Improve your cooking with these great resources

I go through phases where I either cook or I don’t. I’ll go for weeks eating convenience food or takeout. Then I’ll decide to start cooking again, either making semi-homemade dishes or truly “from scratch” dishes.

Because of this, I’m always on the lookout for places to find inspiration for dishes and recipes. Here are a few mainstays and bookmarks I visit with regularity.

The New York Times

You can learn to cook from the New York Times Cooking website.They’ve pulled together recipes and instructional guides to teach you different techniques and dishes. Yes, they have videos too.

They have thousands of recipes on their website that you can search and save into your NYT Cooking Recipe Box. But you can also save recipes from other websites in your box as well, and access them from your mobile device as well as their website.  This lets you find recipes in all your favorite places and save them into one place.

RESOURCE: http://cooking.nytimes.com/

Martha Stewart YouTube

While I’ll be the first to admit that I often find Martha Stewart to be annoying, I also will admit that I subscribe to her YouTube Channel. The videos run the gamut from do-it-yourself projects to bloopers from her show. But I come across some really great cooking and recipe videos often enough that I’m sharing the resource here as well, especially since I’ve been sharing the videos on here already.

RESOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/user/MarthaStewart

Kraft Foods

The Kraft Foods Recipes website is one of my favorites. The recipes are usually easy to follow, include ingredients I probably already have in my pantry (or can find easily), and don’t cost too much to make. This satisfies my love of chicken pot pies and macaroni and cheese and even some great kick-ass casseroles.

And they have a Comida Kraft website for those of you looking for Spanish language recipe options.

RESOURCE: http://www.kraftrecipes.com

Pinch of Yum

Reading Pinch of Yum has helped me push outside my cooking rut. I’ve been able to work with new spices and even with new ways to make dishes I make regularly. And (I’ll be honest) a big part of why I love the site is because the photos are just so pretty. The food looks great. Even if I’m never going to actually make most of the recipes she gives us, I still like reading about them.

RESOURCE: http://pinchofyum.com/

Sweet Life

I first started following content partner Vianney Rodriguez’s Sweet Life because of the traditional Tejana recipes she offers. These are reminiscent of my Mexican grandmother and even of my mother’s cooking. And, of course, she often brings a unique twist to these same recipes, giving us ideas on how we can use them as inspiration for something new and delicious.

Then I continued to visit her site because of the cocktails. I think I’ve fallen in love with the mojitos and the margaritas and the martinis … and all the others. I’ve learned a lot more about cocktails from working with her, and following her new recipes.

RESOURCE: http://sweetlifebake.com

The Latin Kitchen

Want recipes that are Latino (and Latino-inspired) but not just Mexican? You need to check out The Latin Kitchen. From crepes and salsa to herb cakes and mangu, they have a little of everything. And that includes breads and tortillas and fudge.

RESOURCE: http://thelatinkitchen.com/

These websites will get you started, but you’ll actually need to set aside the time cook and test out some of the recipes.

Have a recipe resource you love? Share it below!