Actually I’m pretty sure I won the award the day before, but I found out about it yesterday, so that counts, right?

Btw: If I tagged you in this, you do not have to do it. I don’t expect ANY of you to do it, but I still wanted to say something about you all anyway. Deal with it. I’m mushy sometimes.

Do you ever meet a fellow blogger and you feel a pull to them? Everytime you see them post, you get more and more curious about who they are and when you do speak to them, you feel as if you’ve known them forever even though you obviously haven’t?
No?
Well, that’s how I feel about Tammi who blogs over at Momma’s Meals and she is the one who gave me this award yesterday (okay the day before). Tammi and I have a lot of stuff in common, she just doesn’t know it because I don’t have facts and what not listed all over my site. But she does. And I read them.  And we do. So anyway, yeah, I feel like I know her. She’s awesome. And she has yummy recipes over there and she is all about sharing which is my motto, so I’m loving her already.

The Versatile Blogger Award is a great way for bloggers to introduce different bloggers to each other and also to promote quality blogs that the awardees and their followers might not otherwise discover. The rules of the award are quite simple:

• Thank the person who gave you this award.
• Include a link to their blog.
• Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
• Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.
• Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.
• Include this set of rules in your post.
• Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

It’s super easy to thank Tammi for this award. Tammi has been very supportive throughout the A-Z Challenge, and she actually participated because of me, which for some reason makes me happy that I spread the love and that people joined. I think she might be the only one who told me that. Again, I love her. So thank you so much Tammi for thinking that lowly old me and my random recipe blog is good enough or interesting enough to warrant a versatile blogger award. I guess the award title is indeed appropriate.  Thank you!

Go visit Tammi. Please? Momma’s Meals. You can wait until you read the rest, but tell her I said  hi. Check out her yummy recipes and make something. You never know what you’ll find.

Okay, now I must choose 15 blogs that are recently discovered or that I follow regularly. Easy enough.

Let’s get started – These are  in NO particular order but every one of them has a reason they are there. The people behind them  inspire me, remind me I can do anything I want to do, and they encourage and support me. Some are brand new to me, some have been friends for awhile.

Mom’s Crazy Cooking – I know Tina already made Tammi’s list but Tina definitely deserves a place on my list too – especially with the inspiring.  I think we’ve known each other online for about a year or so now – we participated in another monthly challenge together. Anyway, she is awesome. She has a great food blog and I find myself combing it constantly for inspiration, she hosts a couple of fun and creative monthly and weekly challenges of her own now (the weekly one I co-host with her), and what can I say? She’s sweet. She’s funny. She doesn’t take crap. And I get to meet her, in person, in about a week. Yep. Jealous? haha I would be if you were meeting her. Just saying. She’ll tell you I’ve been counting down the days until she gets here. She can also tell you she has her name emblazoned across my monthly calendar during the days that her daughters and her will be here. Yep, I’m excited.

Family Foodie – Isabel is amazing. Isabel and I have probably known each other online coming up on a year pretty soon.  But it’s been more recently (the past several months) where we’ve spent countless hours on the phone together, strategizing, chit chatting and gossiping. Only a little bit of gossiping though. She is a dear friend of mine now  and I could not imagine a time when she wasn’t a close friend. She has a beautiful direction for her blog – her mission to bring back Sunday Supper has taken off and she has a whole hashtag on twitter – you should join us on Sunday’s. She makes the most amazing Portuguese cuisine as well, and until her – I’d only eaten Portuguese food once. Now we made stuff all the time.  She is extremely supportive, has an impressive creativity and I just love her. Plus this chick is smart and quite business savvy.  That is all. I could go on and on forever about Isabel.

Juanita’s Cocina – Jen. Jen is one of my newer friends, so she could be categorized as both recently discovered and follow regularly because ever since I recently discovered her I’ve been following her regularly. ha! Jen is super awesome, she’s funny, she’s supportive, she makes amazing food and quite frankly, I love her. Plus, she loves Ranch and she likes to eat it on strange things – like pizza, and not many like it on weird things – so she is awesome in my book. And all of that makes me love her even more. She’s simply awesome.

