Get Cookin' With MacGourmet

An internet buddy of mine, Amy, turned me on to MacGourmet. I downloaded it, tried it, and used it so much right away that I bought it. I am in love with this inexpensive, easy to use little program! Thanks, Amy!

MacGourmet is a recipe managing software that goes the extra mile. It integrates with Safari and uses Mac Services to let you pull in recipes from the web as you surf (this has been my hands down favorite feature so far). It also calculates the nutritional value of your recipe if you grab the Nutrition plug in, prints out shopping lists, lets you make notes on each recipe, add photos and rank each recipe. It also lets you add wine notes, blog your recipe adventures and more.

I'm recently a red wine addict, so the wine notes have been fun. I also am an amateur gourmet who loves to cook and briefly owned my own catering business. I have a lot of recipes. A. Lot. The chance to organize them on my MacBook and toss the massive wooden recipe box the size of a Buick is making my honey very happy. It might take a while to get them all entered in using my spare time, but in they will go.

I give MacGourmet two thumbs up for people who want to organize their cooking life. My only complaint so far is that is does not integrate with FireFox, my browser of choice, but that is Mozilla's issue, not MacGourmet's. FireFox won't accept Mac services yet for some reason. Until they do, programs that take advantage of the essential time saving feature Macs offer, Mac Services, are hobbled if you are a FireFox user.

Using MacGourmet is completely user friendly. It takes only moments to master the basics. I was adding recipes as soon as it was installed, and learned the other features as I went along. If you should happen to get stuck, MacGourmet comes with a user manual on both the CD and the download version of the program, and they have training videos on their site as well.

In fact, the only part of the whole process that might confuse some people is the way they have the purchase process set up. If you want the downloadable version you must download the trial first - there is no other way to get the file. This seems silly if you have a buyer who is purchasing the software based on already trying it out on someone else's machine.

The layout of MacGourmet defaults to the MyRecipes view when you open the program, but you have plenty of options on how to "see" your recipe list(s). You can view by category, meal, type of food, ingredient, when you imported the recipe, wine lists, and more.

MacGourmet also offers a Chef View. This delivers your recipe in large print format, showing only the essentials needed to prepare it. It's large enoug to view on a laptop while you cook, or to print and see from anywhere in your kitchen.

You can drag and drop your recipes into the MyShoppingLists area. MacGourmet automatically creates a shopping list based on the recipe. You can add as many recipes to the list as you want, and MacGourmet will automatically combine ingredients to make your list easier to read. You can then print your list or upload it to your iPod, iPhone or PDA.

As you add each recipe you can include photos, titels, ingredients, instructions, categories, ratings, notes, wine notes and more. The more information you enter about each recipe, the more ways there are to sort your recipes and find them later based on need, meal, ingredient or mood.

If you are surfing on Safari, especially on one of the partner sites like Epicurious, you can import receipes into MacGourmet as you surf using Mac Services. Just highlight the recipe and select the service. It automatically opens MacGourmet, add the recipe, and takes you to the information page to confirm the recipe facts. Easy as pie!

The software comes stocked full of recipes that have won awards over the years, giving you a chance to start becoming familiar with it right away. If you already have recipes on your computer in other software programs like MealMaster or MasterChef, you can even import them without having to make a bunch of changes.

All in all, the features this software inlcludes go above and beyond the call of duty, taking your cooking toa new level. With one click publishing to your blog or web site and shopping list portability, MacGourmet exceeded all of my expectations.

Stay tuned to their web site, also. They have already released a Leopard-ready version in anticipation of Macs release of Leopard this month, and are already upgrading the software to include improvements in nutrition information, more custimization options, and menu planning. I can't wait!