My Favorite Blogs

The blog which inspired this post is actually the most recent one I started reading. At first I couldn't figure out why it appealed to me so much. The page just looked attractive to me. Then I realized, there were no ads. But the majority of blogs contain ads, they are hard to avoid. Here are some other things I look for in a blog...

1. Easy to read
2. Easy to navigate
3. Lots of historical content to peruse
4. Topics of interest 
5. Frequent posts

My main topics of interest include: Recipes, Photography, all things Pregnancy and Mom, Diet and Fitness. Read on for my current favorite blogs!




My New Favorite

Shutterbean: Food, Photography, & Pretty Things

This site is run by a photographer and mom in the San Francisco Bay area. The site is clean, the photography is gorgeous, and she posts a few times a week. As I mentioned at the start of this post, there are no ads but she does have a shopping tab which has Amazon links as she is part of the Amazon affiliate program.

Recent post which attracted me:
Small Batch Chocolate Cupcakes

Post which I'm most excited to try:
Tumeric Latte

My favorite blog features:
My Everyday Life: A photography-based post chronicling each week of the year. Some have more text and explanations between the photos, others less. I find these posts gorgeous and inspiring.

Out & About: A little bit of everything! A lot of restaurant and travel posts, combined with posts about everyday weekends and time with her son. For those of us who are stuck more at home, these posts inspire vibrant dreaming of future travel plans!

Other notables:
Recipes: A good number of beautifully photographed recipes to make you salivate.
Around the Home: Remodeling projects, organization tips, and more. Post I really liked: Kids in the Kitchen.
Lists: Fun little brain dump lists to peruse at your leisure.


Favorite Food Blogs

Pinch of Yum

This site is run by a former elementary school teacher, turned full-time food blogger. The majority of the posts are recipes with a little bit of daily life and the occasional travel post thrown in. I originally found the blog because of the recipes, but after reading for a few years, really have developed a liking for the author herself, not just her recipes. The couple recently has been sharing some more personal news, their son was born prematurely and passed away. Pregnant myself, as as a former neonatal intensive care nurse, I found their experience heartrending.

My favorite blog features:
The food photography is simply gorgeous.
The recipes are easy to follow.
Everything is Pinterest-friendly with multiple images to pin.
Frequent posts.
A very large catalog of Recipes which can be searched or sorted through by topics. Even after years of reading this site, I will still see a Pinterest pin for a recipe I'm unfamiliar with and I will wonder how I missed it!

Other notables:
Monthly Traffic and Income Reports: I think most bloggers would love to blog as their full-time job and be as successful as Pinch of Yum. Their success is staggering, and they like to share tips.


Will Cook for Friends

This site is run by a writer, photographer, and lover of food. She is an adventurous home cook. 

My favorite blog features:
Great Recipe Archive: Grilled Chicken Shawarma with Lentils and Pickled Vegetables, Sweet and Spicy Jalapeno Peach Jam, Eggplant Involtini
Fantastic Prep Pictures: Collard Green Rainbow Rolls

Other notables:
Tips and Tutorials: Weird but so interesting tips you didn't even know you wanted to know.

Favorite Daily Reading Blog

A Healthy Slice of Life

This site is run by a stay at home mom and former fitness instructor and lifestyle and weight management coach. She has two little girls, around 1 1/2 and 4. Her site has been running since before her first baby so there is tons of historical content. She posts nearly daily and it's great to have something new to read each morning. The posts are mostly family-centered and the author's positive attitude can't be beat! I think the biggest draw to her site is that she seems like someone I would want to be friends with, grab coffee with, chat about my kids with. I can tell from her posts, especially with her being a SAHM, that her family is in a different tax bracket than mine, but I'm not bothered by that. 

My favorite blog features:
Family Meal Plans: Planning, shopping, pictures, recipe links...these posts have it all!

Motherhood: Tons of helpful posts which can be further sorted by pregnancy, baby, and toddler. 

Other Notables:
Kaitlyn at 10-Months Old: This is just an example, she has one of these posts for both her daughters at most stages, found under the baby and toddler sections. These are short chronicles of what her kids were doing at specific ages, with cute pictures!

Favorite Mass Market Pregnancy Site

Fit Pregnancy and Baby

I prefer this site over Baby Center, The Bump, What to Expect... etc. There is no lack of pregnancy sites to choose from. My doctor's office has copies of Fit Pregnancy in the waiting room and I used to read it (free!) on my iPad back before they got rid of the Newsstand feature. This would not be my "go to" source for medical information, but I find the site fun. There are a lot of pop culture stories on it along with the usual do this/don't do this stories. When I read an article, I always look for the author's credentials after their name at the top to see if the person is a nurse, a doctor, a dietitian, or has no relevant education.

My favorite blog features:
Easy access bar at the top of the page to jump to your current week of gestation.
Easy links to articles can keep you reading and reading and reading!

Other Notables:
Free online and print subscriptions!

Please share your favorite sites! I'm always on the lookout for new ones!