Me and My Tadpole – Sheri has been my friend for awhile now and I’ve definitely given her plenty of shout outs before, but the thing is, she deserves a million more. I connected with her on a level I wasn’t aware was possible online, and feel like we’d be inseparable if we lived nearby each other. She is an amazing photographer and her recipes are to die for. She is a great friend, an amazing mom,  she supports, she listens, she calms, she commiserates, she is one of my best friends and damn, I miss her. We don’t get to spend as much time together online anymore and that simply sucks. Do you hear that Sheri? It sucks! I miss you. I love you. xoxo

Magnolia Days – Every time I have a conversation with Renee, I love her more and more. She is smart, dedicated to her blog, makes amazing recipes and is an extremely supportive friend. She is also there to help out when people want her advice or help on a major project they are working on. Ahem. That wouldn’t be me or anything. I’ve seen the support she has offered to others and I admire her. Anyway, she is awesome. She’s a Georgia girl and loves gardening and has whippets. You really need to go visit her. She is awesome.

Chocolate Moosey – Carla is hilarious. She is also newer to me.  She also likes ranch, though I can’t remember but I think she thought Jen and I were a bit obsessed. Carla is living the life I want. I want to live in a small town with cows as my neighbors. I’m jealous. I’m also jealous of the wonderful food she makes because its beautifully presented and looks delicious.  She also has a super cute cat and a really awesome moose. Yep, jealous.

Boy Married Girl – Grace is amazing. She has the most hilarious post writing skills. She can tell a story in a way that will leave you laughing with tears running down your face.  She’s just witty. And she’s beautiful. She is also married to the dude I consider my boss sort of (he’s not really, I just think he is on some days). And they sincerely make the most beautiful couple both on the inside and out, that I’ve ever met. They rock. But more than anything – her posts rock and they make me laugh and she’s sweet too, did I mention that? Well, she is.

Mac’s Musings – Abbie and I have known each other about a year. She’s the sister of the dude I consider my boss (you remember, the one that isn’t really, but on some days I think he is? yeah, that one.) Abbie loves food, and she loves music and she is brilliant and I love reading her blog posts and lately she has been dipping deeper into her Christianity and writing posts that make me feel like she is talking about my life. You ever think someone was put into your life for a reason, and that every time they speak there is a message in it for you? Yep, that’s Abbie for me. She’s awesome.

Justin Bog – Justin has a long last name that I love. Bogdanovitch. If you even want to know how many times I’ve walked around the house saying it. I even gave it to a character in the book I’ve been working on. He recently changed his last name to Bog, to make it easier. Probably because it’s hard to say, which is why I have walked around trying to say it as often as I could. When he shortened it, I was sad. But I didn’t tell him that, so he’s finding out here. Sorry ’bout that Justin. I love your last name. That is all. Justin.Is.Awesome. He is such a super amazing friend, very, very supportive and an awesome writer. Justin mailed me brownies. And they were good and no you can’t have any, they were mine. Justin cheers me on with my food and recipes, as well as with my writing – he is one of the most genuine guys I know. He also takes cares of my dogs has beautiful German Shepherds that are so cute I want to borrow, steal, come visit and play with them and hang with Justin and Chris. Some day…

Melissa Foster – Oh Melissa. I don’t even know how to put into words how I feel about her without sounding ridiculous and sappy or without saying too much. She is absolutely the most giving, loving and supportive friend I’ve ever met. Melissa has three books published and they are all three AMAZING. You should read them. She writes exactly how I do, which has been a fun journey. She is my mentor, my friend, my hero. She supports and encourages me, she gives me opportunities to do projects to further both my writing career and my food blogging. Melissa I will never be able to thank you enough, but I will continue to pay it all forward and give back to others. We are twin brains and I love that. Your friendship means so much to me.

Dan Cristo – One of the smartest men I know. He reminds me of that daily when he can take the tiniest problem and have it solved in 30 seconds. Okay, sometimes its not that fast, but we’ll just pretend it is. He is also a very solid Christian with an amazing view point about things and he never ceases to make me stop and think about something in a new way. I admire this guy. I wish I could code like him, and don’t even get me started about the brilliant mind that speaks SEO.

