YES, I KNOW: technically, it is not summer. But we’ve got forecasts in the 80s, and darn it, it’s (about to be! Whoo hoo!) Memorial Day weekend. Let the picnicking and ‘cue-ing begin! In need of inspiration? Look no further than our own archives of amazing summer recipes. Some vintage, some our own concoctions, there’s plenty to tempt palates from simple to soignée…

Let’s start with the basics, shall we? We love a good potato salad, and while we can’t make it from our own garden haul, not just yet, that’s no reason not to enjoy this all-American staple. Take a peek at our Ladies’ Auxiliary vintage recipe round-up, and you’ll find something just perfect for your picnic table.

I love fried chicken, but try to do like my disciplined friend Mimi: indulge in it, and indulge good, just once a year. If this isn’t your moment for deep fried decadence, my high school reunion special roast chicken is good hot, warm or cold, and makes a healthier, impossibly easy stand-in.

To continue the healthy theme, check out my Asian-inflected food blog roundup. Among other perfect-for-the-heat suggestions is a divine cold noodle salad from uber-blogger Heidi Swanson. (Want more of the wonders of the digital recipe box? Many more favorite food blogs await you.

But wait! What about dessert? Well, you’ve read my apple pie saga, right? Though not seasonally appropriate, apple pie’s always divine…but then again, in my family, it can cause some serious strife. Maybe best to stick with the season, and let the only fool be rhubarb. Mmmm.

Ok, sisters: your turns. What picnics are you packing, what sides are you serving for this upcoming, eagerly awaited long weekend?

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1. Sisters, Root for Rhubarb MAY IS THE month where my garden comes alive, and...

Shauna, Danny and Lu, photographed by Todd Porter and Diane Cu of White on Rice Couple

WE ALL SAY it so often it’s become a cliché: this online world of ours, it really is its own community, maybe even a family, a sisterhood. We admired the Gluten Free Girl from afar; then we profiled her here; and now, we are thrilled to say, we have become IRL (that’s “in real life”) friends, too. Read on for all the delicious details of our very own dinner with Shauna (and Dan and Lu, too.)

Shauna emailed a few months back to say she, Dan and Lu would be heading east for their new book, Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef: could she swing north from NYC and visit me and Margaret at our crazy homes in the sticks? Uh–YES, please! Plans were made, transportation arranged, and last Friday, the Aherns arrived for dinner. That’s right, dear readers, I had to cook for one of the most popular food bloggers, oh, on the planet (just ask the London Times, or Gourmet, or Bon Appetit.)

Of course I was quick to order the book, and wasn’t disappointed: it’s a lovely memoir-cookbook combination, with recipes that range from simple comfort fare (their favorite meatloaf) to more “cheffy” stuff, like Poussin with Red Quinoa and Rhubarb (which I am dying to try.)  I’ve just started cooking through the book, and I highly recommend the Roasted Chicken Roulade with Goat Cheese and Arugula. But I didn’t want to cook dishes from the book for our dinner with them. What if I flubbed them? Were they sick of those recipes? (Probably not. But what if I flubbed them?)

What to make when you’re cooking for a crew, and slightly nervous to boot? Something well within your comfort zone. And, if you can draft a friend to help out and keep you company, even better. My dear friend Alana, of Eating from the Ground Up, agreed to join me, and I planned my favorite comfort food–specifically, a rustic Mexican feast. Guacamole, salsa made with tomatillos from my garden, herby green rice, black beans, and sumptuous carnitas: pork butt spiced, braised and roasted until it is falling-apart tender, succulent and crisp, all at the same time. Alana suggested homemade corn tortillas, and brought along two fantastic red salsas, one fresh, the other roasted. Dessert? Dense chocolate walnut cookies (gluten free, of course) and local ice cream.

We all forgot to get our cameras! Luckily, Dan had his phone.

