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As much as I love having a listing of all the recipes in my house, I'm not finding it easy to puruse for ideas. I'm constantly finding myself getting recipes from Pinterest links instead of using EYB.I ned to make better use of the service I am paying for.

How do you use it for inspiration? Do you always start with an ingredient? A course? What if you are looking for new ideas?

If you aren't feeling inspired by the recipes in your own cookbooks, have you tried searching our Online recipes - there are almost 68,000 of them.  They are from magazines, cookbooks and the best websites and blogs so there should be plenty of recipes there to peruse.  We also have photos for a lot of the recipes (which we cannot do for cookbook recipes) which should give you the same inspiration you get from Pinterest.

Did you realize that EYB has various Pinterest boards?  We have only recently set it up so we are busy adding the best recipe images on EYB.

I personally love to search my EYB bookshelf by ingredient. I often find myself with something from the farmer's market that I want to use in a new recipe. By searching for that ingredient, perhaps also with another ingredient or two I have on hand, I can browse my EYB bookshelf for recipes that sound interesting using what I have available to me. Then, once I've found a few that sound appealing, I pull out the corresponding cookbooks and decide which one I'm going to make. In addition, if I'm intrigued by a certain flavor combination or type of recipe, I can do an EYB search and find all sorts recipes to choose from.

For me, the beauty of using EYB is that, if you want, you can hone in on recipes that don't require a separate trip to the store -- there's nothing I find more inspiring than being able to create something delicious from what is already in my kitchen, with the help of my trusty cookbooks. I often uncover recipes I might never have found otherwise! EYB lets me find inspiration in my own collection, rather than always looking for that perfect recipe elsewhere. After all, I've made quite an investment in my cookbooks, so I want to get the most out of them I can!

Now don't get me wrong, I do also surf the web and Pinterest for recipes, but when I find an interesting recipe on Pinterest, I click through to it's original website and add that recipe to my bookshelf & the EYB Library using the EYB Bookmarklet. Once I've added it to my bookshelf, I bookmark it so I can find it more easily. So that recipe I saw on Pinterest that looked absolutely perfect for a dinner party -- I can actually find it when I need it. I can also find it whenever I do my searches by ingredient or any other EYB category.   

Also remember, that if you find a recipe on one of EYB's pinterest boards, it will already be available in the EYB library -- just click through the pin and you'll be taken right to the page where you can add it to your bookshelf. After you've added it to your shelf, you can bookmark it however you wish so it is easier for you to find later.

Anyone else have any ideas? We'd love to hear them!

I'll second everything that Christine said.  My inspirations are typically ingredient-driven.  Not only new ingredients that I've just brought home, but also those that have been hanging around for awhile in the pantry or fridge.  Periodically I'll take an inventory and write down ingredients that I'd really like to use up and then I'll do a separate search for each one, or often, combine two ingredients that I think would pair well together.  I've discovered a lot of great new recipes this way, and cleared out my pantry and freezer/fridge!  Also, frequently while doing such a search I'll run across recipes that sound great but that I can't make immediately due to time/ingredient constraints, etc.  So, I'll add those recipes to my Bookmark called Do Later.  (This bookmark is an ever-expanding list!)  It's fun to peruse this list from time to time and pick out one or two that are inspiring in that moment. 

Another thing I do is to pay close attention to the scrolling list of new Notes on the EYB home page.  It's always fun to see a Note for a recipe in a book that I own, especially one that I've not made before.  I've discovered quite a few good recipes by keeping tabs on this list.  I've also, truth be told, been inspired to acquire a few new cookbooks through this practice!  If I see Notes for a lot of great-sounding recipes from a book I don't own, I'm inspired to look into that book.  That's how I acquired The Homesick Texan; Raising the Salad Bar; In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite; and Cook this Now.  So, this habit can get expensive!

I'm another ingredient-driven inspiration seeker, and EYB has helped me discover many gems in the books I already own.

But more and more, I"m getting inspiration from the Notes that members post about individual recipes. 

Tonight I had a double thrill: saw there was a Note for an appealing recipe in one of my most-used and most-loved cookbooks; when I read the full note I realized it was by an online friend to whom I'd recommended Eat Your Books.  She's jumped right in, with more than 50 cookbooks.  Without the Notes, it might have been a long time before I realized she'd joined.

What a happy coincidence ellabee! I really like your idea for paying attention to the newly added member notes. I will have to remember to do this more often.

Another thing to keep in mind is that if you're looking at the homepage for new notes and it shows a photo of the dish instead of an image of the cookbook cover, it's usually an online recipe - whether from a indexed blog, added from the web using the bookmarklet, or even a cookbook or magazine recipe that also has an online link. If any of those recipes sound interesting to you, they would be accessible to anyone.

And don't forget the "Recent Reviews" tab on the homepage which provides a snippet of external reviews of cookbooks and recipes from magazines/newspapers/blogs and links to the full review -- also a good place to look for inspiration! 

Like others here, I often search by ingredient.  But just yesterday, I searched by recipe for a specific dish I'll be making this weekend.  I wanted to compare ingredients and techniques with the one I'd selected and I found the results very useful.

I love the notes, too.

I also find the results of searches take me to a book(s) I haven't looked at for a while and I'll stumble across a recipe which intrigues me - one that bears no relationship to my original search.  Another is added to my ever-expanding to-try list.

Thanks everyone for the great tips. You pointed me towards parts of EYB that I didn't even know about.