Genius Bordering Insanity or KurtChambers.Net - I took a huge break from writing for awhile to focus on my food blog. Kurt didn’t realize that he was my constant reminder that I needed to get back into writing again – a weekly reminder. Kurt lives in the UK with his wife and their three children and then he has three grandchildren, though I have yet to figure out how that is possible because he does not look like a grandpa. At all. I’m just saying. He is a children’s author who writes middle grade fantasy. He is also the author of the Truth Teller series – check it out. He loves kids which I think is simply awesome. I’m pretty sure Kurt and I have been following each other for at least about 2 years or more. Every Friday for the last year or so he has made me smile with his #FF shoutouts that ALWAYS say I rock, which in turn I have to remind him, so does he. Kurt is seriously awesome. And he knows how to make someone smile. Just sayin’. Quick Update: Ahem, someone stopped telling me I rocked a few weeks ago, so after sending him a tweet reminding him that I do indeed rock, he once again pulled out the big guns and gave me an AWESOME #FF shout out this week and reminded me that I rock… we also have a little challenge going – Btw Kurt, this ^ means I win. LOL Top that :p

DIY Blogger – Mr. Dogan. Dino. I am eternally grateful to this man for opportunities that he has afforded me by bringing me on as a Triberr pot stirrer, problem diffuser moderator. He supports, he encourages, he’s funny as hell, he has an attention span that is possibly shorter than mine and he has an energy that just spills out of him when he is excited about a new idea or creative endeavor. This man just never fails to amaze me with his witty remarks, his ability to see things differently than I do and remind me that I need to always keep my eyes open. Thank you Dino – for everything you guys have given me, or done for me. You rock my world, and there are no words that will ever be able to express my gratitude. I don’t feel like such a little blogger anymore.

SiteSketch101 - Nicholas, Nick – whatever – he’s awesome and smart and funny and has the cutest little girl ever. He also thinks the way I do, in that he likes to help others. He spends a lot of time showing you how to build a powerful and profitable blog. In my opinion, that’s pretty giving. He has helped me through some serious hurdles over here on The Daily Dish and he helped me design a former look for the page. I don’t think he’s seen it like this yet. In fact, I know he hasn’t. But still… Nick is awesome. Smart, helpful, funny and he knows a lot of cool stuff. <– you know that’s not the word I wanted to use there, but I have to watch my mouth when I talk to him on Skype – there’s tiny ears that are often present and oh what cute tiny ears they are. haha (P.S. I need your help again haha)

I refused to choose a number 15 and the reason for this is because I have at least 5-10 more people I’d like to add to this list, but I can’t.  I am not doing a number 15. Don’t ask, it’s my blog, my award, I’m just not.

Now I’m supposed to tell you or I guess, Tammi, 7 things about myself. This should be interesting.

1. I have a bit of an obsession with music and I listen to all kinds. I almost always have it on. Loud. I have a headset, don’t worry. But I do it when I’m writing – it allows the words to flow so I don’t think so much. Yes, it require tons of editing but the stories are always awesome.

2. I have had a website since 1994 when my son was born. It was supposed to be to document him but for a long time had nothing to do with him. I started blogging in the modern sense in 2005 but truthfully before it had a name I was blogging.

3. I’m always surprised when someone touches my life somehow, by being supportive, kind, encouraging, giving and they seem shocked when I say something about how much they matter to me. Of course, the people that are clueless to how special they are, happen to be the ones I am most drawn to.

4. My favorite place in the world is Ireland. I’ve never been there, but hope I will someday. I am obsessed with pretty much all things Irish – Food, the land, the traditions, the music, the customs. * sigh * There has been an Irish Character in every single book I’ve written.

5.  I am a small town girl stuck in suburbia and I feel like I’m suffocating. Ready to move out of here and onto some land…. like where I can’t see the neighbors anymore.

6. I am a writer first, even before food blogging but I tend to get distracted easily and have needed to get myself there again. I gave up all my freelance gigs and the websites I was writing for to focus on fiction full time and now I’m food blogging. I need to prioritize. Who wants to help?

7. I am an open book. I will usually answer any question but for some reason I have trouble coming up with 7 random things about myself.

