101 Cookbooks was one of the very first blogs I started reading, way back in the fall of 2004, when I was first discovering the wonderful world of the blogosphere. I was thrilled when Heidi released her gorgeously photographed and thoughtfully written book, Super Natural Cooking, in 2007.

If you're looking for a way to incorporate more whole grains into your diet (as all the studies say you should), this is a great book to turn to. Not only are there lots of recipes that include whole grains (as well as natural sweeteners, super foods and greens), Heidi is careful to tell include an exhaustive section that details the benefits, cooking times and flavor palates of the different grains that she uses.

If that bowl of soup on the cover of the book looks tasty to you, you're in luck, as the recipe for it appeared on Design*Sponge a couple of weeks ago. It's for Spring Minestrone (how appropriate!) and sounds delicious.

In most cases, we look at finished products as Food Porn -- a colorful salad, a steaming soup, a steak with herb butter melting over the edges. In the case of food blog 101 Cookbooks, I suppose the first picture of the finished pizza topped with potatoes, cheese, and herbs in Heidi Swanson's post about pizza made of white whole wheat pizza dough is the natural pick.

However, I was totally drawn to the photo of the white whole wheat pizza dough -- perfect pillows of softly "buff"-colored dough flecked with herbs, resting, definitely qualify as "raw" porn. Heidi goes on to say that with this pizza dough, she got close to something she was looking for: "chewy, soft, and unstructured."

More on white whole wheat:
The definition of "white whole wheat"
Sara Lee's hot dog and hamburger buns made with white whole wheat

Grilled cheese? Sure, it's American cheese between two slices of buttered Wonder white, "grilled" in a frying pan, right? Not if you're Heidi from 101 Cookbooks, who grilled cheese, literally.

The cheese is called halloumi and originates from the island of Cyprus. Traditionally made from both goat's and sheep's milk, Heidi's find in San Francisco is all sheep's milk. She grilled the slices of cheese, which unlike regular cheeses, can somehow stand up to very high heats, then used the slices as a base for a green bean salad.

In summer, any dessert that involves fresh fruit is hard to resist. This is particularly true if the dessert is one made by Heidi of 101 Cookbooks. Her Champagne Summer Shortcakes combine some wonderful elements into a beautiful, end-of-the-summer dessert. The base is a buttery and ever-so-slightly salty shortcake biscuit, with a melting richness. The cakes are split and filled with black mission figs, pluots and nectarines, which have been tossed in a syrup made of honey, sugar and champagne. To bring the whole dish together, Heidi added scoop of vanilla ice cream to the side, but lightly sweetened whipped cream would probably work equally well if you prefer that ultra-light texture with your shortcake. Make sure to take a bit of each element onto your fork for each bite. And make extras, because you'll probably want seconds.

Do you have a container of liquid nitrogen laying around your house and are not sure what to do with it? Probably not. Liquid nitrogen is a clear liquid that has some unique properties and many uses, though its primary property is its extreme cold. Its boiling temperature is -196C, so it will evaporate immediately if you simply place a drop on your hand. It will also evaporate when exposed to just about anything, which means that it is safe to use with food because no nitrogen will be left by the time you go to eat it. You can still suffer some serious freezer burns from liquid nitrogen if you are not careful, so make sure to handle it safely.

It is very inexpensive to purchase at medical and laboratory supply stores, but you do need a special container to store it. Fortunately, you can often rent one from the supply store. The most popular culinary use for liquid nitrogen is ice cream because it freezes the base so fast the ice crystals are very tiny, making the ice cream very smooth. Heidi, of 101 Cookbooks, recently tried an ice cream made in this way, but she isn't the first nor the last, as this is a reasonably popular (and tasty) experiment in science classrooms. If ice cream isn't enough, there are many more fun things to do with the stuff once you have it.

[Photo 101 Cookbooks]

It's Christmas evening and I'm sitting around the fire at my parent's house with my favorite baking partners: my sister Abby and my babysitter Katie, a family friend. We're mulling over that question that irks every girl who got a couple of new baking toys and has a Costco bag of chocolate chips to use up: what, exactly, should I bake?

That's when I remembered Heidi's recipe for peppermint bark chocolate chip cookies. What a great way to use leftover Christmas candy! (Or, an excuse to hit those post-Christmas 50%-off sales.) You needn't stop at peppermint bark, either - try chopping up any number of leftover chocolate-based confections. We're planning on experimenting with the recipe over the next few days. Anyone else out there baking tonight?