The food was delicious, I am happy to say. But the company was even better, as we all laughed and talked together: internet lives, rural lives, cooking lives…things we all share. And in the spirit of sharing, here’s the how-to for the carnitas that fed our crowd (and, to my great joy, prompted praise from our guests.) I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as we did. Come to think of it, if you’re making ‘em, invite us to dinner, too!

Carnitas for a Crowd
adapted from David Liebowitz
Serves at least 12–with leftovers

10 lbs pork butt (Ask the butcher to leave the bone in, but cut the meat into large chunks. And I do mean large! Mine were 5 inches across and 2-3 inches thick.)
1 Tablespoon coarse sea salt
1 Tablespoon Bourbon Smoked Sea Salt* (This works very well, but feel free to use an additional tablespoon of the coarse sea salt, instead.)
2 Tablespoons canola or neutral vegetable oil
1/2 cup cider vinegar
water
2 cinnamon sticks
2 teaspoons chile powder
2 teaspoons ancho chile powder (you will probably have to buy a whole dried ancho chile, and grind it yourself in a coffee grinder or spice mill)
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly-sliced

1. Rub the pieces of pork shoulder all over with both salts. Refrigerate for 1- to 3-days. (You can skip this step if you want. Just be sure to salt the pork before searing the meat in the next step.)

2. Heat the oil in a roasting pan set on the stovetop. Cook the pieces of pork shoulder in a single layer over medium high heat until very well-browned on all sides. (Let one side brown until it releases from the pan, then turn to the next side, and so on.) If your pan is too small to cook them in a single layer, do them in two batches.

3. Once all the pork is browned, remove from the pan and blot away any excess fat with a paper towel, then pour in the cider vinegar and about half a cup of water, scraping the bottom of the pan with a flat-edged utensil to release all the tasty brown bits.

4. Heat the oven to 350F degrees.

5. Add the pork back to the pan and add enough water so the pork pieces are 2/3rd’s submerged in liquid. Add the cinnamon stick and sprinkle in the chile powders, bay leaves, cumin and garlic, trying your best to spread them evenly around the pan.

7. Braise in the oven uncovered for 3½ hours, turning the pork a few times during cooking, until the pork is falling apart. Remove the pan from the oven and lift the pork pieces out of the liquid. Cover both the meat and liquid, and cool to room temperature.

8. Remove the meat from the bones and chop coarsely (1/2 to 3/4 inch chunks are best.) Pour the liquid remaining in the pan into a heatproof container, and refrigerate until the fat solidifies on the top. (You can cheat and put it in the freezer, as long as you wait until the liquid comes to room temperature first.)Refrigerate the meat too if you are not planning to serve it immediately.

9. When you are ready to serve, preheat the oven to 350. Return the meat to the pan, and pour the defatted juices over. Cover loosely with foil, and place in the oven to reheat for about 20 minutes (more is fine as long as you check the meat to make sure it’s not drying out–you should have plenty of liquid, so this is unlikely to be a problem, and you want some crisp bits on top: the dual texture of the meat is one of the joys of the dish.

*I was given the Bourbon Barrel Sea Salt by the producer, Bourbon Barrel Foods.

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Soon, soon, I'll have grown my dinner and will eat it, too.

‘TIS THE SEASON. Nope, not that season. The gardening season, when the madness of planting and weeding completely takes over. But that means the harvest season is just around the corner, and the whole point of this gardening insanity, at least for me (I can’t speak for Miss Margaret, she’s a special case) is cooking. And as you all already know, I can’t cook without my bloggy backup. Here are a baker’s dozen of my favorite sources for wisdom about making the best of a great, green thing…

Diggin Food
Willi Galloway knows her stuff when it comes to gardening (she’s a contributing writer for Organic Gardening magazine) and food, too. Her blog’s beautiful, full of great gardening ideas, well explained for the black-thumbers like me, and luscious recipes. Now that my arugula is up (and the basil is still just a dream) I’m thinking I’ll try her arugula pesto.

