About Seasonal Eats
Welcome to Seasonal Eats! This website was created as a final project for a web development course (SI539), born out of a simple need: making cooking more approachable for busy students like me.
As a college student, I often felt overwhelmed by meal planning. Between classes, assignments, and a limited budget, cooking healthy meals seemed like just another time-consuming task. That's when I realized what I needed was a simple system—recipes organized not just by what I like, but by what's in season and how much time I have available.
How This Site Works
🗓️ Organized by Season
Recipes are grouped into Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. This helps you cook with ingredients that are fresh, affordable, and at their peak flavor during each time of year.
⏰ Filtered by Time Available
Each recipe is tagged as either "Weeknight" (quick meals for busy Monday-Thursday) or "Weekend" (more elaborate recipes when you have extra time to cook).
❤️ Save Your Favorites
Click the heart icon on any recipe to save it to your favorites! Your favorites are stored locally in your browser, so they'll be there next time you visit. Perfect for keeping track of recipes you want to try or cook again.
Why Seasonal Cooking?
Cooking with seasonal ingredients has several benefits:
- Better Flavor: Produce tastes best when it's in season
- Lower Cost: Seasonal produce is often cheaper
- More Sustainable: Eating seasonally reduces environmental impact
- Easier Planning: Having a focused list makes shopping simpler
The Recipe Categories
🌸 Spring: Fresh greens, asparagus, peas, herbs, and citrus
☀️ Summer: Tomatoes, berries, zucchini, corn, and grilling favorites
🍂 Fall: Squash, apples, root vegetables, and warming spices
❄️ Winter: Hearty stews, comfort foods, and preserved ingredients
About the Project
This website was built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as part of a 10-week web development course. The filtering system uses client-side JavaScript to show and hide recipes based on your selections where no backend is required! The design is fully responsive, so you can use it on your phone while cooking in the kitchen.
Accessibility Features: This site is designed to be fully accessible to everyone. It includes keyboard navigation support, screen reader compatibility, proper color contrast ratios, semantic HTML, and skip links. You can navigate the entire site using only your keyboard (try pressing Tab!), and all interactive elements have clear focus indicators.
Original Features: The favorites system uses localStorage to remember your saved recipes even after you close your browser. This demonstrates JavaScript's ability to create persistent data without a backend database.
All recipe photos are sourced from Unsplash, a free stock photo platform. Future improvements might include user accounts, a shopping list feature, and nutritional information.
I hope this site helps you cook more confidently and enjoy the process of making your own meals. Happy cooking!
— Hans So, Web Development Student