And there you have it. If you made it this far, you’re either crazy or you really care about me. Either way, thank you!

Hmm. This post didn’t go out yesterday and I’m not sure why, so here it is. 

Today is Q and I’m lame and I meant to prepare a Quesadilla recipe for today, but time got away from me and I got super busy. I’m taking the easy way out, which I realize is a little lame and am going with the word ‘Quick’ for Q and giving you a quick list of my favorites. Back to normal recipe posts tomorrow.

I got tagged for a bunch of these awhile back and I compiled them all and have been saving them, so here goes:

Romantic movie: The Notebook

Poet: This one is harder, I have several – I love E.E. Cummings, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Emily Dickinson.

Kitchen Appliance: That would be my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer. I waited a long time for that baby. I love her. Next in line would be my Food Processor. It gets a regular workout.

Breakfast cereal: Peanut Butter Cheerios (my newest addiction) – before that it was Golden Grahams but I barely ever had them.

Magazine: Another hard one, anything food related, especially Taste of Home – Also several writing publication.

Food: Sushi or Chocolate (Chocolate is a food, right?)

Toy from childhood: Hmmm… favorite toy. I loved my Speak N Spell and then probably dolls – those were probably my favorites.

Pie: Pumpkin or Blueberry Cream

Old article of clothing: I have a grey shirt that my dad had when I was in high school. He died my senior year of high school and I still wear that grey shirt to sleep in sometimes. I love that shirt.

Flavor: Depends really on what it is flavoring and what the item is, but I love Pistachio, Almond and Hazelnut flavors for many things.

Genre of music: I have a super eclectic taste in music, I love everything from Classical to Country, Pop & Rock – so it would have to be all of them – except rap. That’s not my thing.

Flower: I love daisies. I also love Cherry Blossoms.

Mixed drink: Anything fruity. I love Pineapple Upside Down Cake drinks. So good!

Music Group: Again I have a wide range of musical tastes but my absolute favorite is Celtic Thunder and it’s what I listen to the most.

Vegetable: Asparagus & Avocado (I think Avocado is a fruit though, so …)

Fruit: Raspberries

Tribe: I had to crack up because this was on the list. What kind of tribe do they mean? I’m going with my Triberr tribes and that would have to be my recipe tribes. I can’t help it – I’m a sucker for food. Obviously.

Drink: Coffee. And then iced tea. And then Diet Dr. Pepper.

Place to buy clothes: Kohls sales rack

Soda: See 2 above this. {Diet Dr. Pepper}.

Frivolous Gadget You’ve Bought: haha there’s a bunch – they aren’t all gadgets but….  We have a chocolate fountain that was a total splurge buy but we’ve used it a few times so … and our fondue set we bought two years ago – we’ve used it once but we intend to use it again – the kids loved fondue night. Uhm. We have these crazy Ice Cream balls that you roll around and they make ice cream – we didn’t buy them – they were a gift because we thought they’d be cool – yeah, they are – but they sit on a shelf and don’t get used often at all. haha

Schoolyard game from childhood: Red Rover. Yes, I loved it. Don’t judge.

Bar: Considering I don’t frequent bars, the answer would have to be anywhere that my friends band, Whiskey Dixon plays – because that’s about the only time I’m at one – when I’m hanging with them.

Music to get your groove on: Well, I listen to music all day, everyday and its usually to put me in the mood to write. So, I’d have to go with Celtic Thunder and Nightwish. I have a thing for European music too

Candy bar: Milky Way Midnight.

Thing about your work: That I get to work from home, set my own hours and take a day off when I need to. Of course, I haven’t seen many of those “days off” lately.

Restaurant you frequent regularly: We don’t frequent restaurants very often, actually – because I love to cook – but my favorite place to go when we need a night out is actually O’Charleys. Those cheese wedges call my name constantly.

Local Park: Well, it’s not like any of you know any of the places I could list, but I do love Rockwood Reservation – it’s a great place for photos and the kids to just explore. I also enjoy Babler State Park, another great place for photo ops and exploring.

Cafe: St. Louis Bread Co.

