Food + Blog = Flog?

Some people peruse fashion blogs to update their wardrobes, celebrity blogs to catch up on gossip, design blogs for inspiration. I love food blogs, which I guess, is not that surprising since I used to scour through cookbooks and organize my mom's recipe book when I was a kid.

Food blogs help me discover new recipes, ingredients, and cooking methods. I am far from being a gourmet, but it has helped me expand my culinary horizons. Who knew I would love roasted cauliflower so much? Or any roasted vegetable really. It gets me excited about cooking at home, rather than just eating out at restaurants, which usually helps the budget and waistline. And of course, most of them have pictures that fall in the category of "food porn," who does not like that.

Here are some of my favorites. There are actually more than I realized-- so to answer the question that might come to mind, no I do not look at these all day (my work keeps me busy enough). They are all just bookmarked for when I need something, and now I share with you.

A League of Their Own: Two of my favorites who are both big in the food blogging world.
Pioneer Woman: Woman with a great story, funny commentary, and step-by-step picture recipes that will make you drool. She also gives away prizes like Kitchenaid mixers frequently. Basically, all my friends want to be PW.
101 Cookbooks- Healthy Recipe Journal: The first food blog I ever discovered. California healthy cooking never looked so good.

Vietnamese Food Blogs: Helping me recreate dishes and flavors I loved growing up.
Viet World Kitchen: Classic recipes and great articles on Vietnamese culture.
Sunday Nite Dinner: Has not been updated in a while, but the site has fantastic step by step instructions on Vietnamese and other cuisines.
Tia Nguyen, Recipe and Photo Journal: Just discovered while looking for a recipe for chili lemongrass chicken. The pictures make me hungry for my mom's cooking.
Asian Dumpling Tips: From the same writer as Viet World Kitchen, a site all about dumplings. Yum!

Every day cooking: Forget Rachael Ray when you have these sites.
Dinner Tonight: Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Blog. I like this site because it reminds me of the little recipe cards I pulled out of Martha's magazine when I was a kid. Yes, I have always loved Martha.
Simply Recipes: Another early site I found. Easy to navigate and easy to follow recipes.
Smitten Kitchen: Leans more towards the baking side; still many delicious meal ideas as well.
Chaos in the Kitchen: A mom's blog about cooking for her family. While there is a lot of "kid" food, she does a great series about "Recession Cooking" and has useful tips about planning meals.

One amazing thing I discovered is that there is this food blog network, where many of the writers know each other in real life and often make cameos on each others' sites. This also means that they also have links to other food sites, and that you could keep discovering things all the time. So many things I want to try, so little time.