When Amy Cotter wants a new recipe to spice things up in her kitchen, instead of a cookbook she turns to the web.

"It's a lot quicker, it's a lot more efficient, and you get 100 times the information that you can from a cookbook." said Cotter

Consumer Reports ShopSmart just reviewed some of the biggest recipe sites.

"There is enormous diversity in terms of the skill level you'll need, the kinds of cuisines you'll find and the way to search the sites so you won't end up with hundreds of choices." said CR ShopSmart's Amanda Walker

To quickly whittle down your choices, use the "advanced search feature" available on most sites. Another good way to narrow your search, specify the type of recipe you're looking for, like vegetarian.

All-recipes has a nice feature that lets you enter the ingredients you have on hand, say chicken, broccoli and rice, and up comes a choice of recipes.

ShopSmart found that recipes ran the gamut. For instance at Recipe-zaar, all the recipes come from people who've joined the site, which can be good or bad.

"You can post your Grandmother's cookie recipe, which is great. But you have to remember that the recipes aren't posted by professional chefs, so the quality will vary." said Walker

You'll find cooing demos at FoodNetwork.com, step by step videos well suited for the beginner.

Epicurious has chef videos for the more seasoned cook. And it's Epicurious, the largest site, with more than 60,000 recipes that inspires Amy Cotter to kick it up a notch when dinnertime rolls around.

ShopSmart says bloggers are spicing things up online, too. Check out Slashfood.com, where several knowledgeable and opinionated bloggers bring you the latest dish on food-related news and products.