I've been busy doing various things and enjoying the summer these past few weeks. More about that later. Because today is food post day.

Did you know: it's been over a year now since I started this massive cooking spree? And I still haven't gotten bored of it yet! It's so much fun, it really is.

Shaun Hill's popcorn chicken
I couldn't find any popcorn kernels, so I bought a bag of normal salted popcorn instead. I was worried it would make the chicken too salty, but luckily it didn't. This dish is delicious by the way. The chicken is moist, crunchy and you can taste the popcorn. The pesto potatoes, meanwhile, are possibly the best way to eat pesto ever. I am a fan.

Chicken carbonara
This is a very mild, unassuming dish. Nice though; I normally find carbonara too rich for me, but not so with this one. Really quick and easy to make too.

Roast chicken and tarragon sauce
jsyk I left the wine out of this one. The chicken came out very moist and tender. The sauce? Whoa. The sauce certainly packs a punch. It's nice, but it's been reduced so much that the taste is very very strong. I hope you like it that way!

Gluten free almond cookies
I made these to take to work because a colleague of mine can't eat gluten. Overall, I'm not sure how I feel about them. My colleagues seemed to like them, but personally I found them a bit dry and mealy. The main reason, I think, is because the mixture seemed too wet to roll out, so I added tonnes more flour until it seemed more like a dough consistency, which probably put my sugar/butter/almond/flour ratio out. They came out a bit like shortbread but not as nice. Oh, and all the almonds fell off the top too.

Tasty chicken tikka masala
As curries go, this was ok. Nice, but nothing to write home about. It was sweet and not too hot but perhaps more tomato-y than I normally like my curries. Then again, tikka masala has never been on my top favourite curry list.

Sugary doughnut muffins (recipe from Mother's Little Book of Home-Baked Treats)
These muffins were a massive success. They do taste like doughnuts! And with the sugar on top and the jam inside, they feel very decadent too. The bonus is that they're easy to make; the recipe is just weighing, mixing and spooning (with a bit of brushing on melted butter and rolling in sugar at the end for the topping). I literally can't praise these muffins enough!