Garden of Eating
Berkeley-based Eve Fox is so devoted to her CSA program (Consumer Supported Agriculture, aka farm shares) that she planned a whole year of blogging around it, the Eatwell Project. This alone is enough to make me love her, but her devotion to one of my favorite cookbooks, not to mention her affinity for pomegranate molasses, are just the cream cheese icing on the carrot cake.

White on Rice Couple
I got to know Todd and Diane thanks to TSP Sister Margaret’s garden and food Summer Fest last year, and I’ve been hooked since. From cocktails to cipollinis, they’ve got garden-fresh cooking covered, and their photography is some of the most beautiful you’re ever likely to see.

Eating the Garden
Carrie blogs about her family, her cat, her cooking and her San Diego garden, and she’s fresh and lively and real. If you, like me, live in one of the colder gardening zones, her pictures of year-round bounty may make you a little envious, but make yourself some super healthy comfort food, and get over it.

Urban Homestead
The Dervaes family of Pasadena, CA is on a mission: they’re urban homesteaders, living green and growing their own on a tiny patch of southern California land. They’ve been blogging this journey for 11 years, and have a wealth of knowledge and inspiration (and delicious produce) to share. I absolutely love this site, and their zeal. Amazing.

Grow. Cook. Eat.
You have to love a blogger who can make a persuasive connection between composting and baking. Don’t believe me? Read Julia’s thoughts on banana bread.

Tigress in a Jam/Tigress in a Pickle
I love, love, LOVE the Tigress, and not just because she’s badass with platinum dreads and cool tattoos and an affinity for my neck of the woods. Her passion for canning and pickling is completely infectious. Even if you’ve never picked up a pair of canning tongs before, she’s going to get your hot water bath going.

Farmgirl Fare/In My Kitchen Garden
Foodie farmgirl Susan chucked a California life to live on a Missouri sheep farm; she was a big source of inspiration for me when I made my own rural relocation three years ago. If you have any heart at all, you’ll love her pics of her animals, but I keep coming back for her recipes and gardening insights, too. This is on my weekend recipe dance card, but I’m looking forward to warmer weather and real bounty, so I can try this.

Foodie With Family
Rebecca and her stepmother Valerie will teach you how to make buttermilk, cheesecake and even can your own homemade V8 juice. Yep. And you’ll laugh while you’re doing any and all of it. This isn’t a gardening site, exactly, but the message of using all you can definitely fits with a gardener’s mentality, and you can’t beat this one for awesome DIY spirit.

Grow It. Eat It.
I think I have a little bit of a girl crush on Heather. She’s funny (always a plus), profane (works for me; I recently taught my kids the expression “Mama curses like a stevedore”; when the River asked, “What’s a stevedore?” I told him to head right to the school library and please report back) and full of dead simple, completely delicious ideas about what to cook and when and how. Plus, she keeps chickens. As soon as my rhubarb gets a wee bit taller, I’m making this.

Eating Garden Snails
Nope. That title’s not some ironic hipster foodie joke. This English site is all about, err, giving purpose to those nasty, plant-eating pests. Hey, I like escargot. It could happen. But only with lots of garlic, parsley and butter. And wine.

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MY FAVORITE CITY IN THE WORLD IS PARIS. I went there for the first time when I was 13, and fell in love. I’ve visited there intermittently over the years, and every single time, I leave more charmed. I haven’t had much chance for travel much of anywhere lately, so my Francophilia has mostly been fulfilled, you guessed it, by blogs. Mostly, you’ll be shocked to learn, food blogs. Would you like to join my armchair voyages? Read on.

You can almost taste the butter, smell the Gitanes, and hear the symphony of urban sounds a la français if you dig into these wonderful blogs. Well-written and passionate all, they evoke the absolute best of Paris, yes, its je ne sais quoi.

Did I mention, bon appétit?

