Where do you get your recipes?

Over the next month or so I am on a mission to collect a list of great recipe sites and great recipes that are posted on those sites. On March 19th, I will be giving away a 2-year supporting membership for my favorite recipe site to one lucky winner (worth $22.95). Continue reading my post to see what site I think is the best and to find out how you can participate in the contest! 

Where do you get your recipes? There are tons of sites out there with tons of recipes. My all time favorite site for recipe gathering has got to be ALLRECIPES.COM. It's one of the coolest cooking sites around. There are a variety of ways you can use their site. I find it useful for my weekly menu planning, holiday and/or special occasion planning, and for general cooking tips and questions.

Nothing says weekly menu planning like ALLRECIPES.COM. They have a variety of ways to learn about new recipes and get ideas for planning your weekly menus. Their "Daily Dish" newsletter - sent daily - brings you great recipes relevant to current events.  I even got a great Superbowl edition that included tons of finger food and appetizer type recipes. From mini-burgers to delicious homemade guacamole, you're sure to find something to please even the pickiest eaters. They also have weekly newsletters filled with recipes and reviews, healthy living tips and treats, and even a newsletter geared toward crock pot cooking called "Slow Cooker".

If you're doing a pantry challenge and have a variety of foods sitting in your pantry, why not stop in to ALLRECIPES.COM with your list of pantry items and perform an ingredient search to find a recipe that uses exactly what you have on hand! I did this the other week and found an awesome SOUTHWEST CHICKEN SALAD recipe that my husband and son enjoyed so much they are already asking for it again. Another great thing about ALLRECIPES.COM, when you find a favorite recipe, or just one you want to try out, you can add it to your own personal recipe box.

When you want to cook that perfect holiday meal for your family and/or friends, ALLRECIPES.COM is ready and waiting with a holiday tab right at the top that lists all the holidays you could imagine. They conveniently list the holidays in calendar order for you, so you are always aware of what is coming up and what foods are traditional to that holiday. I was searching for a special meal for my honey for Valentine's Day and I found a recipe for "Sexy Shrimp Scampi" and "Lover's Loaf". And if you feeling really brave, they even have a how-to video for cooking lobster - I think I will save that one for a day when my pocket book is a little deeper.

Not sure about a recipe you find? On ALLRECIPES.COM, you can sort your recipe search by title, rating, and relevance. I frequently search for ratings and then look at how many reviews a recipe has gotten. I pick recipes that have had lots of reviews so I can see how other people have tweaked the recipe. Reviewers will tell you if the recipe needs the help of added ingredients. Shortly after my husband and I started dating, I went to his family's Thanksgiving get-together. I didn't want to come empty handed and since, at the time, I wasn't the most savvy of cooks, I relied on a recipe I found online. I made a beautiful pumpkin pie. Unfortunately, the recipe came from a site that didn't have reviews or tips or anything...the recipe poster forgot to put sugar on the list of ingredients - my pie looked great but tasted awful! Reviews are your friend, so read as many as you can when trying a new recipe - and I fully recommend making the recipe for yourself to enjoy before sharing it blindly with family/friends where you could be embarrassed by the results.

These are just a few of the reasons that ALLRECIPES.COM is my choice for a recipe site. It has many other reasons that its the best too - like the ability to print your recipes in a specific format, create a shopping list, and many others. If you haven't checked out ALLRECIPES.COM yet, be sure to do it today. I promise, you won't regret it.

CONTEST INFO

In my comments, tell me what site you use the most and what features you like the most, then share a link to your favorite recipe from within that site - do this and you will be entered to win a 2-year supporting membership to ALLRECIPES.COM on March 19th. Want to share the contest and get links to more great recipes and sites? Check out the share box on the left column of the window. Copy and Paste to share it!

I am in no way affiliated with AllRecipes.com, other than being a member - I just truly love the site. 
The contest prize will be paid for by The Shambled Shack.