In reference to Food PrOn in general, I made passing mention of cooking blogs. One of my all time favorite blogs, of any sort at all, is The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I first learned about it from another blogger who raved about the site. The Pioneer Woman of the title is Ree Drummond, who fell in love with an Oklahoma rancher, and moved from Southern California to the wilds of an Oklahoma ranch. The basic Web site, which featured well-crafted lovely recipes that were carefully illustrated with photographs and step-by-step illustrations and a voice that might have been that of your sister or your best friend, grew into a complex of related sites, some by Ree, and some by friends, and a vibrant community. It also resulted in a fabulous cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, which I've written about here.
It's not enough to have super recipes; what makes this site absolutely fabulous is Ree's persona, and her fabulous photographs, and, perhaps the most difficult part of all in recipe blogging, her clear instructions for making the recipes successfully. That's not to knock the amazing photographs, or Ree's well-executed tutorials on taking your own photographs, and editing them in Photoshop. This is someone who not only has a forthcoming memoir The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels—A Love Story based on her own experience with "Marlborough Man," as she affectionately refers to her husband, but home schools her four kids (and blogs about it) and is about as genuine and honest as a writer can be.
The site, while huge, is well-organized; there's a browseable complete recipe index, which allows you to browse visually, based on the pictures of completed recipes, by date, or in terms of type of dish. Recipes are all clearly labeled, too, with Prep time, Cooking time, Servings, and a difficulty rating. All the recipes are carefully formatted to allow for printing, in your choice of 3"x5" Cards 4"x6" Cards Full Page.
This site is, in fact, in many ways, an ideal example of how to blog, and not just about food. It's attractive, well-organized, works with just about every browser (including iPhones and iPads) and it's dead easy to find what you want. It's a good site to browse when you want to cook something special, or something different, or are just interested in the pleasures of food pr0n. Some of my favorite recipes are her Cinnamon Rolls (read her Notes, too), her Homemade Ranch Dressing, and her Crème Brûlée. Yesterday, I discovered two more that I haven't tried yet, but definitely see in my future: Chicken Tortilla Soup and Sour Cream Enchiladas.