When you're looking for meal-time inspiration, where do you turn? Do you have a shelf full of cookbooks, or are you more inclined to peruse your favorite food blogs?
The cookbooks I use most are family compilations - the tried and trues. But I love owning a few beautiful cookbooks just to look through them and love them. I have a few favorite recipes (a lentil soup and a pumpkin muffin to name a couple) that I got from a well-loved Williams Sonoma cookbook, which I received for our wedding. Lately I've been doing a lot of recipe searching online; I find recipes in all kinds of places, from Smitten Kitchen to allrecipes.com to Rachael's food blog. Mel's Kitchen Cafe has yet to disappoint me. Our Best Bites looks like another great resource (I've never tried their recipes). I love Pioneer Woman's restaurant style salsa recipe, but most of her stuff has too much bacon grease and butter for everyday consumption.
See? Told ya I gather recipes from all over the ether.
What are your go-to cookbooks? Food blogs?
Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. I'm a dessert gal. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of this Australian food blog:
ReplyDelete120dollarsfoodchallenge.com/
Well, I just happen to have a food blog myself.
ReplyDeletethevegetariantree.blogspot.com
It's a wonderful little blog written by myself and an amazing friend of mine. We are vegetarian (I've made the change in just the last few months and she's an old timer), sometimes vegan and working ourselves into more raw foods. We both started out just wanting better health for ourselves and for our families but as we searched for better ways to eat, it turned into a wonderful spiritual journey for the both of us.
You can find DELICIOUS, HEALTHY {yes, you can have both} recipes and you can also find food information, and spiritual inspiration.
We believe that our bodies are sacred gifts from a loving heavenly Father and our goal is to provide the recipes, information and inspiration that they need to take better care of this lifetime we have all been given.
Put this blog on your list! Try our recipes you will NOT be sorry!
i'm very much into skimming through some recipe archives on food blogs. there's just so much variety out there!
ReplyDeletei also love to flip through my real simple or rachael ray magazine for inspiration. the gorgeous,glossy images on tasty food just hooks me in.
p.s. i love allrecipes.com, too. the servings calculator is the best thing ever!
Racheal Ray 30 minute meals are my fam's favorite. I now own almost every one of her cookbooks, and as much as I venture outside to other sources for recipes, I still find myself coming back to her.
ReplyDeleteHer titles can sound weird but we have yet to be disappointed in a single dish!
Martha Stewart's Everyday Food -- online, little magazine, and fun-to-watch PBS show -- really is simple, everyday yummy stuff. I get out my falling apart red and white Better Homes and Gardens cookbook all the time. Very tried-and-true. Also, I wish Anne's hubby Taylor had time to resurrect his Feed Your Family blog (feedyourfamily.blogspot.com). I have several favorites that he taught me to make. Oh, and a plug for my cousins at franklyentertaining.com, because, frankly, they're pretty entertaining and their food is always delightful.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone else feel overwhelmed sometimes by the variety? We have so many choices these days, it's sometimes hard to settle in and just make dinner!
Thanks for the shout-out, ladies! I guess this means I should update my food blog. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy very favorite cookbook, hands-down, is The New Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas. It is packed chock-full of the most delicious vegetarian recipes you can possibly imagine--and unlike so many vegetarian cookbooks, it doesn't depend on mass quantities of cheese and butter to impart flavor. It's like a celebration of everything that is truly delicious about vegetables. And the recipes are more "elevated," if that makes sense--one thing I struggled with when we went vegetarian was finding dishes that I felt comfortable serving at a dinner party, just as I'd do with something impressive like a crown roast. This book is perfect for that, and just for everyday cooking. Her ratatouille and roasted green beans with garlic are to die for.
I have enjoyed a cookbook put out by Nordstrom, beleive it or not. It is called the Nordstrom Family and Friends cookbook. Originally I bought it for the White Chocolate Bread Pudding recipe, which, if it was the only good recipe in the book it would have been worth every cent. No kidding. It is that good.
ReplyDeleteBut the best cookbook I have is a compilation from my ward in Irvine, CA. I use it so much it is falling apart.
I bought a copy of The Best Recipe Cookbook, written by the ingenious minds of Cook's Illustrated, years ago, and that has become my trusted cookbook that I pull out often. (They've since discontinued it, I've heard, and put out a newer version, The NEW Best Recipe Cookbook.)
