Skip to main content

The Best of 2018



The most popular recipe on my blog for 2018 was this Orzo With Roasted Vegetables that I served for visitors who came over for dinner after attending the International Speciality Coffee Expo held in Seattle last year.   This is a HUGE, international trade show that several of Bruce's business associates attend.  It's always fun to have them over to our house while they're in town. 
There are always a few people from Bruce's company who come over and then a couple people from other countries, as well.  It's always a very interesting group and there is lots to talk about because after all, they are here for a coffee convention!  And we all love coffee, right?  I'll usually go to the Coffee Convention at least one of the days to check out all the coffee exhibits and free samples...you can read about it here and here.  It's my favorite trade show that Bruce goes to.  Sadly, it is going to be in Boston for 2019 so we won't be hosting any dinner this year.  I usually have one top three recipe from this dinner  because I pick recipes that are the best-of-the-best.  When I cook for my family, I often "experiment" and try new recipes - not that they mind. 

Coming in at #2 of the Best of 2018 was my Low Sugar Granola recipe.  


I adapted this recipe to be lower in sugar because Bruce and I got addicted to it and ate this for several months. We served it when we had three of my sisters and husbands staying at our house for my niece's wedding last year. That was a week of great food and eating, what my family is known for.  (ha ha ha)  The original recipe is here from a local food blogger and restauranteur here in Seattle named Molly Wisenberg. In fact, we just went to one of her restaurants last week, Delancey.  They have some of the best pizza in town...
The third most popular recipe on my blog last year and one of my favorites was Creole Shrimp and Creamed Corn.


I still can't believe this is a Cooking Light Diet recipe.  I made this early in the year after the holidays when we were trying to recuperate from all our holiday eating.  We're actually doing that now only I'm doing a version of the Plant Paradox Diet which is also an anti-inflammatory diet.  I've been doing it since summer and the good news is that I didn't gain weight over the holidays and feel like I'm eating a lot "cleaner".  It's basically like a Paleo diet, no grains or sugars.  I only list the top three recipes over the previous year, but #4 was actually the Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake I made for Lauren's birthday.  The gluten-free items I've made have been very acceptable to everyone so I'll probably continue, like Bruce's carrot cake I made for his birthday.  I do feel good on the diet and it has gotten to be not so difficult.  Unfortunately, none of the above Top 3 recipes of 2018 would be allowed on the diet!  Like I said, I'm only doing a version of the Plant Paradox Diet which means I go off of it a lot...I just can't give up everything but the amount that I do, seems to benefit me.  Let's see what 2019 brings.  
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Meatloaf by Mark Bittman

Once again, I turned on the television yesterday and saw that Mark Bittman was on the Today show and was making his version of  meatloaf .  This must be meatloaf season.  It was surprisingly similar to the  Pioneer Woman's version  who was also recently on.   I was a little surprised of his version because Mark Bittman is into healthy eating and has lost a lot of weight and improved his health by changing his diet which he writes about in his book,  Food Matters .  His meatloaf recipe also included bacon and cheese!  I must be doing something wrong.  The thing to remember, which he writes about in his book, is that you can eat healthy without going extreme or changing your whole life.    If you don't know who Mark Bittman is, he is a food writer and a four star chef with multiple cookbooks who loves to eat but changed his food philosophy to improve his health.  He tells his story in Food Matters and provides a plan for responsible eating that covers a no-nonsense rundown on
Post a Comment
Read more

Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Oatmeal, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't have very many gluten-free cookies on my blog because quite frankly, I usually don't like gluten-free.  But occasionally, I do find a good recipe and this is one that is from the back of the Trader Joe's oatmeal and it's a good one.  My friend brought some over to our house last weekend when Nick and family were here for our birthday celebrations  and we all loved them. My friends lives a few blocks away and we walk the neighborhood together on weekends.  We can easily go 5 miles in no time, talking non-stop.  She loves exploring our neighborhood as much as I do and we discover so many favorite little spots.  We even found a property with a horse (or more like a pony, I should say.)   The views are always quite lovely, too.  Bruce and I had our thirty-ninth wedding anniversary on July 18th and I made a point of walking past the house where we had our wedding reception.  I told my friend, "Thirty-nine years ago today, there was a big party g
2 comments
Read more

Spinach Stuffed Cod

Last night, I was in the mood for a healthy dinner so decided to experiment with a recipe I found from a blog called Creative in My Kitchen . Lauren and Ari brought us French cookies back from their trip to Paris and I basically inhaled them. They were so good! We were cat-sitting their two cats while they were gone. They liked lounging in the strangest places...  I found one of their toys while I was cleaning so Lauren stopped by last night to pick it up on her way home from work. I was experimenting with this recipe which originally called for chicken breast but I thought it sounded good to substitute fish instead since I'm always looking for good fish recipes. We all thought it was totally delicious. When I went to the grocery store, they had Icelandic cod on sale so I bought about 2 pounds of that. You could use any white fish for this recipe such as:                                                                   true cod or other cod rockfish halibut had
Post a Comment
Read more