Whenever I need a recipe or food idea, I usually look up a blog. Often that will be other peoples blogs. Whenever I know that I’ve written a post about something myself, I will look it up on my own blog though. So when Simone of Jungle Frog Cooking asked me to join in the 7 links project, I got excited. A post looking back on my own favorite posts. Looking back onto the posts that deserve a little extra attention.

In the year and a half that I’ve been blogging. there have been enough posts that I remember. Ones that I like to look back to myself. In this post I put them together for you.

My most beautiful post

Sprinkling chocolate over Tiramisu

This was a post very early on in the blog. We had really only just started making photo’s specifically for the blog. As I started sprinkling the chocolate Laurens told me to stop. He started placing his flash elsewhere, moved cutting boards around to reflect the right light and tried to choreograph the photo. When he said okay, I started sprinkling more chocolate over the tiramisu and hoped he got the shot he wanted as I was running out of chocolate. The picture tuned out amazing, or so I think. The Tiramisu was very tasty too. the secret – make it in advance!

My most popular post

A swiss roll ice cream cake - delicious

The one single post that has been getting the most hits ever since it’s been posted – even after moving the whole site to a new domain, is the step-by-step post of a swiss roll ice cream cake I made for Daring Bakers last summer. The challenge was to make everything yourself, from swiss rolls to 2 kinds of ice cream and a sauce. It tuned out to be a lot of work, but very tasty! I haven’t made it again since, but I’m glad to know I have the skills to make such an awesome dessert if I need to!

My most controversial post

Grocery store meats, not very appetizing!

In May of 2010 I had just about had it with the terrible quality of the meat sold at our local grocery store. I wrote a long rant about the quality of meats at grocery stores and illustrated it with this not-too-appetizing picture. Since we moved into our new home in October of that same year, I’ve been buying 90 percent of my meats at the butcher. I already knew that the taste and overall quality would be (and indeed is) much better, but in all honesty, it really isn’t that much more expensive either. A rant about the quality of food seems a little controversial though.

My most helpful post

The best home-made cinnamon rolls in the world, no questions asked!

Cinnamon rolls were my first breakfast-pastry-love. And you can’t go much better than a fresh baked Cinnabon from a mall somewhere. Warm, a little gooey with that wonderful cream cheese icing on top. Yep, I love my cinnamon rolls, and I found/tweaked a recipe that mimics my favorite type pretty much perfectly. Judging from popularity and comments, both on- and offline, I’ve got to say that this is my most helpful post. Also the trick with the ceramic cups to make sure they sit close together seems to be a keeper!

Most surprising success post

A sliced of bread with the pastrami piled on.

I honestly have no idea why this post is so popular in page views. It’s an explanation on Dutch sandwich lunches and a request for a good pastrami recipe. To make my own. Despite the fact that there are a bunch of people who look at the post every single day, no-one has sent me their favorite recipe yet. I guess they just come here to see if I have one.

Post that didn’t get the attention it deserved

Delicious, crispy catuccini. Perfect for soaking in espresso or vin santo.

These beautiful and very tasty cantuccini didn’t get all that much attention and I bet I know why. It was the second post of that day. Posted only a little while after I posted that I screwed up my cantuccini. It was the first time I made cantuccini and I had certain expectations. Halfway through it looked like the cookies didn’t even come close to meeting those expectations. The fact of the matter was, I had just made them a little larger than I thought I did. They turned out to be delicious, and they deserved a LOT of attention. However, they didn’t get it, and that’s just sad!

Post I’m the most proud of

Fresh pasta, hanging to dry before cooking.

This might be the hardest post to choose. There are so many posts I’m proud of. More so, there are so many things I’ve made that I’m proud of. Cooking, grilling, smoking, baking, all kinds of things have been made since I started this blog. I’ve experimented a lot. So what did I choose? I’ll tell you. I chose my very first post. PArtially because I love this picture, and partially because that’s what I should be proudest of. The fact that I dove in and started the blog and gave myself the option, or challenge, to make all those other things I’m proud of. I’ll always cherish that first post, and hope that if you’ve never seen it, you’ll go there and check it out.

