Amy’s Vanilla Cupcake recipe is one of the most popular ones online. I know, because I’ve made it. And it was good. Crazy good. Her recipes in this book may look zany but they’re very real, with bits of advice strewn throughout, like a list of Gift Ideas for Lumberjacks and gems like:

If you are anemic, eat out of a cast iron skillet.

The reason I recommend this book here is because somehow it reminds me of a food blog. Filled with personal stories, slices of life, interesting photos, and tried-and-tested recipes, it’s perfect reading for someone in a hurry, much like the typical blog reader.

I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris.

Tasty Kitchen is the Twitter account of one of my personal favorite cooking communities. Tip: they regularly give out some very awesome prizes (e.g. Kitchenaid Mixers!)

Food Porn offers up just that: links to crazy-delicious looking food from around the web. Guaranteed to get you hungry.

Foodimentary is a must-follow, if only for their daily “Did You Know?” tweets. (e.g. “Did you know? August 26 is National Honey Day!”)

Joy the Baker makes and posts about some of the most mouthwatering baked goods on the planet.

and finally, Food Trucking goes “in search of the best foods across the US served from a truck”. How can you not love that?

We hope you enjoyed our very first Five to Follow! If you have any food-related Tweeters to recommend (including yourself!), please post a comment and let us know about them!

P.S. Of course, we hope you follow us at @FoodBloggersNet as well.

Follow us at FoodBloggers.Tumblr.com!

What did the grape do when it got stepped on?
It let out a little wine!

As an adult, though, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I know next to nothing about wine. I hardly drink it, but when I do, I wonder why I don’t drink it more often. Which is why I’m grateful for blogs like Dr Vino’s Wine Blog:

As it turns out, I’m pretty late to the party. Dr Vino has been featured on several major publications, including The New York Times, Food & Wine, and the Wall Street Journal. He’s also been nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award and won two American Wine Blog Awards.

And no wonder, really- when I first discovered this blog, I spent hours reading through its archives, clicking on links… then poured myself a glass of Pinot Noir, and continued reading. Tyler Colman, aka Dr Vino, writes in a straightforward yet very interesting manner, and obviously knows his stuff. I love his reviews & recommendations- his post on Red wines that chill in particular, because I’m the type of girl who likes chilled reds.

The blog sports a simple look, with a cork background (of course!) and quite a bit of sidebar activity, although the ads are not too distracting. Definitely one to bookmark- and follow on Twitter as well. Check out Dr Vino »

The food blogging community, while not as saturated as the tech blogging community, is growing in leaps and bounds every day. How, then, do you make your food blog stand out? Here, some quick tips to keep in mind:

Be unique.

This might seem easier said than done, but truly successful food blogs are popular because there’s something unique about them. For example:

• The Pioneer Woman Cooks is interesting because Ree has a unique viewpoint: she lives out in the middle of nowhere, homeschools her children, and shares some of the most comforting “comfort food” recipes we’ve ever seen.
• They Draw and Cook features recipes in beautiful art form (as seen above).
• The Kitchn features not only food recipes and how-tos, but tours of inspiring real-life kitchens and cool kitchen gadgets.

Be yourself.

This is, actually, the easy way to be unique- be yourself, because you are unique. There is nobody in the world exactly like you, and that’s what will make your food blog unique. A good example is the popular food blog Gluten Free Girl, who writes about delicious gluten-free dishes because she herself has celiac disease.

Don’t sweat the small stuff.

The Internet is full of advice on improving your blog (this site included!) There are 101 ways to do it, from selecting and tweaking a theme or template, to gathering followers on Social Media networks… but at the end of the day, what matters most is your content. Write with passion, write from your heart, and however plain or non-flashy your food blog looks, people will come. To read.

Have fun.

You probably started a food blog because you thought it would be fun. And it should be, and it can be. Don’t ever lose sight of that: have fun.

Don’t be shy.

Your readers want to hear your opinion and adventures, whether it’s about a particularly delicious restaurant meal you recently had, which Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe has finally won you over, or how your last souffle failed horribly. Don’t be afraid to share both your successes and failures- they’re what make you human. Because ultimately, that’s why we read blogs: because of the human beings behind them.

Some cookbooks include measurement conversions, and there are charts you can download and print- but for food bloggers, sometimes the best solution is an online calculator. Here are our top 3 favorites:

Gourmet Sleuth’s Cooking Conversions

Actually 6 different calculators, including a highly-precise Cooking Conversions Tool that we have to love. Using the calculator involves a few steps, as you first search for a keyword, then select from a list of possibilities, then type in the amount you need to convert.

