I love the week that falls between Christmas and New Year’s Day. I am a reflective person so it brings me a lot of joy to look back at my year of personal experiences, my family, and my blog. I have to admit, having a blog makes it much easier to remember since it’s all documented and stamped with a date…makes me appreciate what this blog means to me even more, although due to the evolution of the (sometimes big, bad, scary) internet I find myself sharing more about food and less about personal & family over the years. It’s all good.

2016 was interesting. I turned 40. I went back to college. I embraced fitness and got strong (surprised myself). My oldest started middle school. We survived a scary hurricane. My daughter was a guest judge for a recipe contest at a produce conference. My baby turned 3 and became a little person, not really a baby anymore. I went out of my comfort zone and was a speaker at a dietician/healthy blogger conference (and loved it). I traveled to Vermont, Savannah and the Florida Panhandle. My friend Kristen came to visit me and we went to see Justin Bieber and Mickey Mouse. My family & I went to Disney – a lot. I withdrew from college. My husband & I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. I watched family members go through some health problems. We attended the most epic Indian wedding celebration. My daughter and I volunteered for the 2016 presidential campaign. I grew personally and professionally.

2016 was interesting, and good. As always, I’m ready and looking forward to a fresh start from starting a new year.

As for food…I shared a lot of recipes! I’m so grateful for all of you who visit me here, I wish you a very healthy and happy New Year.

Here are your favorites:

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The post Top 12 Most Popular Recipes From 2016 {plus my personal favorites!} appeared first on Aggie's Kitchen.

Click here to pin this brussel sprout recipe!

I am raising my hand to admit I ate way more Halloween candy than I planned on eating last night. As I was saying to a friend while trick-or-treating, if I can get through Halloween night without tasting anything from my kids’ stash then I can pretty up muster up enough self control to turn the other way the rest of the week that candy is unfortunately front and center. But, I could not resist a Snicker Almond or a 1000 Grand (rare delights) which then lead to my all time favorite Reese’s PB cup. This morning, I’m thinking I’m satisfied and can move on from the sampling of the stash. Well, that is what I’m telling myself!!

Here’s something else I feel like admitting. I’ve put on almost 10 lbs since this summer. Gulp. That is really hard to write! I’ve known it, and I’ve thought it, but writing it just feels different. Those 10 lbs are really getting to me. I’m not sure what’s going on but I know I’ve been eating way more than I need to, and am just feeling really lazy about food choices lately (resulting in a lot of empty calories). It doesn’t feel good at all. Besides my clothes not fitting (obviously), my lower back is hurting more than normal and I’m feeling a little less confident and just plain uncomfortable. It’s time to nip this in the bud!

Plan of action: Daily cardio/strength workouts, tracking food in My Fitness Pal, 10k steps on my Fitbit, and meal/snack planning. No excuses!!

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The week between Christmas and New Year’s is my favorite week of the year. I always feel more relaxed, refreshed and ready to take on whatever lies ahead in the start of the new year. I love looking back on the blog while writing posts like this and seeing what I’ve cooked over the last 12 months. For someone who didn’t’t know what to make for dinner more than half of the time, I didn’t do half bad.

I can’t thank you enough for visiting Aggie’s Kitchen for recipes, this blog fulfills me more than you know and I appreciate all my readers, friends and family who have supported it and me over the years. Hope you are enjoying the holiday and I wish everyone the best in the upcoming year. Bring on 2016!

Here are the Top 15 Most Popular Recipes on Aggie’s Kitchen from 2015: 

1. Creamy Avocado Lime Dressing

2. Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

3. Mexican Slaw Salad with Black Beans

4. Slow Cooker Asian Citrus Pork Tenderloin

5. Honey Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts

6. Slow Cooker Pesto Chicken Melts

7. Strawberry Grapefruit Ginger Smoothie

8. Apple, Celery, Walnut Salad with Honey Dijon Vinaigrette

9. Roasted Red Peppers with Pesto and Goat Cheese

10. Greek Village Salad

11. Almond Peach Kefir Smoothie

12. Taco Turkey Black Bean Rice Bowls

13. Spring Beet and Goat Cheese Salad with Walnuts

14. Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts with Pecans

15. Kale, Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Frittata

From the past:

Best of 2014 – My Favorites and Yours

Best of 2013 – My Favorites and Yours

My 12 Favorite Meals of 2012

Bye Bye 2011

Top 5 Favorites of 2009

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This recipe was created in partnership with Fisher Nuts.

It’s that time of year again. The time of year when everyone is either loving or hating Brussels sprouts. I’m a big fan, but it wasn’t until college that I was actually introduced to these little green gems so I guess I’m sort of a late bloomer in the I love Brussels sprouts club. I’m hoping to convert my family (specifically my kids) to the club so I’m always trying new ways to cook them up. Roasting them is my absolute favorite (how can you not love those crispy outer leaves?).

My kids are still on the fence, my husband is a big no, but my 2 year old loves them…he devoured multiple servings of this Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts with Pecans dish when I made it last week.

That’s my boy!

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Lots and lots of spring things happening in my parts lately, and I’m not just referring to the weather. It’s funny because before I moved to our new house a year and a half ago, I’m not sure if I saw half as much nature than I do on our lovely street we now call home. We only moved about 2 miles but we now live close to a lake and on a street with tall, old trees, so our daily environment is definitely a little different. We have lots of squirrels and birds and even rabbits to entertain us, among a few other not so cute creepy crawly critters slithering around us that we won’t discuss.

Spring babies have been everywhere I turn. In just a couple weeks I’ve spotted a mama and her ducklings cutting through my neighbors yard, a couple of newly hatched goslings (they were so adorably yellow, fuzzy and just perfect) and just the other day I drove past our neighborly Sandhill Cranes but this time they were standing with a couple of precious mini versions that were just a quarter of their size.