ReplyDeleteYou want to know why it's different than any other cookbook out there? They really tried to find the best way for every recipe in there. They did different ingredients, different methods, etc. till they found the BEST. With rare exception, everything has been top notch.
I also really like that they supply the science behind many things. I understand baking and cooking a lot more now, and have a lot more confidence when it comes to making things on my own!
http://recipeshoebox.blogspot.com/ I have never tried a recipe from that blog that didn't go over well with the family!
ReplyDeleteHey...I'm glad you like recipes from my site! I glean recipes from all over but am famous for checking out stacks of cookbooks from the library because I'm a cheap-o and don't want to buy them. I love my Joy of Cooking cookbook (I own very few cookbooks, this one is a must, in my opinion) plus I have over 200 food blogs in my Google Reader that I check in on periodically. I always love finding new sources - recipe hunting is the best.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite resources when cooking is my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It has everything from boiling an egg to how long to steam veggies, even how to clean and prep them! I also love Mel's Kitchen cafe and most new recipes I try are from her. One of my other favorite recipe books is a compilation of my best friends growing up - the recipes they cook now for their families all shared in one cookbook.
ReplyDeleteI love America's Test Kitchen and The Best Recipe is one of my go-to cookbooks. I haven't tried a bad recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. I am also enjoying the Word of Wisdom Living blog more for education than for recipes.
ReplyDeleteannies-eats.com is a good one. I've never had anyting from Our Best Bites or Mel's kitchen Cafe that I didn't like. I also love sisterscafe.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI frequent smittenkitchen.com and the tasty kitchen blog that the pioneer woman runs. I like Gina's Skinny Recipes and Elise over at Simply Recipes. I could go on, but I won't!
I don't buy cook books, because with all these cooking blogs, who need 'em?!?!
foodgawker.com is a great one. tons of great photos and you can search for any type of recipe you want or ingredient you want to use.
ReplyDeleteFor blogs, I love smittenkitchen.com
ReplyDeleteDeb takes beautiful food photos and her wittiness always makes me laugh.
For cookbooks, right now I'm loving "Almost Meatless" by Joy Manning.
For magazines, Vegetarian Times has some great recipes.
And for fun food/art geekery, visit www.theydrawandcook.com
Another plug for Mel's Kitchen Cafe, it's my favorite, always good food, always. I'll try to post other than what's already been said though I like a lot of those too:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/ has pretty stuff, yummy food
http://blog.superhealthykids.com/ is good for all around nutrtition -very informative and good recipes too
http://thecookingchicks.blogspot.com/
http://twopeasandtheirpod.com/ http://eatliverun.com/ http://www.abusynest.com/
Is there a limit to how many I can post?!
I have Our Best Bites cookbook and I love it. I picked it up at Costco before I even knew they had a blog! Everything I've made from it we have loved. I have two of Jamie Oliver's cookbooks and I love the Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. I have 3 or 4 ward cookbooks that are fabulous as well.
ReplyDeleteI too love a fancy cookbook. I have about 15 dessert cookbooks,I just love them! I keep all my cookbooks displayed in my blue hutch so I can look at them all day long :)
I also love sisterscafe.blogspot.com I make a ton of recipes from there. I like the-girl-who-ate-everything.com also. And thisweekfordinner.com I've heard a lot about Mels Kitchen Cafe, I am going to go check it out! These are great ideas!
Ohsheglows.com is one of my favorite finds since I started eating a vegan diet in January.
ReplyDeleteCafe Johnsonia has gorgeous pics and gourmet type, whole foods recipes/
Mel's Kitchen Cafe, that you mentioned is my "go-to!" Her recipes are wonderful and always a home run at my house!
ReplyDeleteBY FAR the A+ #1 cookbook and site I turn to is America's Test Kitchen. We always DVR their show on Saturday mornings. They test recipes a million times and tell you why you cook it the way you do. It's brilliant. They also have the best cooking magazine, Cooks Illustrated.
ReplyDeletewww.americastestkitchen.com
Really love the recipes you have brought to your blog.
ReplyDeleteReally love those cupcakes. They are really great for parties.
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