My one year anniversary for this blog (aka blogaversary) was on the 15th. I’ve been so busy with work that I haven’t had time to sit down and really write this the way that I wanted to, until tonight. It’s Saturday evening, I spent the first half of the day at my two younger boys’ football games, volunteering at the concession stand, then came home and cleaned the house.

When the house was clean and I had taken my shower, I finally took a breath and did what I really enjoy…

I baked.
I planned my menu for next week.
I went through my cookbooks.

I think if I could spend all my time baking, cooking and blogging, I’d have the perfect job. :)

This post is not exactly what I had envisioned. For many months I imagined a wonderful display of pictures,  countdown of the most popular recipes on this blog, most commented posts, etc, etc. But I’m wiped out. I have been for last few weeks. If I’m not working what seems like 25 hours per day, then I am running back and forth to football games and school and trying to keep this house clean. So, even though I wanted this to be a glamorous and fun post, it’s just not going to happen. The upside is that I have a fabulous guest today, and that’s Lori of RecipeGirl.com! Her site is beautiful, filled with marvelous treats, and I am inspired by it daily. After reading my babble (if you dare) please read my interview with Lori below.

This past year I have learned a lot about myself, my love for food, and my obsession with baked goods.

One year ago I was blogging about recipes I had clipped from box tops, I was using boxed cake mix, Jell-o gelatin and prepackaged macaroni and cheese. One year ago I was stuck in a dinner rut. I hated making dinner. Seemed like the same thing over and over and boy was it boring.

Now I make flaky pastries, gourmet cakes and cookies, luscious custards, and homemade ice cream, all from scratch. I plan my menus using recipes I’ve found in fabulous cookbooks and on the amazing blogs I’ve discovered since I started this venture. I try different things all the time and have discovered so many new flavor combinations that it’s put the joy back into cooking for me.

I’ve learned a lot over this past year and I’ve made a lot of new friends. I give a lot of credit to Tuesdays with Dorie. I joined this wonderful baking group less than a month after starting this blog. I never would have imagined it would have broadened my culinary horizons so much and allowed me to grow into a confident baker. I have learned so many things from the fabulous TWD bakers and from Dorie Greenspan herself. Her book is absolutely wonderful, well written, and explanatory. Who knew I could make homemade biscotti, rugelach or the gorgeous Devil’s food white out cake on the book’s cover? I credit so much of this to Dorie and the wonderful members of TWD. So to all of you, thank you so much for helping me step out of my comfort zone.

Something else I am very thankful for are all the wonderful members of the Food Bloggers Discussion List. They are so eager and willing to help, open to ideas, and great at networking. I’m so glad to be associated with all of you!

I know I sound silly, like I’m accepting an award or something (LOL), but I also want to thank all of you that read this blog. You are my inspiration to keep going, though I do wish more of you would speak up in the comments so I know how I’m doing! :) I love to hear from you, so please don’t be shy. :)

Here are the 10 most visited recipes on Amanda’s Cookin’ over the past year:

Italian Lasagna with Meat
Homemade Mocha Frappacinos
Baker’s Square French Silk Pie
Making Pizza on the Grill
Chicken Salad with Grapes
Homemade Ice Cream: Oreo & Butter Pecan
Hot Hamburger Sandwiches
Banana Upside Down Muffins
Homemade Powdered Sugar

Thanks for being part of my first year! I’m looking forward to many more :) And now, I want to introduce you to Lori Lange, founder of RecipeGirl.com. I love her site and have similar visions for this blog. I want to take it to the next level someday, and Lori is a doing what I want to do – enjoying her writing, cooking, baking and making a living doing it. :)

Interview with Lori Lange of RecipeGirl.com

There are a lot of food blogs and recipe sites out there. I visit so many of them that I could literally spend all day everyday doing nothing but reading and posting comments. One of those amazing sites is the fabulous RecipeGirl.com. Lori’s site is full of amazing dishes, appetizers, desserts, snacks and entertaining ideas. Her photos are beautiful and you are certain to find many recipes you’ll want to print or bookmark.

(AC=Amanda’s Cookin’ –  RG=RecipeGirl)

AC: Lori, thank you for talking with me today :)

RG: Thank you for having me, I am honored!

AC: RecipeGirl.com is a beautiful site. Did it start off as a blog only? If so, when did you start and why?

RG: I left teaching elementary school after 12 years and was looking for something to do. A friend in a successful internet business had suggested that I create a website centered around something I was interested in. I had always been interested in cooking, so I ended up creating RecipeGirl.com in 2006. It began as a recipe database only. Truthfully, I had never even been to a food blog before I started the site. Eventually I started stumbling across them, and put together my own blog at the beginning of 2008.