David Lebovitz
The subtitle of this blog by former Chez Panisse pastry chef and author (of among other delicious titles, The Perfect Scoop) is “living the sweet life in Paris”. That pretty much sums it up. Why should you even try to resist? Divine recipes, great perspective on the city.

Chocolate & Zucchini
Even if her name wasn’t Clotilde Dusolier, you’d be charmed by this sunny Parisienne. She blogs in English about the food she loves to eat, which tends to be healthy, fresh, and, as the name suggests, open to the occasional delicious sweet. I’ve twice given her cookbook, Chocolate and Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen, as a gift, and it gets rave reviews.

Joe Ray
Joe Ray is the English-language partner in crime to notorious French restaurant critic François Simon, who some say was the basis for the Anton Ego character in the animated film Ratatouille. Joe, a wonderful writer, photographer and dedicated food adventurer, writes the English-language section of Simon’s site, Simon-Says, as well as contributing to The Boston Globe. His work is a great resource for planning your own Paris adventure.

Parisien Salon
A team of writers cover everything from music to fashion to food to vocabulary in this lovely site, making it both an instant immersion into la vie Parisienne, and a really useful planning guide. It’s gorgeous, to boot, which never hurts, especially when your subject is the world’s capital of style.

Street Peeper/Paris
Want to know what they’re really wearing in Paris? Look no farther than this site, which shows you exactly what’s au courant on the streets of la belle ville. Delicious. And slightly intimidating.

Alexander Lobrano
Lobrano was European Correspondent for the late, lamented Gourmet (yes, yes, I know, you all already know how I feel about that) and I loved his writing there, but his Diner’s Journal blog (a counterpoint to his terrific book, Hungry for Paris ) is equally delightful. And he remains a great correspondent, meaning, leave a comment with a question, and you’re very likely to get an answer. Love that.

Paris Breakfasts
Carol Gillott is an American artist who, it appears, spends as much time in Paris as she possibly can. (Who can blame her?) Her illustrations of the city are wonderful, and I love her unique perspective on her faves, be they food, fashion, shopping, you name it. She gives you Paris through her own rosy view, and it’s heaven.

Eat Boutique
This delightful food site isn’t precisely Parisian, but since its founder, Maggie Batista, recently moved to Paris for a few months, she’s been posting about her experiences settling in to her new home. Seeing Paris through fresh, awed eyes is a wonderful experience, made even better by a terrific, funny, passionate writer, who also happens to take gorgeous photographs.

Meg Zimbeck
Journalist Zimbeck loves great food, and bless her, she’s not afraid to share her secrets. (If you’re lucky, you might nab a spot on one of her guided food tours.) She’s also irreverent and hilarious. Where else will you see a side of Paris that includes (braided) horses’ asses and breakdancing American tourists?

John Talbott
If you go hunting around Chowhound for restaurant recommendations in Paris, sooner or later you may find yourself corresponding with John Talbott. American by birth, French by choice, Talbott has been writing reviews of his Paris meals for 20 years. His blog gives you not only his opinions, but also a weekly round up of other French critics’ two centimes.

Dorie Greenspan
Author Dorie Greenspan has collaborated on cookbooks with foodies ranging from Julia Child to upstart macaron king Pierre Hermé. She’s lucky to divide her time between the U.S. and Paris. I love her recipes (they WORK!) and I’m partial to her “At Home In Paris” blog category. A girl can dream, can’t she?

What do you think? Almost as good as a real trip to Paris? Where are you going on your spring vacation, lovely sisters?

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BRRR. BLECCH. IT’S FEBRUARY. In college, this meant something called “Feb Club,” an organized party every single night of the year’s bleakest, longest-feeling month. In real life, this means a search for escape–virtual, if not real. For me, escape from the winter blues comes through cooking and reading. Thanks to the net, I’ve found an incredible web of foodie blogging sisters (and brothers) whose recipes and reminiscences spirit me away to places much brighter and warmer. Are you in need of inspiration and escape, too? To come away with me, check out these bloggers, whose words and pictures are an escape as good as any exotic vacation, and a lot easier to come by.

