What’s for dinner? Recipe resources you need now!

I have to admit, I am a follower, not a creator when it comes to recipes. My kids are always saying that I should go on a cooking show because they like what I cook for them. What’s my secret? I would have to say it’s my resourcefulness NOT my creativity or cooking skills. I am a master at FOLLOWING recipes, but not developing them:) I leave that to the many chefs and creative recipe developers who do that for a living. I have a few tried and true recipe resources that have yet to disappoint me.

Let’s face it, meal planning is drudgery, so is grocery shopping and for many so is cooking. However, if you have 10-20 tried and true recipes that you can rely on and everyone likes, meal planning becomes much easier and you end up eating at home more often. Which in my book is a win-win for your health and everyone else in your family:) Remember, you end up consuming 30% more calories, fat and sodium when you eat out instead of preparing a meal at home.

Here is my go to resource list for choosing recipes and meal planning. The first 5 resources are free and you can create a “virtual” recipe box with the first 3 sites. The NYTimes cooking site has excellent videos of how to cook many of the recipes if you are a novice or want to learn new techniques. Cooks Illustrated offers a subscription online access to their recipe bank. I have yet to try one of their recipes that wasn’t great and they too offer video tutorials. Cooks Illustrated is the “Consumer Reports” of recipe development — they test their recipes 100’s of times until they are perfect.

Check these out and let me know what you find!