All ya’ll (and my supportive but shocked husband) have held my hand through these last few months in 2015 while I scrambled to pull this blog together. And scrambled is an understatement! But this holiday weekend I’m kicking back with a glass or two and breathing it all in. After all, I made it! The new year has arrived and I’m still blogging.
In 2015 the most popular post by far was my recipe for Eggless Buttermilk Pancakes. A feature on BuzzFeed’s 19 Mind-Blowing Pancakes Guaranteed To Change Breakfast Forever helped pump this baby to the top!
A tip on How To Soften Butter quickly and without a microwave was the second most popular post and gained a lot of traction on Pinterest (my precious Pinterest).
Needless to say, those two posts alone pretty much illustrate what I love about the kitchen. Cooking + Learning + Eating + Sharing + Butter (obvi). And I have some wicked awesome plans for all those categories in 2016.
I’m already going to be getting schooled by the 30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge the whole month of January. A hopefully life-changing resolution brought to you by flippin awesome Simple Green Smoothies blog & community. And I’ll be sharing my own struggles and triumphs from organizing a small kitchen space to finally tossing out cheap gadgets (and getting new ones!).
You can continue to catch my guest posts on the Laurel Macy lifestyle blog and be sure to pin my quick guide on How to make Honey-Lemon-Ginger Tea. It’s been a life saver this season.
But now for the brutal truth for my brutal reality. This is what I REALLY want out of 2016 as a work at home mom with almost no extra time on her hands and in need of extra motivation.
- A more organized kitchen. Yes, yes, I’ll post my before pics.
- Sit down family dinners. Sadly, we are often found relaxing with a plate o’ food in front of Netflix. We struggle to pull it together to grant everyone a seat and a plate at the same time. Tell me I’m not the only one!
- Get knives sharpened. I have good knives. I have never sharpened them. What good are they, then?! Alton would be horrified.
- Eat my way through Charleston. I live in a fantastic place where fantastic restaurants make fantastic goodies. But as the mother of two young kids I have been to 0.01% of them. CHANGE!
- Cook my way through Jerusalem: A Cookbook that is the epitome of a visual feast. Even if I hadn’t grown up in the Middle East I’d still be craving everything it offers.
- Teach my toddler to drink from a cup. Without spills. Without tears.
- Teach my 7 yr. old to wash A dish. Am I reaching for the stars here? This wasn’t even on my radar until I realized that if he can reach over the kitchen sink to wash his hands he can certainly wash some dishes in the process.
- Bake more cupcakes. First cupcakes of the year were baked on Dec. 17th. Disgraceful. CHANGE!
- Cook more seafood. My husband did not eat anything sea-related until I snuck in scallops for dinner as “chicken”. He has reluctantly accepted a few fish dishes since. But there’s one in particular he actually craves – Baked Salmon with Dill and Pine Nuts.
- Shine my sink. Everyday. The FlyLady way.
Honestly, it still blows my mind that I’ve stuck with it. But the payoff has been amazing – getting to know fellow bloggers, learning awesome techy web stuff, and finding out people actually enjoy reading this! Thank you, God. And Thank you, fans, friends, and family. 🙂
I learned how to make Honey Lemon Ginger Tea from a friend’s mom – she is Korean and swears by it (and I can buy it pre-made at the asian grocery store if I’m in a hurry). We call it “sicky tea” because it is great when you have a cold/sore throat!
It really is awesome, isn’t it?! I drank it almost everyday for 2 years in a row. Made a huge difference.
Congratulations, Carolina! Happy new year to you and your family. Can’t wait to read what you have in store for us in the new year! 🙂
Thank you, Christine! I’m slightly overwhelmed but excited all the same. The blog world is so fascinating to me!