10 Most Popular Recipes and Home Ideas of the Decade
Our top 10 most popular recipes and home ideas of the decade are from our first six years blogging. Time flies and trends tend to change but one thing remains, we all enjoy good food!
It isn’t possible to take a look back at my Top 10 Most Popular anything without sharing why I started this blog. Skip it if you really just want to know what is most popular. It’s all juicy stuff, I mean my story and the recipes!
WHY I DECIDED TO BECOME A BLOGGER
Here is how it all started for me. I am about to share my story of why I started this blog which I have never told publicly.
2013 began on a happy note. Our youngest daughter was married in January at a beautiful antebellum mansion in the deep south. In fact you can take a peep at the pictures from her wedding with any of the links below:
DREAM JOB AND CANCER
So January started the year off great for us! Our daughter was happily married. I had started a new ‘career’ in my dream job in the fall of 2012.
Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer for the third time. She lived with us and we very much enjoyed her being there. Mom was a great cook, a strong woman and a loving grand and great grandmother. Her journey with breast cancer was 12 years long. It had been in remission most of those years so when it returned in the spring of 2012 none of us expected it. Although her health was digressing, she was able to attend the wedding of her youngest granddaughter that January of 2013. Only two very short months later she went to live with Jesus on my Dad’s birthday.
Also see:
ANOTHER DEATH
Losing my Mom was one of the hardest things I had ever experienced in life. My faith in God sustains me during difficult times so I turned to prayer and got up and faced each day. Spring faded into early summer of 2013 and I got an unexpected call one June morning. It was my Uncle’s secretary from another state. My Uncle had been found dead on Monday morning.
Apparently he had passed away while sitting in his recliner watching television over the weekend. He lived alone since my Aunt had passed away several years prior. Their only child died when he was 18 nearly forty years earlier. My Uncle had called me just one month prior to tell me that he made all of his own funeral arrangements. He didn’t want me to worry.
Of course my husband and I got in the car and made the 4 hour trip and spent a weekend with him, visiting and eating out and just talking a lot. He assured us there was nothing new wrong with him but he just didn’t want me to worry about his funeral arrangements. His estate created a rift among greedy relatives but thank goodness he had left a Will! My Aunt and Uncle had left their entire estate to two charities who had been there for them during the times that their son was suffering with Muscular Dystrophy. My husband and I, God and the estate lawyers appointed by the court know the truth which is that I came home after the funeral and didn’t look back. I didn’t ask for, nor want any part of my Uncle’s estate. Nonetheless, family squabbling caused a stink and a split which is never good in families.
I LOST MY JOB
Summer of 2013 I lost my job. Triple whammy in one year! You know how some people quit eating and begin losing weight when they are stressed out? Yeah, I’m not one of those people. I am just the opposite. Let me tell you this, a little bit of sitting on the sofa crying and worrying goes a long way.
By September I’d had enough and made the bold decision to create my own job and started this blog!
I HAVE A COLLEGE DEGREE, SURELY I CAN FIGURE THIS OUT
It took me 6 years to earn my 4 year degree. I finished college in December of 2008 right after the economy fell and just a few weeks before I turned 50. It took me another four years to find a job in social services and now it was gone. I was just not willing to begin that job hunt again.
Blogging is not for the faint of heart or someone who is allergic to work. There are many 10, 12 and 15 hour days involved in building a good blog. It’s fun and exhausting all at the same time. It wasn’t my first blog. During that time between 2008 when I finished college and 2012 when I found my dream job, I started a blog about finding a job. Right now I don’t even remember the name of it. The first thing I did in the fall of 2013 was to take a class on blogging which I had found online. Looking back, I had no clue about most of what was covered in that class. The best thing that came from it was being part of a small group of brand new bloggers like myself. We shared our successes and failures together as well as what works and what doesn’t.
MY TAKE ON BLOGGING
I love blogging and all of the many friends I have made from all over the world since September of 2013. My income is significantly more than it was ever going to be in the social services career I had chosen.
It is hard work and requires a huge commitment. You have to be familiar with and appreciate the phrase ‘continuous process improvement.’ I love what I do and I have no regrets.
LOOKING BACK ON THE DECADE
It isn’t possible for me to look back on my first decade of blogging without sharing why I started my blog. Those older first posts embarrass me now and I try to go back and update as many as I can when I have time. Time is a valuable asset to bloggers which most often alludes us. In the very beginning, I wasn’t even sure what niche I really wanted to be in or blog about. I have since settled comfortably into my mantra, Frugal Living, Easy Recipes. I call myself a Homemaking blogger because I share all things domestic and isn’t everything domestic anyway?!
HOW I KNOW THESE ARE OUR TOP MOST POPULAR POSTS OF THE DECADE
Statistics! Google Analytics! It’s magically delicious and allows insight into anything you ever wanted to know about your website traffic and even a whole bunch of stuff you don’t understand. I hated Statistics in college. I am not mathematically minded but I L-O-V-E reading statistics.
Our 10 Most Popular Recipes and Home Ideas of the Decade
Our most popular recipes and home ideas of the decade. From the inception of this blog in 2013 until the end of 2019, these are our most popular posts! Halloween and Christmas round out the top 10 as well as some delicious home cooking recipes.
Easily our Number one most popular recipe because these wings are super easy to prepare and everyone loves them.
Early in my blogging career I shared the Reindeer Antler Game and some Minute to Win It Games my family played at Christmas. Since then I have tried to share new family friendly party games each year. Folks enjoy having a good time with family and friends and we do too!
We host a big collaborative event each holiday season to include ideas and recipes from other bloggers. This is one of those posts from the early days still going strong because the games are always fun!
How to Have a Baby With Almost No Expenses in the First Year
Interesting to me that this information on family finance and growing a family has remained a strong post for so many years. Originally this was a guest post from a Finance blog which has since closed and is no longer on the internet. I update the post from time to time to keep the information relevant.
Honestly, when I tossed the ingredients into the Crockpot that day, it was because I had a busy day and needed an easy meal. As it turns out, it was delicious and now one of our most popular recipes. My guys request this and get to the dinner table a few minutes early when I cook it.
One of my personal favorite meals is this foil pack dinner. It is easy clean up and yummy to eat!
Trunk or Treat is a highlight of the Fall season for me. I love seeing all of the creative designs folks come up with each year. This collection has remained popular but I keep adding new posts with more ideas every year as well.
It's my Mom's recipe which I prepare exactly as she did. There are multiple steps and it takes a little time but I promise, this meal is worth the effort. Video included.
More Christmas Party Games! This post is another from our annual 12 Days of Christmas series.
Most Useful Packing and Moving Tips What Worked and What Didn't
The trauma of moving after 17 years in the same home prompted me to share the moving tips that worked for us to help us keep our sanity during the process.
MORE POPULAR RECIPES AND HOMEMAKING IDEAS