1. Todd and Diane, the White on Rice Couple

I fell in love with Todd and Diane during our Summer Fest cross-blog extravaganza last year, and the romance isn’t over. With beautiful photography and accessible, adventurous recipes, they offer food for every sense. Be sure to check out their recipe for Sriracha hot sauce. One of their most popular posts ever, this recipe is guaranteed to warm things up in your kitchen.

2. Meedo and Zainab of Arabic Bites

These two Saudi sisters share their favorite recipes from their own family, and beyond. In scrupulous detail, they offer their takes on everything from stuffed grape leaves to hummus and fatoush, but I am dying to try the pistachio rice pudding and the zucchini pancakes.

3. Monica of A Life of Spice

Monica Bhide is an accomplished author and cook, and her blog is perfect for those want more of the delectable Indian cuisine she shared in her latest book, Modern Spice.  A recent recipe I’m dying to try is shrimp and coriander soup–this time of year, I crave all soup, but especially clear broth full of flavor, which this promises to be. (Scroll down in the post to find the recipe.)

4. Cristina Potter of Mexico Cooks!

Cristina was born in the U.S. but has spent nearly 30 years living in Mexico, and her blog is as much an exhaustive travel guide as it is a repository of super-authentic, well-explained recipes. For a good introduction to all that’s on offer here, check out her recent post recapping her best of 2009. I can’t wait to make her capirotada, a bread pudding unique to the Lenten season in Mexico. (Scroll down in the post for the recipe.)

5. Mark of Sticky Rice

I don’t know much about Mark, an Australian living, eating and writing in Hanoi, but what I do know is that this blog is like an instant ticket to Southeast Asia. Mark covers the world of  Vietnamese food from humble street vendors to fancy hotel restaurants, and does so with enthusiasm, humor and scrupulous attention to detail about ingredients, flavors and surroundings. Be sure to check out his “Sweeeeet!” category for a mouth-watering look at Vietnamese desserts.

6. Fuchsia Dunlop

Fuchsia (oh, how I love that name) Dunlop is not a food blogger, but an author and scholar of Chinese cooking. Her blog is a collection of musings on the state of cuisine in China (a recent post was on the Chinese government’s attempts to standardize recipes for Mao’s favorite dishes). The site falls into the “virtual voyage” category I so love this time of year. Her recipes for her Chinese-influenced take on Christmas fare (e.g., Chinese mince pie dumplings) are not to be missed.

7. Robyn and David of EatingAsia

Kuala Lumpur-based Robyn Eckhardt and David Hagerman have one of the most beautifully photographed blogs I’ve ever seen, but EatingAsia has way more than a pretty face. Robyn and David travel throughout Asia, digging into local cuisine everywhere they go. They offer a sumptuous slice of life most of us aren’t likely to experience. One recipe I am longing for is their Devil curry–a spicy-sour concoction that seems ideal for February.

8. Fran of BetumiBlog

Fran Osseo-Asare’s “labor of love” blog, which features recipes from and information about cuisines throughout sub-Saharan Africa, might be my favorite food-blog discovery ever. Fran’s approach is affectionate and scholarly, and her recipes are both exotic and appealing. She’s got step-by-step instruction for a range of savory and sweet dishes, but these togbei from Ghana (the name means, get ready, “goats’ balls”) keep calling my name…

9. Pati of Pati’s Mexican Table

What’s in the water in Washington, DC? I lived there many  years ago, and though there was awesome Vietnamese food, I never found much other ethnic cuisine that lived up to its potential. The food climate must have changed, because like Monica Bhide (see Number 3 above) Pati Jinich lives and cooks in the capitol. Her blog is exuberant, and her recipes shine. As an ex-Californian who now lives in something of a Mexican-food wasteland, I rely upon books and blogs to inspire me, and Pati’s is sure-fire. I’m dying to try her pollo pibil.

