Today, the five year blog anniversary celebration continues with a collection of my personal favorites. Since I started blogging, I don’t make the same recipes very often. I’m constantly experimenting, tweaking, toying with new ingredients and new methods. I have a binder filled with pages torn out of magazines, a shelf stacked with cookbooks, and an Evernote list of recipes to try that grows daily. I make a new recipe, test it a few times to make sure it’s blog worthy, and then move onto the next.
This constant search for the next great recipe is both a blessing and a curse. We have the privilege of trying a huge variety of foods, but our favorites don’t make it back onto the rotation quite as much as some of us (read: the Mr.) would like. So today, I’m sharing with you the recipes we come back to over and over again. These are the ones the Mr. requests on a regular basis, the ones I make on a random Tuesday night, the ones I pull out when I’m lacking inspiration and need a tried and true favorite to get my mojo back.
Many of these were from the early days of my site. They’re not the ones with the most page views or the prettiest photos. They didn’t go viral on Pinterest, but they went viral in our hearts. I’ve swallowed my pride and decided to share the original photos for each one, but I’ve also made a mental note to rephotograph them someday soon. These are our favorites, from my table to yours. I hope you love them as much as we do.
(Clockwise, From Left to Right)
Perfect Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes– Everyone needs a go-to pancake recipe. It took me a long time to find mine, but once I did, I never went back. These are perfection, and they’re equally good plain or loaded with blueberries, chocolate chips, or bananas.
Strawberry Spinach Salad with Sweet Lemon Dressing– A summertime cookout staple. So simple, so good. It’s a hit every time.
Beer Soaked Crock Pot Roast– This recipe comes from my mother in law, and it gets made a couple of times every winter. It’s ridiculously simple, flavorful, and delivers a fall apart tender roast every time.
Crock Pot Barbacoa Beef– My go-to for game days, tailgates, or any time I’ve got a crowd coming over. It’s perfect in tacos, nachos, and burritos obviously, but we also love throwing this beef in eggs and mac and cheese.
Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup– My go-to soup for feeding a crowd, or just feeding us for the entire week. Nothing beats this soup with a loaf of crusty bread.
5 Ingredient Caramel Monkey Bread– This recipe came from a good friend who makes it often for our breakfast gatherings. It never gets old.
Creamy Parmesan Leek and Mushroom Pasta– I crave this pasta every few weeks in the winter. It’s so simple, but so satisfying.
Triple Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies– One of the Mr.’s absolute favorites.I’m not a huge fan of peanut butter cookies, but even I can’t resist these.
Crock Pot Beer Soaked Roast– I’m a dork and accidentally included this photo in two collages. Don’t mind me.
Balsamic Roasted Green Beans and Mushrooms– If I made a list ofall the weeknights, holidays, and dinner parties these have attended, it’d be a very long list.
Frozen Mexican Breakfast Burritos– I have a bag of these in my freezer at all times. They saved me in the early days of motherhood. I eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner—pretty much whenever I’m lazy, in a hurry, or so hangry I can’t think of taking more than five minutes to make something.
Chocolate Crazy Cake with Caramel Frosting– This is another one that was a favorite long before the blog. One bowl, the most moist, wonderful chocolate cake ever. It’s hard to convince myself to make any other dessert when this one is so darn good.
Easy Creamy Italian Pasta– This recipe was a staple long before the blog ever started. It’s a classic in our family, ridiculously easy to make, and so versatile. We’ve made it with bacon, mushrooms, crab, shrimp, chicken…it’s always delicious.
The Best Broccoli of Your Life– This recipe changed my outlook on broccoli. Now, it’s one of my favorite veggies. The crispiness, the salt, the Parmesan! I think I may have to go roast some broccoli right this second.
Harlem Meatloaf Chili–Ok, really this one is a tie between the Harlem Meatloaf Chili (which is inspired by another one of our favorites-Harlem Meatloaf) and Mom’s Green Bean Chili.Like children, they are very different, but loved equally.
Sour Cream Banana Bread– This is probably my most heavily tested and reviewed recipe on the site. I baked five different versions and had a group of ladies taste test them all. This one was the winner, and it has been my go-to ever since.
