Project Overview

Cookbook+ transforms the cooking experience by combining a beautiful recipe repository with practical meal planning tools. Users can discover dishes through a visually rich interface, upload their own creations with step-by-step instructions, and build personalized collections.

Key Features

Intuitive recipe creation with structured ingredients, instructions, and cooking times

Photo galleries for each recipe with step-by-step cooking visuals

Challenges Solved

Implementing efficient image processing and storage for multiple photos per recipe

Optimizing database queries for complex recipe filtering and search operations

Creating a responsive design that works well for both cooking mode (kitchen use) and browsing mode

Technologies Used

Next.js

Employed for its hybrid rendering capabilities, delivering fast initial page loads for recipe browsing while enabling dynamic features like real-time recipe scaling and meal planning.

Tailwind CSS

Used to create a visually appealing, responsive design system that adapts to various devices, including kitchen tablets and mobile phones used while shopping.

Amazon S3

Implemented with a custom image processing pipeline for storing and serving optimized recipe images, including thumbnail generation and progressive loading for gallery views.

Drizzle ORM

Leveraged for type-safe database access with a schema designed to efficiently represent complex relationships between recipes, ingredients, users, and meal plans.

NextAuth.js

Integrated for secure user authentication with multiple provider options, enabling personalized features like saved recipes and custom collections.

Development Process

User Research & Cooking Workflow Analysis

Conducted interviews with home cooks to understand their pain points in recipe management, meal planning, and grocery shopping to identify key opportunity areas.

Information Architecture Development

Created a comprehensive data model for recipes that captures the complexity of ingredients, preparation methods, and variations while remaining flexible for different culinary traditions.

User Experience Design

Designed user flows and interfaces optimized for both recipe discovery and practical cooking use, with special attention to kitchen-friendly viewing modes and intuitive creation tools.

Image Management Pipeline

Implemented an S3-based image processing system that optimizes recipe photos for different viewing contexts while maintaining visual quality and fast loading times.

Cookbook+