Tomorrow on Kitchen Chat: Dallas Woodburn

I can't wait for you to meet our guest tomorrow! At the ripe old age of 22 she has dedicated her life to making a difference in the lives of others! She is so inspiring. She has created an orgainization called Write On Books which is dedicated to encouraging kids to discover joy, confidence, and a means of self-expression and connection to others through reading and writing endeavors.

Dallas is a 2009 summa cum laude graduate of the University of Southern California with a B.A. in Creative Writing and a minor in Entrepreneurship. She published her first book, There's a Huge Pimple On My Nose, when she was ten years old, and has been hooked on writing ever since. She is the author of a second story collection, 3 a.m., and has signed with a New York literary agent to represent her first novel manuscript.

Dallas Woodburn, 22, is the author of two award-winning collections of short stories and a forthcoming novel. Her short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in numerous literary journals including Monkeybicycle, The Newport Review, and flashquake. She has also written articles and essays for Family Circle, Writer's Digest, Motherwords, The Los Angeles Times, and eight Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Dallas is the founder of Write On! For Literacy, an organization that encourages kids to discover confidence, joy, self-expression and connection to others through reading and writing. She teaches writing workshops, holds essay contests, and organizes an annual Holiday Book Drive that has donated more than 11,000 new books to underprivileged youth. Her latest endeavor is starting a publishing company, Write On! Books, that publishes anthologies of short stories, essays, and poetry written entirely by young writers. The first anthology, Dancing With The Pen, features more than sixty young writers from all across the U.S. and is scheduled to be released this summer. Learn more at www.writeonbooks.org and http://dallaswoodburn.blogspot.com/

Dallas has shared this scumptuous cookie recipe with us!

Magic Cookie Bars

1 stick melted butter
1 cup crushed graham crackers
1 cup chocolate chips
1 and 1/3 cup coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a 9x13 inch pan, pour the melted butter to cover the bottom. Crush graham crackers in a plastic baggie, then pour into the pan in a thin, even layer. Add a layer of chocolate chips, a layer of pecans, and then a layer of coconut. Pour the can of sweetened condensed milk evenly onto the coconut. Bake for 25 minutes. When cool, cut into bars.

Join Margaret every Friday at 11:00 CST for Kitchen Chat!