An Entrée into the World of Food Blogs

Molly Donahue  

There is something about food blogs that lures me to sit in one place, drink several cups of coffee and gather a list of recipes to recreate for more time than I care to acknowledge. The internet is flooded with food blogs and food enthusiasts alike generating gorgeous images of their kitchen creations. It is almost guaranteed that the visit to one food blog will inadvertently take you to another. They all link up - tempting you to click onto another and then another. It is a vicious cycle of flour, eggs and butter - vicious yet innocent.

Smitten Kitchen: Deb Perelman serves up consistently delicious meals from her small New York kitchen. The photos of her dishes are beautiful - the pictures alone will have you in the kitchen. She uses ingredients that you would probably already have or can easily find - nothing fussy. Her first cookbook, which will feature 80-100 recipes written and photographed by Deb herself, will be released in fall of 2012.
Recipes to try: mom’s apple cake, meyer lemon and fresh cranberry scones, mushroom lasagna

Joy the Baker: Joy, based out of Los Angeles, has a food blog that constantly induces new cravings. Her voice is unique, informal, and honest. Joy is relatable - she eats popcorn for dinner, has a drawer of chocolate, and makes friendship bracelets. If her blog has you hooked, check out her podcast. Joy, along with Tracy Benjamin from shutterbean have a free weekly podcast where they discuss the “most important unimportant” topics.
Recipes to try: cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread, curried sweet potato soup with goat cheese biscuits, chocolate espresso sandwich cookies

KathEats: Kath Younger from Charlottesville, Virginia is a registered dietitian. Her blog captures her daily meals and various aspects of her life. The trademark of the blog is “Kath Eats Real Foods” and it is evident that she does. Posting three times a day, you may feel like you know a bit too much about her life but, you’ll keep reading. KathEats does not focus on recipes but rather on her resourcefulness in cooking. She pieces together impressive meals daily and utilizes left-overs.
Recipes to try: overnight oats, risotto with butternut squash + ‘shrooms

101 Cookbooks: Heidi Swanson, based out of the Bay Area, is the author of Super Natural Cooking and Super Natural Everyday. Her blog features healthy, vegetarian recipes. The images on her blog capture moments of her life while her dialogue makes you feel like you are having a conversation with her. Reading her blog, will naturally slow you down, if only for a moment.
Recipes to try: macaroon cherry tart, pumpkin and feta muffins, roasted delicata squash salad