A Blogging Pioneer

 If you love cooking blogs this post will not give you anymore information than you already know, probably. But if you aren’t so astute in finding good cooking blogs then read on. What do you get when you add a former city girl, who falls in love with a cowboy, moves to a ranch, has kids and home-schools? You get a very unique person and a great blog called The Pioneer Woman. Ree Drummond shows that blogging perseverance, a love of food, photography, combined with an interesting perspective creates reading necessity. Her blog is for everyone, the foodie, photographer, home renovator, home-school teacher, gardener and general lover of life. The Pioneer Woman is a pioneer. Who knew all those different interests could make such a great, informative and aesthetically pleasing blog. It makes me want to leave city life every time I visit The Pioneer Woman.

Smitten Kitchen

http://smittenkitchen.com

Why I’m Smitten with this Kitchen

I know what you’re thinking…another food site? True. But when they’re good, they’re good. Which happens to be the perfect introduction to the Smitten Kitchen.  

Once upon a time in the About section of Smitten Kitchen Deb Perelman discussed with insightful wit her decided cooking endeavors in her small Brooklyn apartment (if I recall correctly). The results of said endeavors being chronicled in her blog…not only via recipe and commentary, but also via magnificent photos taken by her husband Alex (camera make & model use included). Boy have times changed. Don’t get me wrong. This site still offers delicious dishes (which I have cooked on many of an occasion), beautiful photography, and Ms. Perelman’s wit. Furthermore, it offers helpful measuring conversions for you non-Americans (or Americans). It also provides a way to browse by food Topics (which is to the left of the site under Resources). Granted, Smitten Kitchen does not have the organizational prowess of 101 Cookbooks, but it can work nonetheless. Now getting back to that “Boy have times changed” comment. Given Smitten Kitchen’s meteoric rise in popularity it has lost a bit of its relatable appeal to Ms. Perelman as noticed in the About section, and the site has added more advertising, but not nearly as much as other sites.  Regardless, change is good…I’m just waxing nostalgic about seeming inconsequentials. Please be aware these changes never made me once contemplate taking Smitten Kitchen out of my repertoire of great cooking sites. It is in a nutshell, delicious.

101 Cookbooks

http://www.101cookbooks.com/index.html

Why 101 Cookbooks Should be Your On-line Cooking Source

I stumbled on 101 Cookbooks over a year ago. I wish I could say I saw the potential in this unknown “cooking journal” as she calls it (is “cooking journal” code for “blog”). But alas I can’t. Potential I saw, yes, unknown…well not quite. This on-line cooking journal has won awards and been written about in the New York Times and in the  Telegraph.co.uk to name a few, and rightfully so. Ms. Swanson has created such a delectable assortment of healthy vegetarian, good tasting recipes that you want to try them all. How do I know this? Her pictures are magnificient (must be her photographer background) and her recipes are good (based on actually having cooked them for a myself and my fiance a self described “lover of all things meat”).  While Ms. Swanson does not provide recipes on a daily basis she post frequently enough during a week (at least three times) that you will never run out of material. Here is the best part about her site (besides the good tasting recipes, the visual appeal, and constant material…whoa talk about perfectionism) it’s the organization. You can look up any recipe via category (like: soups, drinks, gluten free) or via ingredient. I’m getting excited just thinking about it. Which reminds me…dinner is coming up, I’ve got no idea what to cook…I’ll find something from 101 Cookbooks because when it comes to cooking journals this one is one of the best.