Best of 2013

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everybody! One of my resolutions for 2014 is to start blogging again. With the renovations on the house, keeping sane has meant taking a step back from the blog. There just wasn’t enough head space to be creative and I didn’t want to make it a chore. But now, with the end of this phase in sight, I’m excited to start up again.

Often the best way to move forward is to take a look at where you’ve been. So without further ado…

Here’s a look at the most popular posts of 2013:

1. Ikea Hacking CD Racks into Herb Boxes 

2. Hello Kitty Caramel Cake with White Chocolate Frosting

3. Caprese Salad Bites – Easy Party Appetisers 

4. Leftover Ice-Cream Social Cake

5. Party Appetisers – Cranberry Apple Brie Bites

6. 2012 Resolutions Report Card

7. Brown Sugar Cookies

8. White Chocolate Cookie Dough Brownie Bars 

9. Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

10. Do you have knee trouble? Strengthen your hip!

A lot of these were actually posted in 2012, but at least I can see what you like – a lot of sweets with a taste of life. And now for another top 10…

My favourite posts (actually published in) from 2013:

1. Apple Caramel Cookie Crumb Bars 

2. White Chocolate Speculoos Truffles 

3. Scientific Evidence For a Dessert Stomach

4. Tempting Tidbit Trials – Cadbury Cream Cookie Cups

5. Skinny Chicken Cordon Bleu 

6. The Power of Availability

7. Bakemasters February – Cupcakes & Conversation  Bakemasters continues and it makes for some of my favourite nights of the year. Not a lot got blogged this year, but the girls kept coming. Some of the other evenings we did were pizza game night and make your own ice cream cake – yum yum.

7. National Cake Decorating Day – a fave just because it catches you up on life here in Brussels

A final two that are favourites because of my plans for 2014. More details to come…

9. What do you think of health monitoring?

10. New Year’s Resolution Check-Up – No Seconds 2.0 and The Kitchen Safe!! 

And for a final list… I’ve tried a lot of recipes this year, even though I posted very few of them. Cooking (along with running) has been a huge source of stress relief. So, here’s a final top ten (in no particular order).

My favourite recipes tried this year:

1. Buckeye Brownie Cookies

No good box brownie recipes in Brussels – I adapted this to use a homemade recipe and topped it with white chocolate instead of chocolate frosting. I couldn’t keep my hands off of these!

2. Buttermilk Chocolate Cake 

3. Pumpkin Bread

4. Mushroom Lasagna 

This was one of my baking resolutions from last year – sooooo yummy!

5. Melted Snowman Oreo Cookie Balls

Instead of cream cheese, I mixed my Oreos with Speculoos (Biscoff) spread. It was out of this world!

6. Pumpkin Cornbread Sausage Stuffing: My own creation, made by mixing this and this

7. Soft and Chewy Gingersnap Cookies

8. Apple Cinnamon New York Crumb Cake 

You can read my review of the recipe here

9. Single Serving Blueberry Muffin

This one I made before I took my blogging break. I even tried a corn muffin version. It’s tasty and easy, which makes it kinda wonderful and kinda dangerous – the best kind of baked good =)

10. Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars with Cookie Dough Frosting