recipes

Year In Review: The 10 Most Popular Recipes of 2016

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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.

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Shredded Brussels Sprouts Salad

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We have more than a handful of Brussels sprouts recipes. But, we love them so much, we’re always looking for creative ways to make them. A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, Brent’s mom saw a Brussels sprouts slaw at Wegmans and told us about it. We agreed that it was an interesting idea, but there were a few ingredients we wouldn’t usually incorporate into our cooking. So I took the premise and made my own, fall-inspired salad. We served it as part of our Thanksgiving dinner and it was a unique and refreshing vegetable on the plate. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

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Oven-Baked Beer-Brined Pork Ribs

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Ribs are a summertime staple at our house, and I’d reckon yours. Standing outside in the warmth of the summer sun (perhaps drink in hand), the smell of charcoal and simmering ribs on the grill is as strong in my mind on a December morning as it is in the peak of July. If grilling isn’t a strong suit of yours, or you’re hoping to enjoy ribs even in the cold, this week’s recipe is right up your alley.

Making ribs in the oven is a great adventure—you get the benefit of setting a consistent temperature and your whole house smells like heaven! These ribs are no exception. One way to combat ribs drying out (on the grill or in the oven) is to brine them. Brine can be as simple and straightforward as salted water, or you can add some great flavors to the meat. Tenting or wrapping your ribs in foil is also an effective tool. For these, we did both, because who doesn’t love juicy ribs?

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Green Bean Casserole

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Green bean casserole is a holiday tradition. When we went paleo, it fell off the list for a couple of reasons. It wasn’t the main attraction on our table growing up, nor was Heather jumping to figure out how to recreate it without all of the pre-made, preservative-laden ingredients (I’m looking at you condensed soup). This year, however, I wanted to make it happen. Using a homemade cream soup as a base, we crafted a paleo green bean casserole.

One thing to note is that we made our cream of celery soup with homemade pork stock—it was what we had in the refrigerator. Its savory, gelatinous consistency took everything to a new level. If you are looking for a go-to resource for making stock at home, this guide from Real Everything is the answer.

The one thing we didn’t add to the mix was the French’s Crispy Fried Onions. These aren’t a must-have for us, but if you’d really like to give them a try, we made fried onions for our Western Meatloaf. An extra step, but if you’ve got to have them, go for it! Just add them to the top of the casserole for the final 10 minutes of baking.

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Dairy-Free Pumpkin Cheesecake

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One of our dirty, little secrets is that we have always had a weakness for cheesecake. There’s something about it that helps us celebrate or cope with stressful situations. Despite our love, it does not love us back; congestion and an overall feeling of lethargy are common side-effects. This Thanksgiving, we decided to give this staple a shot with Kite Hill Cream Cheese. This stuff is awesome and it allowed us to celebrate with a great dessert to finish up a great meal.

This is definitely a special occasion treat, but it was too good not to share. With more holiday celebrations to come this month, we hope you’ll give this a try.

Finally, it’s worth noting that Heather didn’t add a lot of sweetener to the batter of this cheesecake. The cheesecake was perfectly savory with a hint of sweetness. If you prefer a slightly sweeter dessert, you could easily serve it with a sweet whipped cream of coconut milk (or real heavy cream, if you can tolerate it) or a light drizzle of maple syrup.

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