10. Danielle of Habeas Brulée

It’s not that Danielle Sucher cooks any exotic cuisine in particular, but that everything she cooks has an imaginative and gutsy flair. I first found Habeas when a craving for Moroccan cuisine sent me off on a Google odyssey, and Danielle has a few Moroccan recipes to choose from. But she also has gorgeous salads, inspired sweets (try her Balsamic Fudge Drop cookies) and a deep catalog of recipes categorized as “Hot/Spicy,” just to warm things up.

11. Stephanie of Momofuku For 2

Stephanie Le loves David Chang’s New York City Momofuku restaurants so much, that when she received his cookbook for Christmas, she decided to cook her way through the entire book and blog the process. She’s the first to admit that this is no longer an original idea, but her site still feels fresh, and Chang’s inventive Asian cuisine is relentlessly appealing (as is Steph’s enthusiasm for her project). You need the book to cook along with Steph (she does not republish Chang’s recipes) but even without it, Momofuku For 2 will suck you in.

12. Martin of Khymos

Martin Lersch is a Norwegian scientist who’s passionate about food and cooking–specifically, molecular gastronomy. Martin offers a whole different kind of culinary adventure (check out his downloadable recipe book Texture–A Hydrocolloid Recipe Collection. Hydrocolloid? Oh, that’s “a substance that forms a gel in contact with water.” According to Martin.) While I am unlikely to ever cook any of the gels or foams in Martin’s cookbook, I love the adventure of reading his take on the science that (really, truly) always underlies good cooking. He’s funny and charming and unabashed in his food-geek pride. In all seriousness, don’t miss his monthly “They Go Really Well Together” (TGRWT) experiments in food pairings. Banana parsley marshmallows, anyone?

13. Indira of Mahanandi

I love Indian food. I mean, LOVE. Indira Singari’s recipes make it seem doable at home, but better, they make you feel like you’ve got her at your shoulder, coaching and coaxing you through the new or unfamiliar. In one of her most popular posts, a divine recipe for palak paneer, Indira explains in vivid detail how the woman who taught her to make this recipe explained that she needed to see it, in order to understand how to do it. Indira manages to make you see, and in the process, shares her encyclopedic knowledge of recipes (many from her own family) and ingredients. A passage to India if ever there was one.

If these suggestions leave you longing for more, read my original favorite food blogs post, or this follow-up offering more of my best food blog picks!

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READING MICHAEL POLLAN’S The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which argues convincingly for eating food grown and produced locally, while simultaneously trying to pare down your family’s food budget, is a frustrating (to say the least) endeavor. Such has been my lot of late.

I finally got around to reading Pollan’s engaging treatise on the paradoxes (and horrors) of modern eating in America just last week, after having it on my nightstand for, oh, three years. (I have excuses, but really, why bother? At least I’m reading it now.) Diving back into the book coincided with my wrestling down a challenge I’ve posed to myself for the last couple of years: What small change can I make in our family’s lifestyle this year to both make us more environmentally responsible? (Saving money is a secondary, but equally important goal.)

Last year, I stopped buying paper napkins. We went cold turkey, switching to cloth napkins exclusively, and it’s been painless. Honest. The year before, I cut way back on our consumption of plastic bags. These are tiny changes, true, but those are often the easiest ones to make for good. This year, I decided I wanted to stop buying so much sandwich bread. At $3.99 per loaf, it’s expensive, and often goes moldy in the breadbox before we use it up. Plus–homemade is better. (Duh.)

Since Christmas, once or twice a week I’ve been making two loaves of the semi-famous No Knead Bread invented by NYC baker Jim Lahey, and it never goes to waste, costs half the price of “store” bread, and is no doubt healthier, since it only has four ingredients (flour, water, yeast and salt).

