The Hits from 2006

Before moving onto 2007, I thought it might be fun to look back at 2006. A member over at the CLBB asked how many new recipes we tried in 2006. I never did religiously track every recipe I tried until I started blogging, so if not for this blog, I'd have no idea. I know that a few recipes fell through the cracks and did not get blogged about, but I think this total is close to accurate. Intrigued by her question, I went back and looked through my archives, month by month. What I found was very interesting:

January - 16
February - 15
March - 11
April - 1
May - 1
June - 1
July - 4
August - 3
September - 13
October - 25
November - 10
December - 19

Can you tell when our lives turned to chaos by the number of new recipes I tried?? I was still doing some cooking April through August, but I relied heavily on quick, easy and tried and true. I was also shocked at how little I posted to my blog during those months - I almost stopped blogging entirely.

Though it was chaos around here, it is also true that I simply don't cook as much during the summer months, at least not from new recipes - I tend to just throw stuff on the grill a lot, using whatever happens to be hanging around - I prefer a much more casual approach to cooking when the weather is nice. I also don't bake much in summer and new baking recipes probably accounted for quite a large percentage of my new recipes. Another factor in my overall total is that I do a lot more cooking by just winging it and I don't always write down what I do - I'm still cooking and trying something new, just not necessarily following a specific recipe.

Anyway, my total was somewhere around 119. If you average that out over weeks, it's about 2 per week. I remember a time when I was trying closer to 3-5 per week. However, trying so many new recipes every week is not only time-consuming, but it tends to bust the grocery budget. Cooking from what's on hand can save time and money.

It would be kind of fun to list all the recipes we tried this year, but I think we'll just highlight our favorites (I have starred my picks for top 10):

Creamy Pea Soup

***Whole Wheat, Oatmeal and Raisin Muffins***

Ginger Carrot Muffins


***Very Creamy Vegetable Chowder***


Shrimp Florentine with Caramelized Garlic


Spinach Salad with Egg, Bacon and Goat Cheese



***Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake with
Cream Cheese and Butterfinger Frosting***


Salmon Packets

***Asian Barbecue Chicken***

Spinach Lasagna


Crispy Mozzarella Sticks


Black Bean and Chorizo Chili


Fig and Goat Cheese Crostini


***Prosciutto Rolls with Arugula and Figs***


***Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies***


Peanut Butter Brownies

***Butternut Squash Risotto***

Ginger-Glazed Salmon

Sesame Roasted Green Beans

***Italian Sausage Soup***

***Lemon Lentil Soup with Spinach***


Chicken Tikka Masala


Peela Gobi


Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Buns



Grammy's Chocolate Cookies


Dark Chocolate Cookies


***Farfalle with Creamy Wild Mushroom Sauce***


Russian Tea Cakes


Rocky Ledge Bars


Onion and Fontina Beer Batter Bread

Well, that about does it. I'm happy to say that looking back, most of the recipes we made were good with very few actual out and out duds, but some are definitely better than others. I don't tend to go back and make the so-so ones again, unless they are very quick and easy and I'm running out of options. The list above are recipes that I either have made more than once or would happily make again.

Now, on to 2007. This recap has inspired me to keep a better list of what we try in 2007. What were your favorites of 2006?