Last year I reviewed the Kraft Foods Web site but they aren't the only site online where you can find recipes quickly. Many of them are user submission style sites where you can share recipes with people in other states or even other countries.
Recipe Zaar (www.recipezaar.com) claims to have 301,000 recipes in more than 450 categories and all user-submitted.
The site has changed their look since the last time I browsed it. They have made it easier to use than before with a new interface that makes finding things a faster process but their standard search tool is pretty good. I was able to find anything I searched for easily just using it.
One of the things I like about Recipe Zaar is they have "rip off" recipes. You can for example search for a restaurant name and generally find recipes that should taste like what you can get at the restaurant of your choice to make at home.
That is wonderful, though I have found that usually those recipes are so much trouble to make it is simpler to just go to the restaurant to have it.
I have to admit that I have made one of the chicken dishes from one of the chain restaurants at home before and it was just as good or better in fact than what you can get at the restaurant, but I was so tired by the time I was done I didn't feel like eating it.
Recipe Zaar has a premium membership for $24.95 a year but I fail to really see what you get out of it, basic membership is free and allows people to share recipes and have discussions in the forums on the site. In fact, when I tried to find what "premium membership" really meant, I couldn't find the answer right away. You have to "take the tour" to find out more information and really the offerings such as a custom avatar and being able to organize your own cookbooks online seem like nice touches but are they really worth $24.95 to the average user who is simply wishing to share Grandma Nellie's spice cake recipe?
You will have to make that decision yourself; I find the free membership enough for my personal cooking needs but the premium membership offers a "print a menu's shopping list with one click" feature that is a rather nice touch, especially for the holidays when you are doing a lot of cooking for a lot of people and tend to forget the one spice you were supposed to go to the grocery store for in the first place. (I can't be the only person in the world who said repeatedly said that I needed sayground ginger and got home and realized it was the one thing I forgot to write down on the list!)
The site is also partnered with Food Network which only means you see a lot of advertisements for Food Network on the site, but if you want to find specific recipes by cooks from the television channel then you will need to go directly to their site.
Recipe Zaar might have recipes that users have submitted by those cooks though; I did find Emeril's Fried Green Tomatoes for example, which was submitted by a member.
They also have a tool called "recipe sifter" which allows users to search by ingredient, category, or even nutrition for those on special diets.
Their "menus" tab is also quite handy when you are trying to put together an entire meal for a get together, dinner party or holiday meal.
The members also get to rate the recipes they try.
Since recipes are user submitted you will find a number of versions of recipes for the same thing but with the star rating system you can discover if a recipe is easier or better than another.
If a recipe has 4 stars and the same recipe has 1-star you might want to opt for the 4-star version for example.
Overall the site is nicely done and even with free membership you get to use enough site features to make it a good resource when you are searching for a specific recipe.
Here is one of the "copy cat" recipes found on the Recipe Zaar Web site:
KFC Copy Cat Coleslaw
8 cups finely diced cabbage (about 1 head)
1/4 cup diced carrot
2 tablespoons minced onions
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
Cabbage and carrots must be finely diced. (I use fine shredder disc on food processor.) Pour cabbage and carrot mixture into large bowl and stir in minced onions. Using regular blade on food processor process remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour over vegetable mixture and mix thoroughly. Cover bowl and refrigerate several hours or overnight before serving.
Alongside the recipe are reviews where people tweak the recipe like this: Fantastic coleslaw. I grated 1/2 of a small onion, and added 3TBSP of applesauce, let it stay in the refrigerator overnight. Served it with homemade chili and cornbread.
So if you want to share your recipes or find a specific recipe you might want to check out www.recipezaar.com and maybe add it to your cooking and recipe bookmarks as I have done.