The ease of the bread project got me to thinking about other commodities I could make myself without too much time invested. (Yes, that’s the key. That bread takes about 10 minutes of active time to produce. Seriously. Try it.) Breakfast in our house is always a battle, but almost all of us (save the River, who’s got outlier breakfast tastes) love granola. The one kind we all like is locally made, true, but it costs a fortune. There had to be a better way, especially since oats, even organic ones, only cost $1.50 a pound.

Thanks to two incredible food bloggers, Alana, of Eating From the Ground Up, and Heidi, of 101 Cookbooks, I came up with this recipe. (Heidi’s recipe, sadly, is not online; it appears in her beautiful book Super Natural Cooking.) This granola, if I do say so myself, is completely addictive, dead simple, and a great way to use up nutty/fruity/seedy odds and ends cluttering up the pantry. Did I mention it’s addictive?

Top o’ the morning to you.

Simply Great Granola (inspired by recipes created by Heidi and Alana)

6 cups rolled oats
1 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted (a neutral oil like canola or grapeseed will work fine, but I like the flavor of the coconut oil)
1/2 cup maple syrup (I like the darker grade B kind)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 250 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

In your largest bowl, combine dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients and stir very thoroughly to mix well. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Divide the mixture between the two sheets and spread out into an even layer about 1/2 inch thick.

Put the pans into the top third of the preheated oven. Bake for 30 minutes, and then switch the positions of the pans, since most ovens heat unevenly. Bake for another 30 minutes, and rotate again, and then bake for a final 30 minutes. Turn the oven off, and leave the granola in the oven to cool down slowly. Crumble into an airtight container to store.

Blogger Alana says this will keep 2-3 weeks, but I can’t believe it would ever last that long.

Notes: I like all sweets to have a bit of salt, too; I think it radically enhances sweet flavors. If you really disagree, I won’t quite understand, but of course you can omit the salt. And none of the inclusions, save, I suppose, the oats, are written in stone. Use walnuts instead of almonds, as I have before. Delicious. Sesame seeds are good, and I sometimes add a bit of freshly ground flaxseed (after cooking) if I have it on hand.

You could use more vanilla, as Alana does, but I like this aromatic hint just fine. More maple syrup will make it sweeter…you get the idea. Alana says, I think rightly, that dried fruit should be added to granola as it’s served; toasting doesn’t do much for already-dried raisins. However…I have made this twice with goji berries, which I bought on healthful impulse at the  market only to discover that I don’t much care for them in their original dried state. They are the exception which proves the rule about toasting dried fruit: if added to the dry ingredients and toasted, their sugars seem to caramelize and they mellow and sweeten into something quite delicious. My kids still think they’re repulsive, but I’m happy that we’ve used them up rather than consigning them to the compost pile.

Special thanks to Alana of Eating From the Ground Up for the image of granola goodness up above. Yours will look just as sublime, I promise!

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I HAVE A LITTLE problem. I love cookbooks, and cooking magazines. The piles mount; something has to give, my husband says. Do I really need all this paper in order to cook? Well, no, I don’t, I guess, but cookbooks make me feel at home, bring me solace, and inspire me. Thankfully, the sisterhood and brotherhood of passionate cooks I’ve met the last three years in the food blogosphere provide a glimmer of light at the end of this paper tunnel. Meet my most recent culinary muses:

It all started for me with this 2006 Los Angeles Times article, and the then-anonymous blog The Wednesday Chef. One site led to another, and down the cooking blog rabbit hole I went. Here are some places you’ll find me in the comments:

Paige’s Favorite Foodie Blogs

1. The Wednesday Chef

Luisa started my food-blog love affair, and I cook her recipes constantly. Since I, too, have overflowing files of newspaper recipe clippings, I found her concept (cooking through those piles of clippings, and rating the results) totally brilliant, but her writing kept me coming back. She introduced me to the no-knead bread craze (back in the days when I was still eating wheat regularly–sigh) and I love her writing about Italy, ingredients, the recipes that work and the ones that don’t…everything about her voice and her cooking enthusiasms just charms me.

