Karottensalat (German Carrot Salad)

I can’t remember why, but a couple of weeks ago Brent and I thought it would be a good idea to buy one of those 10-lb bags of carrots at Costco. I had visions of carrot juice in the morning, carrot soufflés, and finding other creative ways to use the carrots. Admittedly, we have made neither juice nor soufflé of carrot.

Fortunately, Brent remembered that during our first trip to Germany, we enjoyed a carrot salad that was bright and tangy as we sat on a bench outside Nymphenburg Palace. In our research, we found quite a few varieties but we settled on keeping our version simple. We’re enjoying it now, and I think we’ll be making it more often once spring time arrives. It’s a perfect side dish for a picnic or cookout!

Italian Pork Sausage Bake

As spring draws closer, we are still experiencing cold weather with unexpected jaunts of warm weather. My case in point is that last Thursday it was over 60ºF and on Friday it snowed. With this kind of unpredictable weather, we wanted to have a hearty, filling meal for the week.

This Italian Pork Sausage Bake hits the nail on the head. We love the simplicity, and that this goes from start to plate in less than an hour. Also, Kite Hill’s plant-based ricotta cheese is a shoe-in for the real thing. That said, enjoy your high-quality dairy if you like! However you choose to have this meal, we know you will enjoy it.

Instant Pot Pulled Pork Shoulder

Pork shoulders are a great batch cooking option for protein. We’ve long been fans of pulled pork, and we even have a couple of different sauces for you to consider (option #1 and option #2). That said, good pulled pork hasn’t always been a quick process. Quite the contrary, it has been a half-day or more of slow stewing or roasting.

Now, with the magic of the Instant Pot (which, honestly, has always been around for years by way of pressure cooker), this can be done very quickly. We think you’ll love this preparation as well as how quickly it is assembled. Plus, you get to make a homemade rib rub, great for pork shoulder as well as ribs. You’ll thank us later.

Easy Overnight Refrigerator Pickles

Pickles—just thinking about them makes my mouth water. They’re easily one of my favorite snacks, and I’ve been known to sit down on the couch with one of the gigantic jars you can buy at Costco and put a serious dent in the supply. We’ve also come to love local pickles as well as craft pickles. Brooklyn Brine makes some amazing flavor combinations, especially spicy ones, that we love, but our wallets do not (plus, they’re not quite gluten-free).

Making pickles with a traditional brine is fun, and like craft cider or wine in a lot of ways (fermentation), but it is definitely not an immediate reward. When we made our own pickles back in 2012 based on another recipe, we waited a good 5 days before trying them and had mixed results. We also did something similar with Brussels sprouts a little while back. Even with this recipe, it took the better part of a week.

Year In Review: The 10 Most Popular Recipes of 2016

At the end of the year, it’s time to reflect. It’s crazy to think that we’ve been writing for this blog for almost 5 years, and had over 1 MILLION views during that time! We’re blown away on how this accountability project, originally set up to blog about our first Whole30® (my first post here), has grown and changed our lives. We’ve made lifelong friends, hundreds of recipes, and had a great time cooking and learning to photograph.

To send off 2016 in style, here are the top 10 recipes as rated by views for the year. We’ve also added a few of the posts we felt were the best of the year in the honorable mention, the least popular post of the year, and news and well wishes for 2017.