Here's what I like in a food blog: At least two pictures (of the outside and, where applicable, the inside), no personal essays please, and I avoid anyone who talks about food like eating is something we need to be forgiven for. Also I don't want recipes that call for complicated personal flour blends. These four blogs have great recipes, great photographs, and can in no way be mistaken for a diary entry.
The Bojon Gourmet: Mostly baking, but some frozen desserts, breakfasts, savory items, and cocktails too. Lots of gorgeous photos and a little personal talk, but it's usually related to the recipe at hand. The author can eat gluten, but mostly chooses not to, so read appropriately. Alana makes it clear when an ingredient may not be gluten free, and for context: that ingredient is usually whiskey. All posts are extensively tagged, making navigation easy. Alana's cookbook, Alternative Baker, is also excellent, and the two things I made from it turned out great. Many of the recipes rely heavily on dairy, though, so it's kind of a look-but-don't-touch situation for me.
Full of Plants: Vegan cooking and baking, a nice mix of savory and sweet recipes, and no sweet-shaming at all. Thomas makes some amazing things like homemade smoked tempeh, vegan cultured butter, and vegan cheeses. A lot of the recipes use soy, so they're not for me, but I still love reading his posts and looking at the great pictures. Lots of talk about the process, which is particularly fascinating when it comes to the vegan cheeses. The site is almost entirely gluten free, but if I recall correctly a few recipes do use wheat, though I think there's usually a GF option.
Texanerin Baking: My favorite part about this blog is that Erin addresses all possible substitutions for every recipe. So if you're looking over the instructions and wondering, "But what if I—?" The answer's usually in there. Her food photography is friendly and bright, and if she includes a personal update before a recipe, it's brief. Lots of paleo and vegan options, and mostly gluten free, but not exclusively, as sometimes she'll offer a choice between GF and G for the same recipe. She does occasionally use a commercial GF flour mix, but it's usually Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour, which is one I keep on hand so I'll allow it. I've been thinking of trying this carrot cake.
The Gluten Free Canteen: This site is only available via the Wayback Machine these days, but it has a ton of great recipes, mostly desserts but also breakfast. It does use a custom flour mix, but there are only three ingredients (brown and white rice flour, tapioca starch) and it's super easy to just make exactly as much as you need. A lot of the recipes are dairy free, and they have a number of traditional Jewish recipes and grain-free recipes as well. Check out the recipe index by category. These homemade hobnobs are particularly delicious; I'll post the recipe—with a bunch of my own variations—next week.
Dairy, Vegan, Paleo, Grain-Free, and Jewish recipe blogs
The Bojon Gourmet: Mostly baking, but some frozen desserts, breakfasts, savory items, and cocktails too. Lots of gorgeous photos and a little personal talk, but it's usually related to the recipe at hand. The author can eat gluten, but mostly chooses not to, so read appropriately. Alana makes it clear when an ingredient may not be gluten free, and for context: that ingredient is usually whiskey. All posts are extensively tagged, making navigation easy. Alana's cookbook, Alternative Baker, is also excellent, and the two things I made from it turned out great. Many of the recipes rely heavily on dairy, though, so it's kind of a look-but-don't-touch situation for me.
Full of Plants: Vegan cooking and baking, a nice mix of savory and sweet recipes, and no sweet-shaming at all. Thomas makes some amazing things like homemade smoked tempeh, vegan cultured butter, and vegan cheeses. A lot of the recipes use soy, so they're not for me, but I still love reading his posts and looking at the great pictures. Lots of talk about the process, which is particularly fascinating when it comes to the vegan cheeses. The site is almost entirely gluten free, but if I recall correctly a few recipes do use wheat, though I think there's usually a GF option.
Texanerin Baking: My favorite part about this blog is that Erin addresses all possible substitutions for every recipe. So if you're looking over the instructions and wondering, "But what if I—?" The answer's usually in there. Her food photography is friendly and bright, and if she includes a personal update before a recipe, it's brief. Lots of paleo and vegan options, and mostly gluten free, but not exclusively, as sometimes she'll offer a choice between GF and G for the same recipe. She does occasionally use a commercial GF flour mix, but it's usually Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour, which is one I keep on hand so I'll allow it. I've been thinking of trying this carrot cake.
The Gluten Free Canteen: This site is only available via the Wayback Machine these days, but it has a ton of great recipes, mostly desserts but also breakfast. It does use a custom flour mix, but there are only three ingredients (brown and white rice flour, tapioca starch) and it's super easy to just make exactly as much as you need. A lot of the recipes are dairy free, and they have a number of traditional Jewish recipes and grain-free recipes as well. Check out the recipe index by category. These homemade hobnobs are particularly delicious; I'll post the recipe—with a bunch of my own variations—next week.