I love it.

I also love these Brussels sprouts, which have absolutely nothing to do with spring. We get hit with plenty of Brussels recipes in the fall and winter, but I have to tell you I haven’t been able to get my hands on some nice looking Brussels sprouts until just recently on a trip to Costco. I snagged that bag up as soon as I saw it. In season or not, I was due for some roasted sprouts – specifically these Honey Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts.

I know some people have strong feelings about Brussels sprouts – either loving them wholeheartedly or hating them with a passion. I will tell you that in my household I am one of 4 family members (the jury is still out on our youngest) in the lover club. My mother in law is also a sprout lover so when I make them I always package some up and bring them over to her to enjoy as well.

I paired up this side veggie with Maple Mustard Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Sweet Potatoes and Mango and it was the perfect green accompaniment for the meal.

Hope everyone had an awesome weekend!

Honey Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Yield: 6-8 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoon honey
• big pinch coarse salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Place Brussels sprouts on a large baking sheet. Toss evenly with 2 tablespoons olive oil.
3. In a small bowl combine balsamic vinegar and honey and drizzle evenly over Brussels sprouts. Sprinkle generously with coarse salt and pepper. Place in oven and cook for 20 minutes or until crisp and browned.

More recipes for the Brussels Sprouts lovers club:

Baked Lemon Pepper Sprout Chips

Maple Roasted Fall Vegetables with Chicken-Apple Sausage

Brussels Sprouts Ricotta Toast | The Noshery

Pan Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Brown Butter and Toasted Pecans | How Sweet Eats

Caramelized Brussels Sprouts | Barefeet in the Kitchen

Follow Sweet Basil’s board Vegetarian on Pinterest.

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I had a major clean out the produce drawer cooking session yesterday. My lack of meal planning and shopping without a list the week before Thanksgiving left me with a few too many straggling veggies to be dealt with. No regrets though, because in result, this bowl of roasted veggie goodness happened.

A couple of months ago I stumbled onto this recipe for Maple Glazed “Medley” over on Skinny Mommy. This is honestly my favorite kind of recipe, one that I know that pretty much everyone in my family would eat with no complaints. I always have chicken and apple sausages in my freezer (I  leave Costco with a huge pack every single time!) so it’s a great stand-by recipe to make with whatever veggies you have on hand. The maple syrup really makes it extra special and if you like a little heat then a little drizzle of hot chili sauce will pair up perfectly to create that “sweet heat” so many of us crave.

It doesn’t take much to put this together.  A little chop, a little toss and in the oven it goes.

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Can we just talk about these green little gems for a second? They are sprout chips! Yep…baked brussels sprouts leaves that turn into crunchy little chips! I just came across them recently over on the blog inspiredRD and they made my head spin a bit. I mean, really, I thought kale chips were genius…these are right up there in the same category! (Speaking of kale chips…have you tried them? My friend Alison just posted a recipe for kale chips the other day, and I encourage you to try them if you haven’t. I dip mine in ketchup and can seriously eat a whole pan of them in one sitting…the kids love them too!)

I made these baked brussels sprouts chips up the other day with some of my favorite lemon pepper seasoning (I just can not get enough of that stuff) and they were a perfect snack to munch on. My kids have never tried brussels sprouts and this might be the way to do it. I’ll report back and let you know what they think.

Baked Lemon Pepper Brussels Sprouts Chips

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch brussels sprouts
• olive oil spray or non stick spray
• lemon pepper seasoning (I love this coarse ground one from McCormick)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Trim the stems of your brussels sprouts with a paring knife. Carefully remove leaves and place on a baking sheet. Continue trimming stem to remove more leaves.
3. Spray your leaves with olive oil spray and sprinkle liberally with lemon pepper seasoning. Bake for about 5 minutes in 350 degree oven. At this time you will want to check for any crisp leaves and remove them. Give your baking sheet a shake and place back in the oven for 3-4 minutes. Check again and continue baking for a minute at a time until all leaves are crisp.

recipe inspired and adapted from inspiredRD

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(Photo Credit: Katie’s Cucina)

By the way…a couple of weeks ago I was asked by the organization Produce For Kids to be a speaker on a panel for an educational workshop called “How Food Bloggers are Influencing Produce Consumers and How to Create Advocates for your Brand” at the Southeast Produce Council‘s Southern Exposure Conference in Tampa, FL. I sat on the panel alongside Jeff Houck, food writer for The Tampa Tribune and author of the blog The Stew as well as bloggers Julie of Peanut Butter Fingers and Ricky of Tasty Chomps.

We had a great discussion answering several questions from moderator Heidi McIntyre of Produce For Kids as well as from the audience from how and why we started our blogs to how we deal with PR pitches to how companies in the produce industry can effectively work with bloggers. I had a great experience and really enjoyed my time at the conference (although, not going to lie, I was incredibly nervous sitting up on that stage with a microphone!!!).

(I have a thing for cute Gators. 🙂 )

(Lunch with bloggers Katie, Dawn, Ricky, Julie, Julia and Rod)

After our panel discussion, lunch and a brief tour of the conference floor I spent the rest of my time with my friend and fellow produce lover Katie of Katie’s Cucina. She’s visited us here at AK before and we’ve met in person a couple of times over the last year. Katie and I both share a slight obsession with fruits and vegetables and make each other feel less weird about it. 🙂

I couldn’t have spent my time at a produce conference with better people. You’ll have to check out Katie’s recap and photos of the conference here on her blog, she did a great job of showcasing our day, as well as all the fruits, veggies and products we sampled. You can also read Julie’s recap on the conference here on Peanut Butter Fingers as well as Ricky’s recap here on Tasty Chomps.

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