I LOVE to cook and bake, even though I have not been cooking or baking as much lately as I would like to. It can be difficult to plan meals around my son's naps and my husband's business trips, because cooking for one is not nearly as exciting.
Here are my favorite places to find recipes:
1. Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook
2. Betty Crocker Cookbook
3. All Recipes Website
4. Tasty Kitchen Website
5. Food Blogs (see my note below)
I know that we all tend to cook the same things over and over, but I encourage you (and myself) to get out there and find some new recipes!
Searching for recipes online is just like looking in your favorite cookbook's index - only easier. Many recipes websites like All Recipes have an "Ingredient Search" option. Who has time to scan hundreds of recipes only to click on one and find that you don't have all the ingredients?! Trust me on this, I live in Egypt and I KNOW a thing or two about not having the ingredients on-hand or even in the country!
If you're new to the online recipe world (and even if you're not), I would recommend that you always read the reviews at the bottom (usually under the recipe). Also, I always make a note of how many *stars* that particular recipe has. That way between reading the review and not making any recipe with less than 4 stars, I know that I am less likely to waste my time on a dud (bad recipe, that is).
BABY FOOD
A new type of cooking I have been doing lately is for my son Amir. The options for commercial baby food are really limited in Egypt so I have resorted to making his food at home. I know this may sound hard-core but it really is quite simple with the use of my handy-dandy steamer/blender machine.
If you are interested in making your own baby food, there are LOTS of resources out there. Here are a few that I would recommend:
- Baby Food 101 Website: includes a great food database to quickly look up individual fruits & vegetables PLUS a weekly email course for suggested age-appropriate foods
- Wholesome Baby Food Website: lots of tips for making & storing baby food
- Simply Baby Food Recipes Blog: great resource from an actual mom making recipes - very simple recipes and ideas
I read blogs about just about every topic, but my all-time favorite is the food blog. In case you didn't know, many food blogs out there should receive awards for their uber-delicious photographs. The pictures often look so good that you just want to climb right into the photo and dig in!
Here are a few of my favorites:
* The Pioneer Woman Cooks
* Brown-Eyed Baker
* Simply Scratch
Keep an eye out for new posts in My Cairo Kitchen!
