Once you’re out of college, cooking at home becomes an ever-present and daunting task. Splurging on takeout just can’t happen every night, and I’m willing to bet most of us are getting a little tired of frozen pizza and mac and cheese.
I’m perpetually looking for new, exciting, and interesting recipes and ways to mix up my cooking – without spending a ton of money or buying new equipment. And when I’m hungry and need something simple, turning to Pinterest isn’t going to cut it. Here are a few key places I like to look for ideas to spice-up my at-home culinary efforts.
Buzzfeed Tasty/Goodful
Buzzfeed’s Tasty is a haven for all things cooking. They’ve got tips on everything from crazy desserts to crowd-pleasing appetizers to my personal favorite, simple and healthy meal prep recipes. Check out Goodful for health-conscious, lean, or plant-forward recipes.
A few of my favorites:
· Honey mustard chicken meal prep
· Shrimp and avocado taco salad (use a bagged salad base for even easier prep!)
My Whole Food Life
Melissa Kerr King’s blog is primarily vegan and gluten-free, but I enjoy it as a source for recipes of all kinds. Melissa believes in whole foods and making things from scratch, so if you’ve found yourself picking up a lot of ingredients like oats and nuts, you’ll really enjoy her ideas. Her desserts are simple, healthy, and delicious — and her meals make for great side dishes or options on their own or with an added protein.
A few of my favorites:
· Lentil sloppy joes (this vegan option taste just like regular sloppy joes, but using lentils makes it so much cheaper!)
· 4 ingredient flourless snickerdoodles
· Banana chocolate chip muffins
Damn Delicious
I’ve never had a bad recipe from this site. Everything is simple, with ingredients I usually have on hand (or substitutes I can easily make), and the results are still delicious. It’s also easy to take the base and make a few little changes to make the recipe your own.
A few of my favorites:
Peas and crayons
Look here for new and interesting ways to use fresh ingredients — or when you have a lot of a particular ingredient sitting in your pantry and no clue what to do with it!
A few of my favorites:
· Garden veggie chickpea salad
The blogs I’ve listed here are great to browse for ideas of what to cook, what I might want to pick up when I go to the grocery store, and new and different ways to spruce up something like a bowl of pasta. I’m not one to try a set of brand-new recipes each week, but I’ve found these sites to be a great way to build a base of recipes that I can work from, adding new ideas here and there as I get bored.
And when all else fails, I find one of the absolute best ways to find a great new recipe is to ask my close family and friends what they’ve been making. Sometimes, I get to learn family recipes that have been passed down through generations — like my great aunt’s coleslaw, or my grandpa’s chicken and noodles. Other times, it’s something my mom found online and sends my way. Either way, when you’re searching through recipes and seeking out what works best for you, don’t forget the people around you.
Meals are best when they’re shared — whether in a dinner party or by sharing the results of that new cooking technique with a roommate. Coming together around the table feeds the soul as much as the body, so expanding your repertoire with new techniques and recipes is a lifelong skill to enrich your life and relationships.
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