Now to continue the 7 links project, I have invited 7 other bloggers who’s blogs I’d love to see through their eyes. I can’t wait to see their surprising, favorite and helpful posts! And thanks again Simone, for inviting me! IT was hard, but fun!

Giula of Juls’ Kitchen

Jill of JBean Cuisine

Kelly of Condensed Stew

Marica of Cooking with Marica

Regula of Foodwise

Sara of Cocina para Emancipados

Zita of Zizi Adventures

The cake batter pancakes were very easy to make and did have a distinct cake mix flavor. They were a little dryer than my usual pancakes. The recipe stated to make them with sprinkles. And I bet adding the sprinkles would make a huge difference – in flavor, texture and overall festiveness. I however forgot to buy sprinkles, so I had to do without. To make up for it I placed a pat of butter in between pancakes and poured some real maple syrup over them. I halved the recipe, which was more than enough for the two of us.

All in all I can say that if you like pancakes and box-mix-cakes, these pancakes are perfect for you!

Cake Batter Pancakes (recipe by Ommynoms, serves 4)

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup yellow cake mix
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 cups milk (see directions)
• assorted sprinkles

Combine flour, cake mix, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix.

Add 1 cup of milk, egg and vanilla extract and stir until smooth. You want the batter to look like regular pancake batter- not too thin, not too thick. This will vary greatly on the brand of cake mix you use. Start with 1 cup of milk and add more if needed.

Preheat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Fold desired amount of sprinkles into batter. Pour batter in 1/4 cup measurements onto skillet and let cook until bubbles form on top, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook for 1 minute more.

However much I love my morning croissant on the weekend, once in a while I prefer something different. Just not the same thing each day every day. As I usually roll and bake my own croissants (from ready made dough, still haven’t gotten to that challenge), I’ll embellish them with some cheese, chocolate, almonds or herbs. A little variation goes a long way.

But what if you want something light, something different and something easy? I found myself asking that question which got me thinking of kitchen staples and how to make them into a nice breakfast.

As I always tend to have some frozen puff pastry laying around and eggs are there too, I figured I could combine the two. Not in the traditional quiche-way, but something cuter, something a little different. I found a scallion in the fridge, begging to be used and had some leftover cheese I’d grated the night before. I figured making something nice, light and cute was feasable. Boy was I right!

The result, my eggs in a basket. Little ‘baskets’of puff pastry filled with a baked egg and some scallion and cheese. A little bit of himalayan pink salt and pepper on top and there you have it. A light, easy breakfast, with an incredible cute factor.

[print_this]Egg in a basket (recipe makes 2)

• 2 small squares of puff pastry (big enough to fill the cavity of a muffin tin and have the corners stick out)
• 2 eggs
• 1 scallion
• some grated cheese
• salt, pepper
• a muffin tin
• butter or baking spray to grease the muffin tin

Grease 2 cavities of your muffin tin. Place a sheet of puff pastry in each greased tin. Push it down so it’s easy to fill, be careful not to poke holes, and makes sure a little of the puff pastry comes out on top to create the cute basket effect.

Slice your scallion into small rings. Put a little but of grated cheese and some scallion on the bottom of the pastry cup. Crack an egg in each cup and sprinkle some more cheese (jsut a tiny little bit) and a couple of rings of scallion on top of the raw egg. Grind a little fresh black pepper over the egg.

Place muffin tin with puff pastry and eggs in a pre-heated oven (350F) and bake until the visible part of the puff pastry is puffed and crispy and the egg is cooked to your preferred doneness. (I kept these in pretty long because the phone rang – I usually prefer mine a little softer.)

Remove the puff pastry baskets with the cooked egg from the muffin tin and place on a plate. Voila, cute eggs in a basket.

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Just imagine the cuteness if you’d serve it on a bed of shredded lettuce, with a cute little toy easter chicklet or something sitting next to it. Wouldn’t that make your Easter breakfast or brunch table the cutest? I think so! Try it!! I know I will.