Hi Angel, welcome to permies, you'll find all sorts of good stuff here
A big, sprawling "I love dandelions" thread:
https://permies.com/t/712/permaculture/praise-dandelion
In NZ, the main confusion is between dandelion and hawkbit
http://weeds.massey.ac.nz/weeds.asp?pid=78
While they have many similarities including leaf and flower form, dandelion has quite hairless, delicate leaves, but hawlkbit's are hary and thick. Dandelion flower stalks are hollow, hawlbit's aren't.
I enjoy bitter flavours, but I know it's an aquired taste if you're not brought up with it! I like the young leaves, but the mature leaves are waay too bitter for me.
Dandelion's really easy to grow, I just grab the ripe 'clocks' at the end of summer and throw them around the place. A great job for kids...