How "Gartha Stewart" contributes to the cookbooks: My husband takes my recipes and mans them up. He likes real hearty things. There's a recipe in the new book that we made up together; I call it Cowboy Lasagna. He loves lasagna, but he wanted it to have more stuff in it. And he took my country quiche and said, "Let's put tortellini in it." It was a really good variation. He's the one who taught me that the recipe is just a guideline; you can go, "Well, what would I like in this?" That's how new recipes are born.

The ideal family day: We're more likely to pop popcorn and watch a movie at home than go out. The girls want to go do things with their friends, but they're also still at an age where they like spending time with us. Garth and I like to hike; the girls will come, but they'd rather be listening to their iPods. There are two gals I've especially bonded with in Oklahoma; our kids play soccer together and like each other. So they'll come over with their husbands and we'll grill out, and the kids will watch Twilight for the 10,000th time. It's fun!

The perfect romantic getaway: Because Garth and I spent most of our time on the road before we got married, vacation for us is not going anywhere. We have the girls every other day — so every other night is date night. We watch some movies, but enjoy just getting to hang out. Cooking together is very romantic. We've even been in the car, dressed up to go some nice place for dinner and to a movie, and we'll get out on the highway and go, "Can't we just go home and make a pizza and play Nintendo?" And we do!

How I pick myself up when I'm feeling down: I do something for someone else. I've learned that when I'm micro-stressing over something that doesn't really matter, or feeling sorry for myself, I should get out there and do something that benefits others, like the fund-raising walks for the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation that I've done with my sister.

Being an artist, it's really easy to be self-centered, because your career is all about you. So it's been a real challenge for me to learn how to make it not just be about me. I think falling in love with a man who mattered more to me than me was big. A man with children — that definitely forced me to take the focus off me.

My beauty regimen: I'm a soap-and-water girl. I use one witch hazel pad, right after I get out of the shower, and then Oil of Olay. That's it. If you can't buy it at Walgreens, I don't use it.

What I'll be doing when I turn 50: Garth and I have talked about doing one more tour together once the girls are grown and we're not too old to get off the bus. And I'd love to do a Broadway show, but it's going to have to be when Garth can move to New York for a year and hang out with me.

What tested my faith: When I lost my dad — it was the day after my 41st birthday — that was one of those big moments for me. It's easy to say that God knows best, and that you trust everything to God — until something really bad happens to you. And then it's harder to say, "I trust." But ultimately I got there, because I need to believe that my father is in heaven, and that he's watching over me. And so I would say that my faith is probably stronger than ever.

My goal for the 40s and beyond: In midlife you get to a place where you say, "This isn't going to last forever, so you're going to have to just learn to find joy every day." And I'm really focusing on that. I'm glad Garth's not sitting here — he'd be saying [in the vocal equivalent of a skeptical raised eyebrow], "Joy every day? Really?" I'm trying!