Top 6 Food Sites to Make You a Better Cook

You love eating out but you know nothing ever beats a home cooked meal. That satisfaction you get from seeing your loved ones enjoying the food you make inspires you to want to be a better cook. While in the past we mostly received recipes handed down to us by our family members, today with just a few clicks of a button, we're able to read and share tried and true recipes from all around the world. Today, we've rounded up six of these sites that do an excellent job at curating these recipes. Not only that, they'll also guide you with step-by-step instructions on how to actually make these dishes. So whether you're craving a perfectly cooked steak or some sweet pecan pie, check out these six sites that aim to make you a better cook.

1. Joy the Baker

Los Angeles-based Joy Wilson is a self-taught cook who has a passion for food. The blog, Joy the Baker, started in January 2008 and since then Joy has enjoyed considerable success including a cookbook that will published by Hyperion in early 2012. Saveur recently named Joy the Baker the "Best Baking and Dessert Blog of 2011". Come to this site to see recipes like double dipped apple doughnuts, salted caramel cheesecake pie and chocolate coconut almond scones. Is your mouth watering yet? Though she has a clear preference for sweet desserts, you can still expect to find recipe after recipe of savory dishes like crustless quiche with spinach and mushrooms or potato frittata.

Tip: Have something in mind that you're looking to cook? Check out Joy's extensive recipe index to find tons of recipes divided up by sections like bread, drinks, holidays and more.

2. Smitten Kitchen

4 million unique visitors a month. That's how many people visit Smitten Kitchen to read about Deb Perelman's home cooking recipes that she whips up in her tiny NYC kitchen. Like Joy of Joy the Baker, Perelman will release a cookbook in the spring or fall of 2012. Recent accolades include Time Magazine's listing of Smitten Kitchen among the 25 Best Blogs of 2011, which they called "a blog with a wonderfully homey feel". Perelman not only writes every entry, she also photographs every dish with assistance from her husband. If apple pie cookies and coconut milk fudge sound delicious to you, make sure to check out this site. As she calls it, it's "comfy food stepped up a bit".

Tip: If you're expecting a baby or have one now, check out http://smittenkitchen.com/baby/ to find healthy, delicious recipes for your little one.

3. Simply Recipes

Created by Carmichael, California-based Elise Bauer, Simply Recipes is a blog that has a few hundred recipes that will remind you of your family's favorite dishes. An ex-Silicon Valley consultant, Bauer now devotes her time running this award-winning site that currently receives over 200,000 visitors each day. Simply Recipes is a great place to learn how to make basic, popular dishes like meatloaf or apple pie and she even has a tips and tricks section where you can learn how to poach an egg or how to make the perfect lemonade. There's a family feel to each of her recipes, nothing is ever too pretentious. With simple, clear and concise recipes, this is a great site for easy and delicious meals you can serve practically every day.

Tip: Check out the Book Reviews section if you'd like to see some of the books that Bauer has personally read and reviewed herself. It's also a great place to find a gift for your cooking enthusiast friend.

4. 101 Cookbooks

Primarily focused on natural, whole foods and ingredients, 101 Cookbooks is run by Heidi Swanson, a San Francisco-based photographer, cookbook author and designer. Her book, Super Natural Cooking, is a James Beard Award-nominated cookbook that's packed with 80 of her favorite recipes. Her elegantly designed blog will make you believe that the words healthy and delicious can both be used to describe the same dish. In her deep recipe archive you'll find breakfast recipes for dishes like breakfast polenta and sweet crepes to vegan recipes like ginger soba noodles to green curry broth.

Tip: Pick up Super Natural Cooking to learn recipes using more natural and less processed ingredients. You can buy it online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target or Walmart.

5. The Pioneer Woman

The Pioneer Woman is a very popular blog started back in 2006 that's run by Ree Drummond, a woman who left the bright lights of the city for a slower life on an Oklahoma ranch. The blog attracts more than 20 million pageviews per month and was named Weblog of the Year at the 2011, 2010 and 2009 Bloggie Awards. Food Network even gave Drummond her own show also called The Pioneer Woman which aired this year from August to October 2011. While this site isn't necessarily all about cooking, it has a fantastic cooking section where Drummond posts step-by-step photos of her "cowboy-friendly" dishes she's taught herself over the years. These include comfort foods like corn and cheese chowder or big fat bacon sliders. Never pretentious, Drummond has a way of making even the most timid cook feel immediately at ease.

Tip: Don't have a lot of time? Under Misc, check out 16-Minute Meals to find quick dishes you can whip up in a jiff!

6. Savory Sweet Life

Savory Sweet Life was started back in February 2009 by Seattle mom and weekly food writer for PBS Parents, Alice Currah, who founded the blog as a creative outlet. Like many, she wanted to share her passion for great design, food and photography with the world. In March 2010, Forbes.com listed Currah as one of eight of the very best food bloggers, along with three others on our list - Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen, Joy Wilson of Joy the Baker, and Elise Bauer of Simply Recipes. With recipes that are rich in flavor, this is a site you'll want to regularly visit when you need a little inspiration for your next family get-together or work potluck.

Tip: If you'd like to get to know the person behind this blog, make sure to check out Everyday Alice, it's a blog where she reflects on life's experiences happening outside the kitchen.

Other noteworthy mentions: Delicious Days, Bakerella, Chez Pim, Cannelle et Vanille, David Lebovitz and Food52

Which websites do you visit when you're in the mood to cook?

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Alice Yoo is the founder and editor in chief of My Modern Metropolis, a place where trendspotters and art enthusiasts come to connect over creative ideas. After graduating from UCLA with a Bachelor's in Economics, Alice received her MBA, worked in advertising for MTV and Outdoor Channel and then started My Modern Met in 2008. With over 2.5 million page views per month, My Modern Met has become an art, culture and lifestyle destination for the modern man and woman.