Subject/class from high school: English and French

Horror movie: Paranormal Activity – don’t judge. I loved them. haha

Sport to play: I don’t play anything – horseback riding is it.

Musical instrument: I can play the piano pretty well. I always wanted to learn the violin or the cello – love them but I never learned.

Band to see live: Celtic Thunder and/or Whiskey Dixon (friends band)

Video game: I have such a small amount of time to enjoy playing anything these days but The Sims have been a favorite for a long time. We’ve got all of them. Yes, all of them.

Yeah, so that’s it. I know there are actually more, but if I keep answering them, it then no longer becomes Quick. In fact, I’m pretty sure there was nothing quick about this whole thing, but shhh….

We go on lots of picnics, we just don’t get to go too far from home because we cart all this stuff with us. We have always wanted to get picnic baskets to bring with us. We love the idea of having a picnic basket or two, they are cute and fun and definitely symbolize a picnic.
We’d have to buy more than one to accommodate the seven of us. But we don’t really need to do that now – we found one that works for six people, and since hubby is often at work when we have picnic’s, seems it might not be an issue.

Picnic World has a wide variety and selection of all sorts of picnic baskets. They sell baskets with supplies, as well as completely empty baskets for carrying quite a bit of food. Perfect for us! They have bags, backpac

They even have a different wine bag for just about any romantic picnic need you could possibly have. Their prices seem competitive for the most part (considering I can’t find a picnic basket for my huge family easily) and so many different styles to choose from. I am absolutely in love with their picnic blankets as well, and did I happen to mention they are inexpensive and huge! You should definitely get one, we are!

You can learn more about it here, or even register to join.

Why am I telling you all this? Because you are going to get inundated with 26 posts during the month. No, not all at once, but still, I felt like I should tell you. And to top that off, I have the This Week’s Cravings, Crazy Cooking Challenge, Secret Recipe Club, Holiday Recipe Club, Improv Challenge and Sunday Supper to consider. Thankfully all of those are only once a month, with the exception of Sunday Supper which is… every Sunday. It will be a busy month. I promise however, it is worth it.

Also during the first half of the year, in between my cooking binges, I have been working on building a photo recipe index for this site. It is nowhere near complete and I never realized how many recipes don’t have photos from back in 2005 when I started. I need to fix that. At any rate, the new site recipe index can be found here or can be accessed by clicking on the top right corner of this blog that says… (drum roll please) Recipe Index. ha!

What do you think of the recipe index? Do you think it is easy to navigate? 

Are you doing the A to Z April Challenge? What’s your theme?

I recently had a strange experience whereby a friend gave me a recipe for her mother’s cheesecake. It was the first time I made a cheesecake I actually didn’t care for. It was very dry and crumbly, the flavor was lacking something. I kept thinking I did something wrong. But I looked that recipe up and down and I couldn’t figure out what it was that I would have done wrong. It just wasn’t good. And I had to tell her that. Well, I didn’t actually have to tell her that. I just knew she’d ask, and I had to figure out how I would say it.

Interestingly the conversation went well, turns out my friend is not a fan of cheesecake. Her mother made it for her all the time when she was younger and she said she just never “developed a taste for it”. Well, after trying that recipe, I figured out why. So I made her a cheesecake that I’ve made my family a dozen times. I kept it simple and topped it only with strawberries. She loved it.

The thing is, that made me realize how we can formulate an opinion on a food, based solely on one experience. One recipe can change how we view something or determine if we love or hate something.

Since she tried my cheesecake, she has ordered cheesecake several times out at restaurants and even bought one from the store. All of which she loved. Interesting.

I am slightly addicted to cheesecake (yes, I realize that probably at least 10lbs could probably be shed if I stopped my love affair… it’s all good.) and we’ve made several lately. I’ve even been known to get a Mail Order Cheesecake or two in my time. My favorite cheesecake is a chocolate cheesecake with a chocolate ganache on top. I will post that recipe soon.

The thing is cheesecake is one of those recipes, that if you start with a basic good recipe, you can play around with it and change flavors. I’ve made cheesecakes with chocolate ganache oozing off the top and down the sides, I’ve made cheesecakes with swirls of chocolate or raspberry throughout,  I’ve made wonderful fruit combinations for toppings and even tried some not so traditional items with my cheesecakes, including a lemon avocado cheesecake. Yes. I said avocado. Someday I’ll share that recipe, it was actually very tasty and we’ve made it a couple of times.