AC: At what point did you decide to take your blog to the next level?

RG: I had the blog professionally designed at the beginning of this year (by BetterInPink.com)

AC: I’m sure there are plenty of bloggers out there that admire your site as much as I do. How did you go about finding what you needed to do to turn your blog into what it is today?

RG: My friend who owns a large, successful website in a similar industry has been my biggest source of advice and inspiration. I’ve also relied on tips from successful food bloggers, and learn a lot from reading others’ blog posts and interacting with food bloggers on Twitter and Facebook. FoodBlogAlliance.com posts topics that are valuable to even the experienced blogger. I’ve been to a couple of food blogger conferences where top bloggers share their secrets of success. And I recently picked up a really, really good camera.

AC: What advice would you give to those bloggers wanting to move on to that next level, to get past that blogger or word press platform and become unique?

RG: Find a niche and stick with it. My site is much bigger than just a blog, so I typically blog about the best recipes that I’ve tested. I try to pick things that are unique and interesting- things that might be a little outside of the normal realm of cooking.

Invest in a good camera. I never blog about a recipe unless I have good pictures to go with it. A blog with blurry, blah or unappealing pictures is simply not one that people enjoy visiting.

Invest in your own domain, They are inexpensive and give a more professional look to your blog. A domain is easier for visitors to remember as well.

Don’t clutter the home page of your blog with a bunch of links and followers and ‘awards’ and such. The cleaner you keep it, the more professional your blog will look.

Don’t ever, ever ask to exchange links with anyone- it’s just not good etiquette.

AC: It’s obvious that you love to bake and cook. How long have you been at it and when did you realize your love for cooking?

RG: I’ve baked since I was a kid- always made cookies with Mom, but I never really cooked much until I cooked with roommates in college. In graduate school I worked for a caterer, and that’s when my love for cooking really took off. I loved the cooking, I loved decorating the tables, and I loved serving (cleaning up…not so much!).

AC: What’s your favorite part of owning RecipeGirl.com?

RG: I love that I get emails every single day from readers who are enjoying the recipes that I post. I’m happy that I can cook, bake and photograph all day if I want to. I’m happiest in the kitchen.

AC: Do you have any favorite recipes on your site that you refer back to over and over, “go to” recipes so to speak?

RG: I’m not really one to repeat a recipe, but I do have a few family favorites: Avocado & Pine Nut Salad, Fudge Nut Layer Bars, Pumpkin Bread, Oreo-Chunk Brownies, and Roasted Chicken Noodle Soup.

AC: Tell us a little about yourself.

RG: I’m married (14 years) to a wonderful husband who is forever grateful that he has a wife who cooks! We have one son who enjoys being my #1 taste tester, and he’s quite interested in cooking too. We live in San Diego, but we spent much of our summer in Massachusetts.

AC: Do you have any favorite recipe sites or magazines you turn to often for inspiration?

G: I’m a food magazine junkie. I have subscriptions to them all and often use them for recipe inspiration. When I’m looking for something special, I turn to Food Blog Search, since food bloggers write about the best recipes!

AC: I noticed that you adapt recipes to fit your needs, therefore making them your own. Do you also create recipes on your own?

RG: Yes, I’ve gotten better at that over the years. Often times I’ll read cooking magazines at the gym and then I’ll come home with an idea. Or sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and have a tough time getting back to sleep because I’ve thought of something new to do with brownies, etc. I’ve just started to enter a few recipe contests- no luck yet though!

AC: Do you have any formal culinary training? If not, who was your mentor?

RG: No, no formal training besides learning from the professional caterers that I worked with for a few years. Mom and Grandma all cooked, but they made more homestyle, family food. I’d say I’m more self-taught than anything else.

AC: What’s your favorite kitchen gadget?

RG: I have two.  One is my microplane- I seem to zest or grate more than the average cook.  And also my remote digital thermometer with a long cord attached to it… I manage to find use for it in the oven, the bbq, glasses of water that I’m heating to mix with yeast, and even in candy making.

AC: What is your favorite kitchen appliance?

RG: Hands down, my best kitchen appliance purchase was my Viking Food Processor.  I lived without one for many years, and honestly I don’t know how I did it.  The thing works like a tank, and saves many hours of chopping in the kitchen.   My Kitchenaid Mixer gets a pretty good workout too.

AC: Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

RG: I have a second blog debuting sometime in September! It’s currently in the design phase, but it’s something I’m really excited about. Details will be revealed soon!

Looking forward to seeing that new site! I want to thank Lori for taking the time to share so much with us. Be sure to visit her at RecipeGirl.com, you can follow her on Twitter @RecipeGirl