2011 Top 10 Recipes

This year is coming to a close, and I've tried to make an effort to cook more. Here's a round up of favorites from this year based on stats. These recipes are chosen by you! I'm only including recipes that have been posted this year.

See you next year for more yummy food!

1. Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
   Pumpkin in a cupcake with cream cheese, enough said!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Chicken Katsu (Japanese Fried Chicken)
   You can't lose with fried chicken!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Whole Wheat Apple Cinnamon Pancakes
   These whole wheat pancakes have been requested quite often from hubby!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Vegan Orange Cinnamon Rolls
   This is the first cinnamon roll recipe I've ever made and hubby compares it to Cinnabon!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream
   I remember this well. I love coffee and it works so well in ice cream.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Saltine Toffee Bark aka Christmas Crack
   This Christmas treat was so easy to make and it was a big hit with my coworkers! Aptly named as crack, this was even better the second time I made it when I added vanilla.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. Vegan Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes
   I made these for my birthday and nobody believed they were vegan!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. Whole Wheat Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
   hubby's favorite cookies were made with coconut oil and whole wheat to make it even healthier!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
9. Nutella Crescents
   I made these for World Nutella Day, but these should be eaten whenever you want.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. Coconut Chocolate Chip Pancakes
    Hubby's favorite foods in the world in a pancake.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
11. honorable mention: Baked Turkey Meatballs
    This recipe continues to have lots of hits even though I made this many years ago. It's so easy and it's #1 when you search on google! (or #2 depending on when you search!)
    
    
    
    
    

2009 Top 10 Recipes

Today marks the last day of the year, and what a year it has been. It also marks the last day of a full year of food blogging. I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I started, but it has given me the opportunities to expand my skills in the kitchen.

2009 was a great year to overcome fears and learn new things. It’s funny to see how my tastes have changed. It’s also interesting to see how my food photography has changed over the year.

Here is a list of the top recipes that were viewed (according to Google analytics).

 

	10. White Chocolate Orange Cranberry Cookies These cookies were amazing. They had a crisp refreshing taste to them from the orange zest. Even if I didn’t add quite enough zest, this still had a strong orange flavor throughout the cookie.
	9. Chewy Ginger Cookies (revisited) This post hasn’t been on the blog long, but it still made it to the top 10. There were many searches for these, as well as many printouts of the recipe. You can’t go wrong with ginger cookies for the holidays.
	8. Dairy Free (Vegan) Chocolate Ice Cream I was surprised this made the list, but I guess there are lots of people with allergies who just miss their ice cream. Since making this, I have used a different recipe for that Gary loves that will be on the blog sometime in 2010.
	7. Sesame Chicken Wings I made these as one of the chicken wing variations our July 4th BBQ and they were awesome. It’s a nice change from plain BBQ flavor. It’s a must try and would most likely work with different chicken parts as well.
	6. Pumpkin Pie Pecan Candy These candies tasted as good as they are cute to look at. They’re a little out of the ordinary, but they were another hit at the office (where I experiment a lot with my guinea…*ahem* coworkers).
	5. Dried Apple Chips Although these didn’t come out as planned, they still tasted great and had a different use. These are perfect to add in a batch of granola, energy bar or even added in your morning yogurt parfait.
	4. Healthy Blueberry Orange Muffins These came about when I messed up trying to attempt another recipe. This accident allowed me to create this healthy muffin with practically no fat involved! That’s a nice accident if I don’t say so myself.
	3. Red Velvet Twilight Cake This is one of the first decorated cakes I’ve made. I usually don’t have the patience for things like this, but when I have a reason and the motivation to do something, things like this get accomplished…and it tastes good too.
	2. Mini White Chocolate Cranberry Oat Cups I’m telling you, these were a pain to make, but totally worth it. These has a nice balance between sweet and salty, and they’re pretty darn cute. Although I probably won’t be making it anytime soon, you should try it once.
	1. Baked Turkey Meatballs Lots of searches and hits for this one! My top recipe of all time. I’ve made it a few times already, and I usually throw the ingredients together without measuring. This has turned out great each time.

That’s it for this year!

From my family to yours, have a safe and happy new year! I can’t wait to see what 2010 has in store for me!

1 Year Ago Today

Exactly 1 year ago, today, I started this food blog. Happy blogiversary to me!

To be honest, I didn’t know how long I would keep this up when I started blogging. Most hobbies I attempt to start end up sitting half done on a shelf somewhere. However, food blogging has given me a whole new perspective on food and health concerns.

If I didn’t food blog, I may not have researched and found all these different dairy free recipes for Gary. I may not have opened my eyes to what different types of food are out there for us to start trying. I might not have started cooking religiously until I was unhealthy and broke.

Since I’ve started, Gary has also joined me in the kitchen. We have learned to cook and appreciate the meals we have together now. I think we’ve come a long way since our TV dinner days.

I think if someone like me (who’s messed up Jell-O before) can cook and come up with meals on the fly, anybody can. In one short year, I’ve learned so many tips and tricks. I don’t see this blog ending anytime soon.

On a side note, these next few months may be sparse because of my long work hours and minimal time in the kitchen as a result. I do have many recipes to come from my birthday party next Saturday!