A Moms' Guide Online Recipe Sites

Busy moms don't have time to pour through cookbooks in search of easy meals. They log on to find creative ways to feed their families. With more online recipe sites popping up, it's helpful to have a roundup of the top sites.

Serious foodies head to epicurious.com to find unusual items and challenging recipes. They source recipes from Gourmet Magazine and Bon Appetit. According to the site, there more than 5,000 recipes available. The site is loaded with ads and links-making it a bit annoying to navigate. But for fancy meals and special occasions, this site has lots to offer. A nice feature is the wine section-there are many articles well suited to novice wine drinkers. One recipe I tried for duck breasts was outstanding. It required ingredients you might not have on hand (port wine, shallot and frisee lettuce). Another downside: no nutritional information.

If you are looking for a passionate foodie community, you'll like Recipezaar.com. This site was started as couple of self-describe food geeks in Seattle. Stay organized by using shopping list feature (you have to register) and a menu planner. This site boasts more than 360,000 recipes from their members. And a cool feature is the "Chef of the Day" a member profile. I searched for a dinner recipe from the "on hand" section. I wanted a simple fish dish. I found an easy Greek Flounder recipe. There was nutritional information. On the bad side: I wish the recipe had a picture, and the nutritional information wasn't 100% accurate. On the good side: The prep time 5 minutes. Bake time 15 minutes and the result was delicious.

Allrecipes.com was the easiest site to navigate. It offered clean, crisp graphics and not a ton of ads. Families on a budget will appreciate the const conscious recipes. Selecting from the sidebar options (pick: Pork, Chick, Trusted Brands, Kid-Friendly and more) was a fun way to play around with menu planning. I checked out the Pork section. I found plenty of options in three categories: 30-minutes Meals, Healthy & Delicious and Variety. I opted for Parmesan Pork Tenderloin a Healthy & Delicious pick. It was moderately challenfing and required ten ingredients (many of which I have on hand). Prep time 15 minutes. Cook time 10 minutes. ready in 25. The directions were clear an easy to follow. Perfect for a beginner chef.

Myrecipes.com was my favorite site. I loved the pictures. No wonder--MyRecipes.com finds their dishes from magazines like Cooking Light, Southern Living, Sunset, Coastal Living, Real Simple, and more. Now you don't need to get all those expensive subscriptions to dream up enticing meals. I wanted checked out the Quick & Easy section looking for a zippy Asian dish. I used the dinner countdown selector and gave myself 30 minutes. I struck gold with Kung Pao Chicken. Pulled from a 2005 Cooking Light issue this recipe was a winner. The instructions were easy to follow and I had most of the ingredients on hand.