Gelatin is made from animal collagen, but that doesn't mean vegetarians and vegans have to miss out on gelatin-based sweets like panna cotta, mousse, and jellies. Here are some great alternatives and tips for cooking with them. 

So, I hear you want to bake bread! That's music to my bread-loving ears. Even if you've never opened a package of yeast or taken your KitchenAid's dough hook out of the box, don't worry about a thing. Here are our three easiest, most basic, and most foolproof bread recipes for you to try first, plus plenty of helpful tips and tutorials to make sure your first loaf is a success.

Fresh Thai coleslaw, chicken stuffed with asparagus and tomatoes, and sweet potato chickpea patties in today's Delicious Links. 

Q: My husband is going back to school in the fall and we have two young kids, so we've decided that we'll try switching our main family meal to breakfast rather than dinner to try and keep us connected. I know we can have family time over bowls of cereal, but it would be nice to make it a little more special as often as possible.

Weeknights can be tough dinner nights. Weeknights when you try to squeeze the gym in after work? Even tougher. 

Straw Mat from The Joinery

• $26
• The Joinery

The feel of sisal under your feet is cozy and comfortable, and I really like these graphic mats for use in the kitchen. In front of the sink, or the back door - anywhere that could use a little extra color.

If you have a carton of leftover cream in your fridge and are wondering what to do with it, you are in luck. Tender cream biscuits, the creamiest scrambled eggs, strawberry panna cotta and salted coffee caramel sauce are just a few of ways you can solve the "problem" of leftover cream.

Happy Friday! While you enjoy that first cup of coffee, take a look through some of our favorite posts from this time last year. We have fourteen easy and tasty meals that only use six ingredient, a copycat recipe for making Wendy's chocolate frosties at home, ten low-budget pantry items you should always have in your kitchen, and oh so very much more. Take a look!

Annie Shannon knows all about vegan baking substitutions. The food blogger and author of the upcoming Betty Goes Vegan cookbook spent the last couple years cooking her way through the all-American, decidedly omnivorous Betty Crocker Cookbook, transforming every recipe into a vegan version of the original. Hundreds of cupcakes later, she has a few recommendations for the best vegan substitutions for common baking ingredients.

Last year my friend Grace Young gave me what turned out to be the most useful gift of 2012: a wok, and a lesson in using it. We shared some in-depth cooking lessons from Grace last year, like how to buy and season a wok, and how to stir fry chicken. I've fallen in love with my wok, and I use it weekly to cook vegetables and supper dishes. So it was the first thing that came to mind when I saw reader requests this week for fresh recipes for lunches. 

Here's a non-Chinese twist on the stir fry that you can make in your wok or in a big sauté pan, with brown rice, snappy asparagus, and flavors of lemon and cashew. It's been my go-to dinner (and lunch) this week! 

I love flowers, tulips especially. So when I decided to throw a spring dinner party earlier this month, I knew that flowers would be a major part of my decorating plan. But here's the thing: I'm not a floral designer, nor did I have a huge budget to spend on a fancy professional arrangement. So here's how I put together a few pretty arrangements for my table with only a bunch of lilacs and two bouquets of tulips.