This may be one of my favorite posts to write all year long and in the few weeks leading up to New Year’s, I’m always excited to dig into my stats to see which 2013 posts you guys loved the most this year. So no more waiting…here are your Top 10 Faves of 2013!
Soft Pretzels with Roasted Jalapeño Cheese Sauce – These pretzels are without a doubt one of my most favorite snacks ever! The addition of spicy roasted peppers to a homemade cheese sauce is definitely one of the better ideas I’ve had in a while.
Much like these soft pretzel bites with cheese sauce (aka the overall most popular post on the blog this year) the full-size version of Alton Brown’s now-famous pretzel is completely addictive. I dare you to try to eat just one!
Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls – I feel like it’s been the year of buffalo chicken for me and for a while there (months?), a buffalo chicken pizza made a weekly appearance in our house for dinner. These baked buffalo chicken egg rolls, however, make a light and healthy snack, appetizer, or light meal and they went over really well with both of us.
Dipping them in some homemade ranch or blue cheese dressing negates a little of the health-factor but really finishes the egg rolls off nicely.
Creamy Baked Four-Cheese Pasta – Put a bowl of pasta in front of my and I’m happy. But put a bowl of this creamy baked four-cheese pasta down in front of me and I’m completely over the moon!
You guys seem to have loved this cheesy baked pasta just as much as I did and I’ve got it on the menu again this coming weekend – do you?
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting – Boy am I glad I found this photo in my Flickr archives earlier this year because I had totally forgotten to share this insane chocolate cream cheese frosting that I’ve been making for years now with all of you. It’s a deeply chocolatey frosting without too much of the tanginess that cream cheese frosting usually has.
This is my go-to chocolate cupcake frosting and I hope you guys are loving it too!
Bacon, Scallion, and Caramelized Onion Dip – Grab your favorite chips or vegetable sticks and make this dip pronto. A homemade and kick-up version of the boring boxed dip mix with caramelized onions cooked in bacon fat, this was by far one of my top 5 favorite snacks of this year. So happy to see you guys loved this one too!
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes – No Valentine’s Day would be complete without chocolate covered strawberries but I decided this year to take things a little further with these chocolate covered strawberry cupcakes. I had been wanting to make dipped cupcakes for years and these just work so well with a strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream frosting dipped head-first into melted chocolate.
The frosting sits atop my favorite chocolate cupcake so to me, these cupcakes are pretty much perfect and with Valentine’s Day approaching soon, I hope some of you will have fun with them too.
Herb-Grilled Chicken with Creamy Broccoli Orzo – I first made and posted this herb-grilled chicken with creamy broccoli orzo in 2007 and it needed a re-introduction here this year. Old posts get lost so easily but I’m so happy to see that so many of you loved this meal as much as we do. This is one of our go-to dinners and I know those of you who commented love it as much as we do.
Dill Pickle Dip – I never in a million years thought that this dill pickle dip would go over so well with you guys but it made quite an impression this year. Cool cream cheese is whipped up with some fresh dill pickles into a dip I wouldn’t have touched 3 years ago but fell in love with this summer.
I can see quite a bit more of this dip happening this coming year, especially since we’re still eating our way through this year’s crop of garlic dill pickles.
Sweet Chili Thai Dressing – This is an innocuous dressing. A seemingly boring name definitely doesn’t do the this dressing justice but everyone of you who came back to comment about this dressing adored it as much as I did.
The thai crunch salad I first poured this dressing all over didn’t make the list this year but it’s a healthy must-make for anyone who is looking to overcome boring salads.
Buffalo Chicken Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing – Once again, buffalo chicken has reared its head! What is there to say about this buffalo chicken salad except that you need to make it. Like rightthissecond!
The chicken is breaded and baked (like my favorite chicken fingers) and then it’s doused with spicy buffalo sauce. The cool lettuce and creamy avocado dressing offsets the heat of the chicken making this one salad you’ll never complain about eating.
Looking for more Year-End Favorites Round-ups?
2012 Top Reader Favorites
2011 Top Reader Favorites
They all look so delicious! But the buffalo chicken egg rolls look particularly good. I shouldn’t read food blogs so close to dinner time 😉
Thanks, Trish! The egg rolls are amazing! I hope you try them. 🙂
An awesome group of recipes! I really need to make those pretzels…they look SO good!
So great to hear, Uma! They really are so good – plus easy to make and low-cal which is always a bonus. 🙂