind of hug that works to eliminate meltdowns, but you may want to be careful… running out of this soup may result in the kind of meltdown’s from your family that will require you to provide physical hugs for comfort. It is that good!

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Broccoli and Chicken Noodle Soup

Broccoli and Chicken Noodle Soup (Cooking Light, March 2009)

Author Dine & Dish

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1 cup presliced mushrooms
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1.1 ounces all-purpose flour about 1/4 cup
• 4 cups 1% low-fat milk
• 1 14-ounce can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 4 ounces uncooked vermicelli broken into 2-inch pieces
• 2 cups 8 ounces shredded light processed cheese (such as Velveeta Light)
• 4 cups 1-inch cubed cooked chicken breast
• 3 cups small broccoli florets 8 ounces
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

• Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, mushrooms, and garlic to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally.
• Reduce heat to medium; add butter to mushroom mixture, stirring until butter melts. Sprinkle mushroom mixture with flour; cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Gradually add milk and broth, stirring constantly with a whisk; bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to medium-low; cook 10 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Add pasta to pan; cook 10 minutes. Add cheese to pan, and stir until cheese melts. Add chicken and remaining ingredients to pan; cook 5 minutes or until broccoli is tender and soup is thoroughly heated.
• Yield: 10 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

CALORIES 317 ; FAT 12.3g (sat 6.8g,mono 2.9g,poly 0.9g); CHOLESTEROL 74mg; CALCIUM 179mg; CARBOHYDRATE 23.8g; SODIUM 723mg; PROTEIN 27.5g; FIBER 1.9g; IRON 1.6mg

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