Not Without Salt
Not Without Salt is pastry proprietor Ashley Rodriguez’s love child. Formerly working for a top name pastry chef at Wolfgang Puck’s famous L.A. restaurantSpago, she fell in love with all things food. Since moving to Washington and settling down with her husband and three kids, she invites her followers into her home with “a collection of well-seasoned recipes,” inspiring stories and stunning photography. Debuting on the blogosphere in 2009, NWS got its name after Rodriguez came across a quote from James Beard stating, “Where would we be without salt?” A lover of salt and cringing at the thought of life without it, Rodriguez had to name her blog after it. You’ll find recipes from how to make bacon caramel and Greek nachos to heartfelt stories about struggling with postpartum depression after having her third child. Not Without Salt is a blog that is as delicious in its content as it is in the recipes that are posted weekly.
Gastrogirl is your one stop shop for shared recipes and food photography from all around the blog world. “Saving the world one bite at a time,” Gastogirl posts recipes from all cuisines, sweet or savory. Its as easy as it looks, if one of the pictures posted on her tumblr site catches your eye, just click and it takes you to its host site where you can find the recipe to make it yourself. Recipes posted spawn all food groups such as taco pizza, white cheddar grilled cheese with avocado and tomato and ice cream sandwiches with candied bacon. I promise, the pictures on Gastrogirl’s tumblr are as fun to look at as actually making the recipes themselves.
Okay, in all fairness to the other blogs featured in this post, this one has to be my overall favorite and let me tell you why.. Upon going to the “About” section of Spoon Fork Bacon, you would learn that two women, Jenny and Teri, run the blog. They also <3 hotdogs, have an unhealthy obsession over Anthropologie, appreciate genuine people and like food fests, besides food in general that is. With contents such as every day recipes, happy hour, party food and dine and dash recipes inspired by some of their favorite plates at restaurants, this blog is gaining popularity in the food blog world at an alarming rate. Their recipes aren’t just all about bacon though, they post recipes from snickers milkshakes that come with a warning that they will exponentially increase the percentage of boys brought to your yard to Blue Moon cupcakes (yes, as in the beer.) Even if you don’t like cooking just looking at the pictures they post daily will make the visit worth while, I guarantee it.
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Smitten Kitchen
Deb Perelman, creator of Smitten Kitchen, began the site to share some of her stepped up comfort food recipes to other food lovers alike. Smitten Kitchen is Perelman’s online diary of sorts to document her “fearless cooking from a tiny kitchen in New York City.” To give you a better idea of what her “tiny” kitchen is like she describes it as a 42 square foot, circa-1935 sort of half-galley kitchen with a single counter, tiny stove, checkered floor and a noisy window at the end to the avenue below. You won’t just find recipes here though, she also posts tutorials from everything on how to poach an egg and how to make tart doughs that don’t shrink up on you. You can also get involved with the blog by uploading pictures of recipes you’ve tried out to the Smitten Kitchen Recipe Pool. If you aren’t already sold on the blog here’s a few reasons why to fall in love with Perelman herself, she loves bourbon, baked goods with funny names, and prefers to leave a “bombed-out mess” of dishes behind in her cooking wake instead of cleaning as she goes.
Sprouted Kitchen, a blog by Sara Forte and her photographer husband Hugh Forte, is pegged as a “tastier take on whole foods.” Sara Forte, a self-described food loving, wellness craving, veggie friend is in the recipe development business when she’s not blogging. Besides the blog, Forte is also coming out with Sprouted Kitchen Cookbook with her husband on Sept. 18th. You can expect to find recipes from roasted tomato soup and strawberry and leek quesadillas to salted caramel ice cream. If you’re a health nut or want to get into the whole foods movement, this blog might be just the site for you.
Foodgawker is part of the “gawkerverse,” which also houses other sites such asdwellinggawker, weddinggawker, and craftgawker. The gawkerverse is a San Francisco based network of inspirational, user-cubmitted photo gallery sites. Chief Gawker, Chuck Lai, began foodgawker in 2008 as a photo gallery that allows its subscribers to visually search and discover new recipes, techniques, and ingredients to inspire your culinary adventures. I consider myself to be a culinary adventurist and have used foodgawker for everything from dinner with my boyfriend or sister to just wanting to experience new cuisines. You can literally find any type of cuisine based on what meats, veggies or even noodles you want to use. The website boasts that they realize once you get hooked on gawking at mouth-watering food photos, you’ll need to constantly feed your eyes. To help their subscribers out with this addiction, they publish new images multiple times a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Whether your an aspiring food blogger and need ideas on how to begin or just love looking at pictures of tasty food, foodgawker is your one-stop shop on everything food.