Cooking Websites for Every Taste

I am convinced that cookbooks are made from the scraps that fall from Satan’s kitchen table.  Though these books reek promises of turning your own kitchen into a fountain of gourmet fares and exotic dishes ready to bring cuisine connoisseurs to their knees, these dreams come with a price.  Mixed in the 300 plus pages are demands for a crucial two tablespoons of truffle oil and a cherry pitter you will use all of two times.  This is of course assuming you are able to find a cookbook with enough recipes that appeal to your exact taste buds, which in general is a miracle akin to Paula Dean cooking anything with less than a pound of butter.  Thus, I bring forth to you, oh lucky reader, the savory goodness that is online recipes.

Foodie or no, the online recipe sites are great for anyone in a real pickle.  Adding some spice to a quick dinner at home or tossing the perfect menu together to impress your girlfriend’s parents becomes piece of cake with these sites at your finger tips.  Not only can you look up certain recipes, you can search by ingredient and sift your results by difficulty, course, and dietary concerns.

To save you further culinary conflict, allow me to leek a few of my personal favorite sites.  Each of these sites offers a cornucopia of recipes that don’t require crazy ingredients or expensive equipment.  And for the cherry on top, these recipe sites are free.  I guarantee you’ll find at least one that makes you go bananas.

Smitten Kitchen

Visit Deb and her heavenly food blog for recipes ranging from pasta to pies.

Smitten Kitchen popped out of the oven about four years ago specializing in comfort foods intended to warm your heart and fill your stomach.  Writer and Chef Deb posts a new recipe every few days complete with helpful hints and a side of delectable photographs.  There isn’t a trace of muss or fuss to be found with this home cook, literally every recipe can be made by anyone in an apron in any basic kitchen.

Personal Favorites: Garlic Butter Roasted Mushrooms; Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter; Chocolate Toffee Cookies

Food & Wine Magazine

Sprouting from the popular periodical, Food & Wine Magazine’s website offers the same wonderful recipes, with a dash of food blogs in the mix.  While the site does lack a good portion of the magazine’s enticing pictures, the mouthwatering slideshows complete with recipes keep you satisfied.  The recipes found here range in difficultly, but on the whole require some minimal cooking experience.

What more could we want in life than a little food and wine?

Personal Favorites: Artichokes with Garlic and Thyme

Epicurious

Combining the recipe boxes of Bon Appétit magazine and Gourmet magazine, Epicurious publishes an impressive amount of unique but definitely appealing recipes, particularly appetizing menus and healthy meals.  One of the advantages to searching on this site is the rating system.  The vast majority of recipes on this site have been tried and tried again and come with ratings and comments that prepare cooks for what to expect.

Personal Favorites: Apple Tart with Caramel Sauce; Chai-Spiced Almond Cookies

Food Network

Think you're the next Rachael Ray? Put your skills to the test in your own kitchen with any one of Food Network's Stars' recipes.

We’ve all had those moments while watching the infamous Food Network where we’ve thought, “Hey, I could make that.”  Now you can grill along side Bobby Flay and feast on every day italian with Giada, thanks to the recipe listings of this cooking channel’s website.  Admittedly, a good number of the site’s recipes are repetitive with recipes differing by one or two ingredients, but even so the home chef can score with recipes for classic dishes with added twists on this site.

Personal Favorites: S’more Brownies

Better Homes and Gardens

Also coming from a magazine and television channel, Better Homes and Gardens’ site serves up fairly easy dishes with family cooking in mind.  You’ll find a decent array of casseroles and stews ready to pop onto the dinner table without much effort.  Warning, the site’s recipe searching abilities leave much to be desired, but if you are willing to dig around a bit there are some yummy treats to be unearthed.

I don't know about your home or garden, but I can assure you your kitchen will see a drastic improvement with this website.

Personal Favorites: Artichoke-Stuffed New Potatoes; Berry Breakfast Rolls; Chocolate Chip Cookie Dunkers

About Rachel Stine

Rachel Stine (COM'12) is the Campus Editor for the Quad. She loves sailing the uncharted waters of BU's campus goings-on to uncover some of its deepest secrets and hidden treasures.

View all posts by Rachel Stine →

3 Comments on “Cooking Websites for Every Taste”

  1. I LOOOOOVVVEEEE Smitten Kitchen. Wonderful. Food porn to the max. Plus all of her recipes are fairly easy to make or to adjust to be easy to make. I loved her Black Bean Soup.

    Another fabulous food blogger is Pioneer Woman. She has wonderful food that is super easy to make. She is a fan of oil and butter. (Paula Dean devotee..) Her specialty is American classics.

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