Nobody has a Cook’n app quite like mine – and I’m not just talking about my awesome recipes. After months of dedicated research, I found the best ways to modify Cook’n so that it feels like my own app.

Fortunately, you don’t have to be a programmer or a master of tech support to take real ownership of your program. In fact, it’s as easy as four little steps:

Customize Your Appearance

Here’s how Cook’n is better than a car: you’re not stuck with the same paint job. After nearly a year of looking at Cook’n X3’s red and green theme, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed changing the color scheme up to the deeply colored “Green Jello” theme. Try it yourself!

To customize the appearance of your Cook’n program, launch Cook’n and then click Options -> Customize Appearance. There are currently 10 different color schemes to choose from.

Change Recipe Themes

On one hand, changing your recipe themes is an aesthetic adventure – it’s fun! On the other hand, changing your recipe themes is practical. The themes don’t just come with new colors and pictures; they also change the layout and font of the recipe. For example, compare the two recipes below:

Notice the differences between these two. The theme on the left (Cook’n’s Default Theme) has a more simpler color palate, which some people prefer, while the theme on the right (the Side by Side theme) has a more compact view that lets me view the recipe at a glance.

There are dozens of themes to pick from. Invest just a little bit of time to see if you can find one to make Cook’n just that much better for you.

Customize Your Live Recipe Feed

You know that homepage you see every time you launch Cook’n? It’s your homepage, so make it your own.

Here’s what I mean:

By default, Cook’n pulls the recipes above from a variety of sources: Pillsbury, Epicurious, Eating Well, etc. However, I’m not a big fan of all Pillsbury recipes (no offense, Pillsbury. I love your crescent rolls!).

I decided I only wanted to see “TipHero” videos and recipes from Gordon Ramsay.

What’s your preference? You can edit your Live Recipe Feed however you want! Just check out this instructional video for some help:

Add a Profile Picture

Cook’n is the social network for foodies. Just like with Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, you can make friends and share with each other – except it’s all about food! And just like any other social network, you can remind your friends what you look like with creative profile pictures.

To set a profile picture, check the image below:

Just open Preferences, click “Cook’n Cloud Preferences,” then click “Change picture.”

Uploading your profile picture will make it easier for your friends to find you, and hopefully it will make you like Cook’n just a little bit more – because you’ve made it your own.