You know my final post of the year wouldn’t be complete without a final guest post from Tony!

From Tony:

Oatmeal

I was lying next to my wife in bed this morning when I asked her “are you hungry?” She said “yes, but I have a taste for something”. My mind leapt to visions of pancakes, or waffles, you know fun and exciting foods. I then heard the complete opposite uttered, “oatmeal, I have a taste for oatmeal”. This to me is an admission of entering the old age era. The teeth have failed and all I can eat is oatmeal era.

I don’t hate oatmeal; in fact it is an essential ingredient in my favorite cookie. I just don’t get why someone would eat it alone, in paste form for breakfast, when any alternatives are available. I think my Mom and Dad have eaten oatmeal every day for the last 40 years. They had Eggos and other foods available and yet they chose oatmeal. Oatmeal is one of the main ingredients in gruel. A food designed to make prisoners unhappy while held against their will for extended periods of time. I think back of meals where my dad took an egg Sunnyside up and mixed it into his steaming bowl of oatmeal.

If there is a hell, and if they serve breakfast, oatmeal is the only choice. Now, if you will excuse me I’m going to eat a damn egg. I’m going to have toast and perhaps some hash browns.

Curse you oatmeal!

Thanks for your final guest post!

So I have been seeing a lot of people doing their top 12 of 2012, and decided to jump on the bandwagon for my final post of 2012.

So here are the Top 12 Recipes from My Bizzy Kitchen in 2012.  You’ll note that some of these recipes come from 2009, 2010 and 2011, but they were the most viewed in 2012 – crazy!

12.  Skinny Creamed Spinach Stuffed Pork Chops.  I actually totally forgot about this recipe!  This was when Tony was sick after his hernia surgery, he had no appetite, and he was so tired.  This day I came home from work, and he was sleeping, so I made this dinner for one – I forgot how delicious and bright this sauce was!  I need to make this one again soon!

11.  Classic Roast Beef & Gravy.  This recipe is a no-brainer, since it comes from America’s Test Kitchens.  It’s actually the first recipe where I learned the “magic number” for medium rare meat – 125.  As long as you pull meat at 125 degrees, let it rest before slicing, you’ll get perfect, tender medium rare meat every time.

10.  Chicken Brunswick Stew.   This recipe is near and dear to my heart, because my Dad spent a lot of time tweaking this recipe to mimic his beloved canned Mrs. Fearnow’s Chicken Brunswick stew he grew up with.  Every time I make it, I am taken back to my parents kitchen and have visions of my Dad stirring this soup.

9.  Best Chicken Tacos.  I had completely forgotten about this one, but it will quickly be back on the lunches I make for me and my SIL.  Once Tony heard chipotle pepper in the recipe, he was out!

8.  Simple Crusty Bread.  I am so glad that dozens of you have gotten over your fear of yeast and have made this bread.  I have changed the recipe just a tad.  I make this recipe two loaves of bread vs. the four it calls for.  Second, I cook it in a Dutch oven at 450 degrees, with the lid on for the first 30 minutes, then take the lid off, and bake for an additional 15 minutes.  This bread below I brushed with olive oil, and sprinkled with rosemary sea salt.

7.  Canadian Bacon Breakfast Casserole.  I actually love making healthy breakfast casseroles because I usually make them four servings, so I’ve got breakfast covered for four days, I’ll just change up the fruit on the side.  This one can also be put together and cooked while you get ready for work.  1/4 of this dish was under 250 calories.  Winning!

6.  How to Make Homemade Frozen Pizza.  This recipe actually came about when a co-worker was sick and in and out of the hospital.  Her husband was at home taking care of 3 kids under the age of six, so I decided to make up half a dozen homemade frozen pizzas for the nights when he was just too exhausted to think about dinner.

5.  Best Deep Dish Pizza.  Okay, long time readers know I love pizza.  A lot.  But last December pizza making took a whole new level in my house after making America’s Test Kitchen’s deep dish pizza.  There is softened butter spread over the dough before its rolled together which gives the crust it’s distinctive crispy, buttery crust.  Swoon!

4.  Best Buffalo Chicken Chili.  I made this nearly two years ago, but thanks to the wording of my blog post – it’s what people type into google “best buffalo chicken chili” recipe.  It gets nearly 100 hits a day still!  And it’s been used to enter chili contests and has won 1st prize 8 times!

3.  No Fail Potato Gratin.  My Mom makes the best scalloped potatoes.  Even makes them without onions for me – thanks Momma!  But it never failed that every.single.time I made them, the potatoes would never be cooked through.  Trust me when I say that Tony has had a couple dozen potato gratins that had crunchy potatoes!  Then I decided to use gnocchi!  It’s made from potatoes, its already cooked, and sure enough, the no fail potato gratin was born.

2.  Copycat Panera Bread Broccoli Cheddar Soup.  I first made this soup in the fall of 2009.  I loved Panera soup way before my daughter Hannah started working there.  I always imagined workers getting to the store at the break of dawn, making the soups from scratch and letting them simmer before the lunch crowd hit.  Hannah broke my dream when she told me to sit down, the soups get shipped to the stores frozen, and they take the frozen bags and defrost them in bit vats of hot water.   This one is pretty close to the real deal though!

1.  Paleo Breakfast Casserole.  I have Helen to thank for this dish.  I’ve discovered I like sweet potatoes, but not by themselves, they need to be combined in some way.  I also have to balance the sweetness of the sweet potatoes with something spicy – this casserole has chopped pickled jalapenos in it!  The funny thing is that while this has gotten the most page views at 23,000, this is not a Paleo breakfast – and I’ve gotten tons of emails from die hard Paleo enthusiasts, that this recipe IS NOT Paleo – because of the cheese!  So let’s just call it a low carb breakfast casserole?  Call it what you want, this one is delicious!

So there you have it – the Top 12 viewed recipes in 2012.   WordPress gave me a year end recap:

Crunchy numbers

About 55,000 tourists visit Liechtenstein every year. This blog was viewed about 340,000 times in 2012. If it were Liechtenstein, it would take about 6 years for that many people to see it. Your blog had more visits than a small country in Europe!

The busiest day of the year was August 22nd with 2,362 views. The most popular post that day was KERF Fan or Not?.

The top referring sites in 2012 were:  (Thanks Shelley!)

1. myjourneytofit.com
2. tastespotting.com
3. Google Reader
4. cookeatshare.com
5. pinterest.com

Who were they?

Your most commented on post in 2012 was 1,000,000 Page Views! (Giveaway!)

These were your 5 most active commenters:

• 1 Erica 282 comments
• 2 Rhonda 247 comments
• 3 Helen 184 comments
• 4 Suzie 162 comments
• 5 Aimee 155 comments

Erica – thanks for being the top commenter in 2012!

Thanks to each and every one of who take time out of their busy days to stop by, read and say hello when you can.  I really appreciate it!

Tomorrow will be my First WI for 2013 – eek!

Happy New Year from My Bizzy Kitchen!  (and Tony!)