Friday, May 23, 2008

Website Review: Allrecipes.com

If you haven't checked out allrecipes.com, what are you waiting for? This, to me, is the premiere recipe search database. Recipes are submitted by ordinary cooks and then are rated by cooks all over the world; when I say "rated," I don't just mean a few people gave some recipe 5 stars. Some recipes, like our all-time favorite Butternut Squash Soup, have received an average of 4.5 stars from 587 people/cooks!!! Many other websites have jumped on the bandwagon, but allrecipes still seems to be number 1.

Allrecipes is very easy to use, is free, and provides the option to customize your own "recipe box" (including the addition of "personal recipes"). It also provides the ability to create a shopping list for any particular recipes (and allows you to add further ingredients for general use); it provides a built-in converter if you need more or less servings than a given recipe lists; it provides detailed nutrition information for most recipes; it provides the ability to list your favorites as well as create "meal ideas" for recipes.

The search feature allows you to browse in a general category or search for specific ingredients/cuisines/courses. This is a nice feature for those of us who often search for recipes which will help us use up random leftover ingredients.

In some ways, allrecipes has too many choices for someone like me. I could spend all day looking up random recipes and ideas, reading all the reviews, and then deliberating over which variation I will end up making. But it is an invaluable tool--allowing a "More-with-Less" attitude with the internet since you can customize the number of servings and/or use up your ingredients so as to not waste food. It's also provided us with some definite family favorites that we make repeatedly. Check out Catherine's Spicy Chicken Soup, After-Thanksgiving Turkey Soup, Asian Coleslaw, and Refried Beans without the Refry for some great food.

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