We’re all familiar with those drool-worthy, food porn photos on Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest and Spoon. But when the time actually comes for you to choose a fantastic new recipe to try for dinner, how exactly do you choose from all the options you have saved? To help you embark on your culinary endeavors, we have compiled a short list of college kitchen, budget and time friendly food blogs to keep you from getting overwhelmed.
1. Healthy Recipes
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Healthy Recipes was started by a mom whose husband’s high blood sugar condition required their home diet to take drastic changes: introduce more fruits, vegetables, proteins and healthy fats while reducing sugar, white flour and other processed foods.
Vered DeLeeuw’s recipe index houses a massive collection of recipes, and almost all of them support clean eating while using kitchen staples. With its wide array of choices and handy tool to scale down recipes, Healthy Recipes has become our go-to site for finding fun, tasty ways to use up those last bits of food in the bag. Our current favorite find? These Broccoli Fritters that will make you forget you’re eating vegetables.
2. Dessert for Two
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Almost all of Christina Lane’s recipes—from main courses to drinks and desserts—are perfect for serving two people. Her recipes are simple, straightforward and friendly to readers with kitchen limitations. We’re huge fans of all her Dinners for Two; Chicken parmesan has never been so simple.
Dessert for Two is perfect for the soft-core health nut. Christina doesn’t specifically make vegan, gluten-free or “clean eat” recipes, but she is health conscientious—particularly when it comes to serving sizes and using whole foods. As financially-limited college students, we definitely appreciate how her recipes can help us eat healthily without breaking the bank.
3. Ambitious Kitchen
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Monique began her own cooking adventures in college, and created Ambitious Kitchen in 2011 because she enjoyed cooking so much. Her blog targets people with active, healthy lifestyles and features a wide variety of clean and healthy eating recipes.
According to Monique, her blog includes “plenty of good-for-you meals to share with your family, friends, and recipes your boyfriend will adore.” After we baked this Honey Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, we would definitely vouch for her.
4. Well Plated
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Well Plated originally began as “The Law Student’s Wife,” back when blogger Erin Clarke’s partner was in law school. Her first few recipes were all personal favorites, but now, she makes a point of experimenting and posting more clean, healthy eating recipes that taste just as wonderful as their whole fat counterparts.
Erin is genuine and frank on her blog, and often shares her own experiences on her journey to living a healthier lifestyle. Her blog posts always offer more than just simple cooking skills, but we will always be grateful for her Balsamic Glazed Salmon recipe that helped us overcome our fear of preparing fish.
5. Frugal Feeding
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Frugal Feeding is one of the few food blogs we know that’s run by a guy: Nick. The self-proclaimed food enthusiast insists that his blog isn’t “cheap,” simply frugal. All of his recipes are conscious of space, time and monetary limitations, but continue to strive for culinary excellence.
Next on our list to try from his wealth of recipes is this Carmelised Onion and Cheddar Cheese Quiche, which only uses five ingredients (excluding the pie crust but that’s only another four). Nick’s cooking skills aren’t the only things that impress us—his site also boasts the most organized recipe index we’ve ever seen.
We hope these food resources will help you become more adventurous and able in the kitchen over the course of the next school year. A few words of advice: don’t spend all your time just admiring, and be sure to actually go to the kitchen to make these delectable dishes.