Welcome to Steemit @doctortayler! I hope you will share some of your cooking with us! :)

In case you haven't already seen Steemit is just one platform of the overall Steem community. If you haven't already seen you can replace many social networks by using Steem based platforms like this:

Replace Reddit for Steemit - www.steemit.com
Replace YouTube for D.tube - d.tube
Replace Twitter for Zappl - www.zappl.com
Replace Instagram for Steepshot - www.steepshot.io
Replace SoundCloud for DSound - www.dsound.audio
Replace Periscope for DLive - www.dlive.io

While each of these sites have a community built around their product offering for the Steem ecosystem, they all still post to the same Steem blockchain. So when you view on Steemit you will see all posts that go to the blockchain while viewing on the independent channels may restrict to just content that was created on their network.

Regardless of what platform you use to interact you still earn rewards based in Steem for participating. It just makes so much more sense than using the centralized platforms of the past. You can even earn rewards just for voting other people’s stuff up!

If you ever have leftover voting power you can use tools like smartsteem which allow you to sell your leftover daily voting power in return for extra SBD. It’s a great way to earn a few extra rewards whenever you’re too busy to vote for good content yourself.

I know I just laid a lot out there but if there's anything I can do to help please just ask! I’m more than happy to share what knowledge I’ve found using the platform.