It’s always interesting to see what posts have sustaining value month to month, year to year. Although new articles may get a lot of activity the month they are published, very few continue to see visitors.

The top viewed recipes of 2011 are incredibly similar to last year’s list, which hopefully doesn’t mean that I haven’t posted any good new recipes this year – just that these are truly winners. They also happen to get a lot of search engine hits, which always generates traffic.

Top 5 Viewed Recipes This Year

Homemade Granola and Granola Bars
41,578 views

I’ve recently fixed the “crumbly” problem on these granola bars, and I can’t even believe what finally ended up working. It was the OPPOSITE of what I expected! Watch for the update in Healthy Snacks to Go, 2nd edition, coming in January! (I know, I know, I thought it would come in November, but it wasn’t in the cards. We moved, remember? That turned life upside down for sure…

Homemade Wheat Thin Cracker Recipe
40,75 views This version above has tomato and basil in them, Yum!

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins (& bread)
37,531 views

These guys were a close second behind granola bars when I asked on Facebook which recipes readers expected to be tops. They’re definitely a reader favorite, and we love them at our house, too! I nailed the soaked version better than ever this fall as well (post is updated with my changes). Tons of people discover this recipe via a Google search during the month of October.

Monday Mission: Homemade Yogurt, the Easy Way
31,694 views

Check out the video tutorial of my method via GNOWFGLINS eCourses as part of the cultured dairy class!

Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk
30,147 views

This one is a new appearance this year, due mainly to search traffic over the past month, spiking the day before Thanksgiving and the day before Christmas! Hilarious to me because I know folks were missing an ingredient for a recipe and trying to find a quick fix – I wonder how many chose the microwave method with dry milk powder and how many went for this 3-hour method that uses only real food ingredients!

Most Popular Posts Written This Year

So what generated buzz during 2011? I admit, I’ve been low on new recipes this year, partly because I’ve shared all my very, very best tried and true favorites in the first two years, and partly because with all the wild transitions we’ve had, I haven’t been experimenting in the kitchen all that much (except 40 batches of brownies to nail the soaked and sprouted version in Smart Sweets).

These are the 10 new posts that received the most attention:

• Orange Vegetable Pancakes This one deserves top spot – we make them nearly every week nowadays. I have pumpkins and squash in the garage so we can keep having them all winter! Interestingly enough, this recipe is still the 45th one down on the top viewed posts. Apparently my old content has much more lasting power!
• Homemade Vanilla Extract I’m starting a new batch soon so I have some for myself plus easy Christmas gifts next year…
• Eat Well, Spend Less: Five Frugal Must-Have Real Foods
• Download “Is Your Flour Wet?” (a soaked grains eBook) for FREE!
• Sneak Preview of “The Everything Beans Book” (Free Download: Pasta with White (Bean) Sauce)
• Eat Well, Spend Less: Unusual (Frugal) Storage Methods
• Introducing Seeking the Perfect Homemade Whole Wheat Bread
• Eat Well, Spend Less: Cutting the Budget on Whole Foods
• 6 Ways to Eat Well, Spend Less While Camping
• Recipe Connection: Two Grain-Free Pancake Options (Banana and Almond-Apple)

Thank You, Dear Readers

My utmost thanks goes out to you in the computer chairs (and kitchen tables, and rocking chairs, and on phones everywhere) who read Kitchen Stewardship faithfully whenever you get a chance. I love being part of this online community, and I’m telling you: it has changed my life.

I now seek advice and answers from Facebook and Twitter whenever an “I wonder” comes up (which is often!). It’s common to hear me say, “Well Twitter said to…” I’ve gone from not even knowing what a blog WAS three years ago to becoming a work-at-home mom, something I never expected to be, and a professional blogger of all things, also something I never in a million years anticipated.

I’m hoping and praying that things settle down this year once we settle in, and that I can meet more self-set deadlines and finish some projects. I’m embarrassed by the number of series I have left hanging here at KS! Sometimes, we go gluten-free, which really hindered my Seeking the Perfect Homemade Whole Wheat Bread series, as well as the eBook Better Than a Box, which is now next on the list.

Sometimes, I just run out of steam for research posts, which is what got in the way of finishing a Sweet, Sweet Summer about natural sweeteners. I’ve got new fire for it coming up, so we’ll just celebrate July in January instead of Christmas in July. In fact, I’ve got lots of ideas up my sleeve for healthy YOU posts in January, and a little revisit of the “Back to Basics” theme from last New Year, with some upgrades for those ready to go beyond baby steps.

So thank you, dear readers. Thanks for sticking with me through moving and having a beautiful, healthy baby, thanks for encouraging us to avoid circumcision for him (you change my world as much as I change yours, you see!), and thank you for appreciating and tackling those Monday Missions, one week at a time. I’m open to suggestions as we move into another new year as good kitchen stewards, balancing our family’s good health with that of the environment, our budget, and our ever diminishing time!

Peace to you!

Quick reminder: As I mentioned HERE, we’ll keep each other accountable walking through Tsh Oxenreider’s One Bite at a Time, on sale for the next two weeks for $1 off with the code HAPPYNEWYEAR. Let me know if you’re joining in!

———————————————

I’d love to see more of you!  Sign up for a free email subscription or grab my reader feed. You can also follow me on Twitter, get KS for Kindle, or see my Facebook Fan Page.

If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.

Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money.  If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.

See my full disclosure statement here.