Help me cook more

September 24, 2012 11:50 AM

Looking for food/cooking blogs with very specific parameters

DH and I are getting a little bored of the same 15 or so recipes, and I’m looking to expand my cooking a bit. I am good at following recipes, but have the following parameters:

a) not a lot of time to cook (I’m marathon training, and DH doesn’t like to eat late)
b) we have a hotel kitchen in our apartment. It’s less than 3 feet by 3 feet, and contains an oven, stove, ice box, microwave and a Dutch oven.
c) DH won’t eat anything spicy.

If you know of a great food blog, please let me know.

posted by roomthreeseventeen to Food & Drink (13 answers total)

What do you mean by "Dutch oven" here? I've only ever heard it used to mean a kind of pan.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:24 PM on September 24, 2012

Response by poster: Yes, I meant we own a Dutch oven.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:31 PM on September 24, 2012

Try Simply Recipes for straightforward recipes that are clearly explained without a lot of fuss. Leite's Culinaria is a treasure trove of cookbook previews. If you have a particular ingredient you're unsure of how to tackle (and the best way to learn, in my opinion, is to experiment with unfamiliar ingredients), try looking it up on the Food Blog Search, that might also help you discover other food blogs you like. You might also check the simplebites.com network - the food media often assumes that people without a lot of time are moms, so lots of quick-and-easy style recipe writing can be found on blogs geared toward parents.
posted by hungrybruno at 12:39 PM on September 24, 2012

I haven't found too many good cooking blogs, what I have found, though, is a wealth of home cooks making tutorial videos on youtube. Have at the following cooking youtubers:

yoyomax12 (Lots of baked goodies, but she intersperses it with real food)
nicko's kitchen (he can be a tad bit annoying, but he makes simple stuff)
One Pot Chef
Food Wishes (Unlike the others, this guy is less cook-at-home and more chefy)

The only real cooking blogs I follow are:

Cooking Comically
The most extensive slow cooking blog on the internet.
posted by royalsong at 12:41 PM on September 24, 2012

I second Food Wishes, it's awesome!

Also, I really like Budget Bytes (eating healthy on a budget!).
posted by Falwless at 12:54 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

I've gotten some good recipes from Healthy For Two.
posted by Sidhedevil at 1:07 PM on September 24, 2012

Smitten Kitchen. She cooks out of a tiny NYC kitchen, and everything I've made of hers has been delicious. (Caveat: it's not all fast, but some of it is.)
posted by min at 1:15 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

I love Use Real Butter. Like the previously mentioned Smitten Kitchen (another favorite of mine!), not everything on URB is fast, but you can definitely find recipes that are.

Also, browsing through the photography on those blogs makes my mouth water.
posted by The Girl Who Ate Boston at 3:15 PM on September 24, 2012

I'm very fond of 101 Cookbooks. Her recipes vary in complexity but tend to be on the not-fussy side, and I can think of a couple just off the top of my head that would be perfectly doable in your kitchen.

A suggestion: her recipe for Caramelized Tofu with Brussels Sprouts and Pecans is amaaaaazing. Seriously, it's a gateway drug to Brussels sprouts. (I usually make it with smoked tofu and hazelnuts/filberts instead of pecans. So, so good.)
posted by Lexica at 7:13 PM on September 24, 2012

I also came in to mention Smitten Kitchen. She has a section devoted to quick meals. Here's the direct link: http://smittenkitchen.com/recipes/#Quick
posted by valoius at 8:29 PM on September 24, 2012

Honestly, I LOVE cooking blogs, but they are a huge time suck. You've gotta really love spending time reading through them to find the recipes that are right for your diet, kitchen, experience, etc. If you're short on time already, I would recommend getting a couple of good standby cookbooks instead that you can rely on for quick meals. Jamie Oliver's are a good bet for fairly quick and simple, tasty meals - I especially like his Meals in Minutes and Food Revolution. (Rachel Ray also has quick recipes in both her cookbooks and magazines, but I find the end quality to be a lot more hit-or-miss, at least for my palate.)
posted by rainbowbrite at 8:53 PM on September 24, 2012

A Dutch oven means you can do no-knead bread (it takes a very, very little bit of kneading), and virtually anything a slow-cooker can do, you can do hot in a dutch oven inside your own oven, with the added benefit that you can use the same vessel to brown your meats, saute your vegetables and so on before assembling any kind of stew or soup.
posted by Sunburnt at 9:08 PM on September 24, 2012

You might like Stone Soup - she focuses on healthy quick 5 ingredient recipes. The current entry is 31 healthy 15 minute meals. Also no assumption of fancy kitchen gear - she talks about the minimalist kitchen (part 1, part 2).
posted by AnnaRat at 1:43 AM on September 25, 2012 [1 favorite]