Traditional Oven’s Calculators

I’ll admit that, as a baker, these are the online calculators I use the most- especially their Flour and Butter calculators. Easy to use, with calculators for Sugar, Honey, Oats, and more.

The Kitchen Calculator iPhone App

Kitchen Calculator iPhone App

(warning: link will open the App Store in your iTunes)
For those of us who never go anywhere without our iPhones, iPod Touches, or iPads, this $1.99 app might just be worth every penny- especially with its support for fractions.

What do you use to calculate your measurements?

Photo by Pablo de Loy

Croquetas de Pollo

Spanish croquetas are something I used to be afraid to make- until I actually made them, and realized that it’s simply a matter of making an extra-thick bechamel, mixing it with cheese or the meat of your choice, rolling it in breadcrumbs, and frying. This version is made with cooked chicken, and would be perfect with a side dish of aioli (garlic mayonnaise).

Spanish Paella for a Crowd

Je Mange La Ville’s paella recipe includes awesome step-by-step photos, and makes a dish worth celebrating all on its own.

Garbanzos con Espinaca

Literally, Garbanzos with Spinach. I’ve had this dish before, and was surprised by the “wow” factor brought about by such simple ingredients. We make ours with Asian spinach kang-kong, which is quite abundant (and VERY affordable) here.

Fresh Corn and Manchego Cheese Empanadas with Chimichuri

Finally, if you have a bit more time in the kitchen, why not make your own empanadas? These are filled with fresh corn and Manchego cheese- which is, imho, one of the greatest culinary contributions of Spain. The chimichuri sauce is made with parsley and cilantro.

Are you celebrating with Spanish food this week?

The good news is that using LinkWithin couldn’t be easier. Here’s how we did it for FoodBloggers.net, which is running on self-hosted WordPress:

After submitting your preferences and details, download the plugin, install and activate. Then go into the plugin Settings and select whether you want it shown only on Single posts (in our case, yes):

And voila. Yes, it’s that easy.

A little customization is possible- for instance, if you know how to edit your blog templates, you can select exactly where to place the LinkWithin widget with this bit of code:

<div class=”linkwithin_div”></div>

Or edit the text that appears above the widget with this:

<script>linkwithin_text=’Your custom text:’</script>

So far, I’ve been really pleased with the LinkWithin service- and have no problem recommending it highly. You can see it in action at the bottom of this post.

Do you use LinkWithin? Has it increased reader activity on your blog?

Leftover: Grilled Hotdogs & Buns

This Corn Dog Bread from Foodie with Family is made with 8 cooked hotdogs and cornbread, which means it’s probably perfect comfort food.

For leftover buns, Real Simple, one of my favorite magazines, has a lovely article on 7 Ways to Use Leftover Buns. Included are recipes for croutons, pineapple upside-down cake, and salami panini. Very awesome.

Leftover: Mashed Potatoes or Potato Salad

Lunch in a Box has a delicious-looking recipe for Faux Latkes made with canned tuna and leftover potato salad, and a lovely Bento as well. We love Bentos.

Cheap Eats’ Potato Salad Sandwich might not be the first thing you think of, but made with warm french bread? Looks delicious.

Leftover: Sheet Cake

Leftover cake is usually not a problem in our house (top it with ice cream? Or just… eat it?), but for something a little more jazzed up, why not try an English Trifle.

What do you do with your Fourth of July leftovers?

Your light source can be the light shining through a window or the simple desk lamp discussed recently in General Tips for Home Food Photography.

This time we will be reflecting light off our light source onto our food subject. For this, you can use a shiny cookie sheet.

Just hold the flat side against your light source, on the opposite side of your food subject from your light source. Your light source should be casting a light from your subject’s back to almost the front, leaving your subject’s front area darker.

By reflecting the light towards the front of your subject you are balancing out the exposure, but since the reflected light won’t be as intense as your light source from the back, the front of your subject will still be darker thereby keeping the original visual depth created by the manipulation of light and decreasing the contrast to give you better detail.

Other items you can use are cake boards that are white or lined with aluminum foil. You can even use a frying pan’s shiny side as well as it’s lid or a white plastic chopping board. Just about anything white or shiny white. I normally use a white styrofoam (expanded rigid polystyrene plastic) board.

You can use a dining chair as your light stand by taping or tying your shiny kitchen stuff reflectors on it. Once you have your reflectors in the right place, pointed towards your subject in order to cast the reflected light onto the front of your subject and spread out towards the back of your subject, just one reflector, you can shoot away. Just make sure your focus is spot on and the exposure is set for the center of your food subject.