2. Gluten Free Girl

I don’t need to tell you about Shauna, do I? You’ve already read the profile of her over in the TSP Galleries; you’ve visited her glorious site; maybe you’ve even baked some cupcakes. Me, I’ve wracked my brain to figure out how I found Shauna, but no matter the path, I’m so glad I landed on her virtual doorstep. Even if you don’t avoid gluten (and I do) her recipes work and her joyful attitude is one I long to emulate.

3. Elana’s Pantry

Another gluten-free site (also dairy- and sugar-free) with delicious recipes and beautiful presentation. Oh, and a beautiful author, to boot. One look at Elana, and you think, “Damn! I want to eat that way, too!” Elana’s also a personal hero of mine because she convinces her kids to eat the healthful food she prepares. Try her recipes, and you’ll see why. One new dish I’m planning to try is her Roasted Chicken with Olives and Prunes.

4. 101 Cookbooks

Possibly the most gorgeous of my fave food blogs, this site by Heidi Swanson is also a destination for healthful recipes. I found the site searching for recipes using soba noodles, a favorite of my husband’s. I found this recipe, and never looked back. When I want a super-healthy, vegetable-intensive main dish, 101 Cookbooks is the first place I look.

5. Anapestic

See? I promised a brother in this group. I don’t know this writer’s real name, and sadly, he has not posted this year. I’m hoping he’ll come back, because I love his meandering way of writing, the way every recipe is a story and then some. I found him searching for information about legendary food writer Laurie Colwin and her take on the near-mythical Black Cake, and kept coming back for his wit, and his palate. Dig around, and you’re bound to find a delicious dish wrapped up in a delectable, hysterical anecdote.

6. The Town Tart

Here’s another blogger who leaves something to be desired when it comes to consistency-of-posting, but I love TTT’s sweetly snarky wit, succinct and honest cookbook reviews, and the fact that once upon a time, she used to live right here, in the exact remote part of the country where I live now, and she now lives in Venice Beach, where, once upon a time, I used to live. There’s some kind of poetry there, I have to believe. That, and the star of her kitchen is a bright red Aga, the stove of dreams. What’s not to love?

7. Bitten

The only corporate blog in this list, Mark Bittman’s Bitten is just lovely, and totally useful. I cook from it all the time, because it is exactly in tune with my cooking sensibilities: Use fresh and local whenever possible; be as healthy as  you can; experiment with flavor; err on the side of simplicity. I love Bittman’s columns for the New York Times, most of his cookbooks, and this eminently useful blog.

8. Gastrokid

My buddy Hugh Garvey is a real-deal foodie, an editor at Bon Appétit, a super hipster, and a proud papa of two cute kids. All of these characteristics inform this site, in which he and his writing partner, Matthew Yeomans, chronicle the culinary exploits of adventurous eaters with kids along for the ride. Gastrokid mercifully doesn’t fall into the icky “hide the vegetables in the brownies” trap, and thus offers recipes that adults and kids can try without cringing.

9. Simmer Till Done

This blog holds a special place in this list and in my affections, because it’s the first food blog I discovered because of The Sister Project. Marilyn came commenting, I clicked back over to her site, and fell in love. A professional baker, Marilyn’s also a fantastic writer, whose stories about food and cooking are deeply personal and instantly relatable. She’s got her own sister stories to tell, too, some of which will make you laugh; others will break your heart. But with so much comfort food on offer (check out the four sisters’ versions of noodle kugel) Marilyn can make you smile through the tears. She even draws beautifully. I think I want to be Marilyn when I grow up; I definitely want to bake like her.

Would you care to nominate someone special for number 10? Let me know!

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