Facebook and Google+ may be the biggest things online today, but there is no doubt that there are a lot of other niches catching the attention of the masses. Of those niches, portals that focus on lifestyle – cooking, health, fitness, etc. – continue to draw considerable traffic. No surprise there, considering that the online world is simply becoming an extension of all things real and tangible. And speaking of cooking, here’s a heads up: there is one newcomer to scene which is bound to make waves in the food/cooking niche.

Recipe Finder is a new search engine which aggregates recipes from some of the most trusted recipe web sites. To date, it has almost 1.7 million recipes and a little more than 700,000 recipe images in its database. They index sites regularly, resulting in an ever growing collection for the foodie/home cook who is constantly looking for something new to play with in the kitchen. Let’s take a closer look at the site.

The site is designed rather well. It’s simple, without frills, yet it is also pleasing to the eyes.

It’s not all about the looks, however. Recipe Finder is the largest recipe search engine and it also claims to be the smart way to discover recipes as well. You can’t miss the search bar – as you can see in the image above – and searching is as simple as typing the recipe name or ingredients. You’ll also notice the microphone to the left of the search button. Yup, Google Voice works with this site.

What is impressive is that as easy as it can be to conduct a search using Recipe Finder, you can also add your own parameters. Search geeks or those who may slightly be OC will love the Advanced Search option, which you can find under the search bar, at the right. Clicking on that will open up whole new search doors to you.

Identify ingredients to include and/or exclude. Indicate limits for calorie count, number of servings, and cook time. All these options allow you to narrow your search to get more relevant results and save time. It doesn’t end there, however. If you have diet restrictions, or you simply want something really specific, you can check out the advanced categories which are preset. Just click on the category to expand. For example, if you are allergic to seafood, click on Food Groups then on Without Seafood.

You will then get results that have no seafood in the ingredients. Simple, yes?

Recipe Finder also has something for people who like to make plans and who like to have something to consult to remind themselves. Using the Menu and Calendar features, you can simply pick out the recipes that catch your eyes. Take a look at the screen shot below.

Who wouldn’t want to make those Molten Chocolate Cakes? (I can already see these cakes opening up a lot of possibilities for me!) You simply have to click on the Add to Menu or Add to Calendar links to make sure you remember when you want to prepare this for dessert.

I am sure that there is a lot more to discover within Recipe Finder, and perhaps they will roll out more features in the future. For now, though, I can see just how Recipe Finder can make an impact on the online cooking/foodie scene. What do you think?