Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

I have been watching a lot of British chefs on the Food Network lately. Nigella Lawson, Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver have kind of taken over my TV. I love cooking shows, but they are even better when the hosts speak in lovely British accents (though I have to say it is really weird not hearing Gordon Ramsay drop a dozen f-bombs every half hour - his cookery course show is much cleaner than his others!). If you need me, I'll be practicing British cooking terms - like "spring onions" and "double cream" - in a terrible accent.

This cauliflower mac and cheese was inspired by Jamie Oliver's version from his cookbook Meals in Minutes. I kept wanting to make his version but forgetting to get crème fraîche and pancetta at the grocery store, so I just put together my own. I realize that this isn't technically mac and cheese, since I used fusilli and not macaroni, but if you're a stickler for that stuff, just sub in the elbow macaroni and you'll be good to go.

Baked Eggs in Avocado with Fresh Salsa

I'm usually not much of a breakfast person and most of the time I have something quick like cereal or Eggos. (Sometimes too many Eggos - blueberry ones - slathered in butter. It's a weakness of mine.)  Every once in a while though, I find a recipe that inspires me to do something fancier for breakfast.

That's what happened when I saw baked eggs with bacon in avocado on SteakNPotatoesKindaGurl. I love avocados so I couldn't wait to try them. I wanted to add some freshness to the dish, though, so I thought I would make it with some homemade salsa and without the bacon.

Baking Basics: A Link Roundup

I have always been much better at cooking than baking. I still remember how I used to ruin Pillsbury cookies. You know, the ones that you only need to scoop onto a baking sheet and put into the oven. Sad.

Over the last year or so, I've become a much better cook, but I think that part of my success is due to the fact that cooking is generally much more forgiving than baking. I can freestyle a recipe or substitute ingredients and the dish can still work out (most of the time).

Baking, on the other hand, is more like a chemistry experiment to me. (I should say that I was never particularly good at chemistry, though it probably didn't help that my chemistry labs in undergrad were at 8 in the morning. Nobody should make me play with chemicals at 8 in the morning.) Everything has to be so much more precise and there is a lot more room to ruin a recipe if you don't know exactly what you're doing.

While I have improved my baking skills enough that I can handle Pillsbury cookies now, and have ventured into the wonderful world of making sweet treats from scratch, I still have a lot to learn. I have been reading a lot of amazing food blogs and information sources from professional chefs online that have outlined a lot of great information that I didn't know. I figured there might be others out there who are novices and want to learn more, so I thought I'd start this link roundup feature of useful information that I come across.

While this particular roundup is about baking basics, I'm planning to share more links every once in a while on other cooking topics. I hope you find them helpful too!

Top 10 Tips for More Successful Baking. - The Kitchn

Think you know how to measure dry ingredients? I thought so too. (I was wrong.) - Sally's Baking Addiction

Learn how to bake muffins with high tops. (Now all I can picture is muffins with running shoes on.) - Sally's Baking Addiction

Check out these tips for making great cookies. Did you know the weather can matter? I didn't! - A Spicy Perspective

50 Tips for Baking Better Cakes. - Sweetapolita

Anna Olson's baking tips. - Food Network

Anne Burrell's Top 5 Tips for Baking Like a Pro. - Food Network

The World's Greatest Baking Tips from Dan Lepard. - The Guardian

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I have this bad habit of putting bananas that are past their prime into the freezer and just saying that one day I'll use them to make banana bread, rather than just tossing them. Or maybe that's a good habit, since that means I don't waste food if I can help it. However, I'm also notoriously lazy with actually getting around to making said banana bread, so I often end up with a bunch of frozen, sad-looking bananas sitting around in the freezer for ages.

Blueberry Scones

I love blueberry scones. I used to buy them along with my morning coffee all the time, which got a little expensive. I never thought about making my own until I stumbled across a recipe for blueberry scones on Garnish with Lemon. As soon as I saw them, I knew I had to try to make them.

Tomato and Feta Phyllo Tart

One day long ago, I was watching a cooking show about some sort of fancy phyllo pastry involving spicy soppressata, an Italian salami that I love. I bought the phyllo and then never made the pastry. (Typical procrastinate-y me.) The phyllo has been sitting in my freezer for months.

I knew if I waited until I found that recipe again and then went and got whatever ingredients I needed in order to make it, I'd probably never get around to using the phyllo. We had lots of grape and cherry tomatoes from our garden sitting around, so I decided to make a tart with those tomatoes and some delicious feta instead. You can't go wrong with that combination!

Blueberry Banana Muffins

It's always nice to have something that I can bring to work to have for breakfast, especially since I've always been a bit lazy about breakfast. If I have something quick and easy to eat though, I have less of an excuse to skip breakfast. Now that blueberries are in season, I thought it would be nice to make a tasty blueberry muffin, but I wanted to make sure that it would come out nice and moist. I hate dry, crumbly muffins!

Italian Sausage and Artichoke Stuffed Shells

I realized the other day that I had a half a box of jumbo pasta shells that had been sitting around for a while, so I thought I should use them up. The first time I made stuffed shells, I used ground turkey (and unfortunately they came out a little dry for my taste), but this time I decided to use some spicy Italian sausage, which I love. We are currently obsessed with using ricotta in our pasta (it started when I made baked ziti) so the love affair continued with this dish. I also added some artichokes to give the shells a bit more taste and texture. They turned out really great - I'll definitely make them again!

Lasagna Rolls

Lasagna is one of my favourite meals. These lasagna rolls are a neat-looking spin on the usual dish. I think I first saw them on one of Giada de Laurentiis' cooking shows. I find the rolls stay together a bit better when you cut into them than plain lasagna, though they're probably a bit messier to make - but that's part of the fun!

Oreo Brownies

I'm not much of a dessert person. There are a few things that I have a weakness for, like ice cream and shortbread, but my sweet tooth isn't that developed. I do love brownies too, though, and when I saw this recipe for these brownies on What's Gaby Cooking, I knew I had to try them.

Baked Ziti

I love baked ziti. Back in high school when I worked in retail, I'd always get baked ziti on my lunch breaks from this Italian place in the food court. Baked ziti is delicious comfort food. It's pasta tubes mixed with tomato sauce and three kinds of cheese, then topped with more sauce and cheese and baked. It's very simple to make, and creamy and tomatoey at the same time. Can't complain about that! This is the recipe that I adapted from the one I found on Allrecipes.com.

Easy Shortbread Cookies

I absolutely love shortbread cookies, especially with English Breakfast tea. I've never even thought about making them, but then I saw Koko's blog post on Koko Likes about making shortbread cookies and had to try making them myself.

Cheddar, Jalapeno and Dill Pull-Apart Bread

I love cheese bread. I buy it from the supermarket when I have a craving for it, but lately I've been thinking that it would be great to be able to make my own whenever I want. I came across a couple of different recipes for cheddar pull-apart bread and it sounded amazing.