What is your favorite cheesecake? Have you ever had one that was slightly different than the norm? If so, what was it?

We’ve been hinting at it for awhile over on the Triberr bonfires, and finally we have opened the site and brought it to life. The members have spoken and what they wanted? Easy to understand, step by step guides to doing the things that can be done on Triberr. Ask, and you shall receive. Go ahead and hop on over to AllTriberr and check it out. Also be sure to comment and let us know what you think, what you’d like to see and any questions you have. There’s a place for all of that. Also, thanks so much to a few select people who supported this project from start to finish – Dan, Dino, Isabel and Christina, and those who will continue to help support it.

Just to keep this post food related, the night that I was getting ready to launch, my 13 year old daughter took over the kitchen and made dinner for everyone without asking for a single bit of help. Dinner for 7, made by a 13 year old includes a Spicy Cajun Alfredo Pasta, Garlic Roasted Green Beans with Sea Salt, a Fresh Salad and Garlic Bread. Yes, I am proud. Yes, I’m bragging. Hey, I don’t do it often.

Most people who know me at all, know I love to switch things up, re-decorate often and make things better and cleaner anytime I can. The food here at The Daily Dish needed some help. It needed to be bigger, bolder, beautiful. The blog design needed some help too. I was looking for simple, fresh but not so bold… the old design was really bold (as you can see by the old header pictured at the top)

This weekend The Daily Dish got a new blog re-design. I am still ironing out some smaller issues, mostly with uploading photos in the correct size, etc. so if you notice anything that seems wrong, or doesn’t fit right – leave me a comment here and let me know. I promise, right now I need constructive criticism and any found errors or issues, so please, please don’t feel bad about letting me know.

The only known issue I know about is the photo size, and the fact that I need to get more photos into the header slide show – working on that now.
P.S. The big slide show is on the main page. You can get to it by clicking on the smaller logo at the top of the page.

Thanks for always being loyal readers and great friends!

I still need to update my button, but overall, I’m pretty happy with the design.

I wanted something that incorporated Fall colors, because Fall is my favorite time of year. I don’t know how well I accomplished that, but I got the feel I wanted so that’s good.

Plus, don’t you just think the header is adorable?

If you find anything that seems “off” or isn’t working correctly, let me know. I am still tweaking a few things but most of them are behind the scenes.

And now back to regularly scheduled food posts.

The problem was, could I commit?

• I’m already in the Secret Recipe Club
• I’m already in the Crazy Cooking Challenge
• I’m already in a Triberr Challenge for October, November and December.

This whole challenge reminds me a little of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) which happens every November. Oh yeah, did I happen to mention I plan to participate in that too and that October is usually my planning month for NaNoWriMo. I’ll be blogging about all that here.

Ah, yes I’m a glutton for punishment. Oh well. I can do this!

So I’m supposed to come up with a topic I am passionate about and can blog about for 31 days. And I should make it something that I won’t get tired of and that comes across as a series. *blink, blink*

Ooooookay, I can do that. Right?

I spent the entire day yesterday brainstorming and thinking about things I am passionate about, trying to figure out what I wanted to blog about for 31 days. I could do 31 days of recipes, I could do 31 days of crafts, photography, scrapbooking… And then it hit me.

Why not do it all?

So this month, I will be doing 31 Days of Love Handmade.

What does that mean? I almost want to leave it open to interpretation because I’m afraid if I label it too much, I’ll be trapped in a topic I’m not sure I can do for 31 days. Doing a series of 31 blog posts on all things that would be interpreted by ‘love handmade’ is perfectly do-able.

I plan to share:

• Crafts
• Recipes
• DIY Projects
• Gifts
• Scrapbooking/Cards
• Photography
• & More…

Still unclear about what I’ll be blogging about for 31 days? Come back and visit me and you’ll see.

What I can promise, is that it will be entertaining and worth the visit.

Are you doing the 31 Days of Change?