OP, if you want to learn to improvise, I recommend Pamela Anderson's How to Cook without a Book and Shirley Corriher's Bookwise.

As far as blogs go -- well, what sorts of things do you like to eat? I think Ree Drummond is a major purveyor of bilge, so the recs here may not be your cup of tea, although I like them.

I also like
http://chocolateandzucchini.com/
and
http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/

http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/
good blog and pod cast

spinachtiger

Leite's Culinaria
Serious Eats
America's Test Kitchen Feed
Saveur - not a blog, but great magazine site
The Kitchn
Cannelle et Vanille
Lucy's Kitchen Notebook
What Katie Ate

Smitten Kitchen is my absolute favorite. I also enjoy 101 Cookbooks

For baking:

orangette

www.markbittman.com (not just recipes, btu good stuff re food policy, too)

The Huffington Post Food site is fantastic, too.

I'm trying something I just dreamed up tonight:

Pork tenderloin chop (like you get at CostCo), toppe with sauteed pear slices, blue cheese crumbles and some caramelized onions.

Just sounded like it would taste good.

http://www.hidethecheese.com/

Most days I cook without a recipe bc I know how long it takes a chicken breast to cook for example. I try to plan the meals and know what I'm cooking when for the week. But there's a frozen pizza on hand if things run late.

Smitten Kitchen
Simply Recipes

What are your favorite cooking blogs? I've been following pioneerwoman and laurenslatest. Looking for other good ideas.

Also, how many of you cook without a recipe? I am great at following directions, but still can't create anything on my own. Just curious what others do.