A Few of My Favorites: 2014

Welcome to 2015 everyone! I'm excited for this year but the end of 2014 has been so busy I've barely had a chance to enjoy it. So I wanted to take a look back at a few favorite meals from the past year. I figure since I did 6 reader favorites, I'll do 6 of my favorites. I'm only including 2014 for this post but you can see my favorites from 2013 here.

Let's get to it!

1) Island Pork Tenderloin

Pork tenderloin is quickly making its way to the top of my favorite proteins list. It's so easy to make, so tender, so juicy, so flavorful... I could go on and on. This tenderloin in particular has tons of flavor. There's a spice rub (that includes cinnamon, I mean, come on, how often do you get to use cinnamon on meat?) and then a brown sugar/hot sauce/garlic glaze that is just out of this world, and the whole thing only takes about 30-45 minutes to get on the table. It goes with everything. I love it with seasoned rice and fresh steamed veggies but it also pairs well with heavier sides like mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. And bonus! The leftovers are incredible, especially when topping a salad.

Reader Favorites from 2014

One of the reasons I love writing this blog is seeing what the readers go for. Sometimes I'm surprised to see a recipe fall flat when I was so excited about trying it, but more often I'm blown away by the response to a recipe that I tried on a whim or one that I've been making for years and it never occurred to me that everyone else has not. Last year a couple of my favorites wound up on the reader favorites list which pleased me because I felt like I was on track.

I think last year I listed the top 6 posts. This year I'm going to do things a little differently. With almost two years of blogging under my belt I wanted to include the top 6 recipes from this year along with the top 6 over the past two years. So, what say we start with this year's reader favorites?

1) Baked Ziti

This is by far the number one viewed post overall. I'm positive that's because it's from the Pioneer Woman and, like myself, people simply trust anything she does. This mixture of meaty sauce, creamy, melty cheese, and perfectly cooked pasta is the ideal dish for feeding a large family. It makes a ton of food (I've fed 8 with leftovers with this recipe) and is absolutely delicious to boot! It's just as good as leftovers as it is fresh out of the oven and I could eat the sauce as a soup, it's so good.