10 Best Posts of 2013

The year 2013 is coming to a close, I can’t believe it is the last day of the year. (Can you??). This is one of my favorite times of the year. Do you want to know why? There’s a few reasons:

1. Christmas time: I love Christmas and I love spending the season with my family. I love celebrating our Savior’s birth and taking time out of life to remember Jesus Christ. I also love spending time finding the perfect gifts for people in my life and getting into the spirit of giving. And also spending time around the table eating and building memories in the kitchen together during this time! It’s perfect! 
2. Faithwalkers: Faithwalkers is our annual church conference that is held at the end of December every year. It is the perfect time to spend 4 days learning and renewing you mind for a new year of living. It’s the perfect time to engage your mind, your heart and spend 4 days checked out of “regular life” and resting in God. Big things have been spoken to my heart during this time and I can remember many Faithwalkers where BIG changes happened the next year. It’s the perfect way to end one year and begin another. 
3. Reflecting on the previous year: I believe that Faithwalkers has a lot to do with this reflection. But I love looking back at the year and truly analyzing the great parts of my life along with the areas I need to work on. (we all have those, right??). It’s a true and honest look at my life, which is something I believe we should do often, although I do it all to infrequently! I spend time writing goals and aspirations for the next year and making sure my priorities are in check. If you haven’t taken any time to do that, I challenge you to take 2 hours our of the next day or so and reflect and write some goals for 2014 yourself. 

I wanted to share with you my Top 10 Posts of 2013. It starts with the LEAST and works to the GREATEST. Just like the top 10 posts on the late shows, gotta end with #1! 

10. Super Fat Super Healing Smoothie

Want to know how to make a killer smoothie? One filled full of nutrients and healing that tastes great too? This is a recipe, but also a template on how to make your own customized smoothie. It lists what to use as a base, fruit, and “extras” which are the extra bits of healing goodies you can put in your smoothie to bring it to the next level like gelatin and probiotics. (READ HERE) 

9. Homemade Coconut Butter

Did you know you can make your own coconut butter that is super easy, quick and significantly cheaper than what you can buy in the store? It is different than coconut oil, because coconut butter is like a peanut butter of coconut. What I mean is that is is ground coconut, which makes a butter. To make this you only need one ingredient… unsweetened shredded coconut. You also need a couple kitchen tools like a powerful blender and a spatula to get it out of the blender! I put coconut butter in recipes and often eat it as a quick snack. I eat a spoonful of coconut butter with a little bit of peanut butter and it’s a fat filled (and filling) little snack. Coconut butter is also good with a little dark chocolate. Mmm… (READ HERE)

8. No Bake Superfood Almond Butter Balls

A Make-it-yourself Protein ball full of healthy fats and super foods like chia seeds and coconut. Made with almond butter and with added grass-fed protein powder for an extra protein kick. These are great for a post-workout snack or for a jolt of protein as a much needed snack. (READ HERE)

7. Cut Out Cookies with an Almond Honey Glaze

Ah… the classic cut-out cookie of Christmas. I am glad that this made the top 10 because it was a post I published last Christmas. And they completely fill the need for a “sugar” cut-out cookie with frosting that contains NO refined sugar. It’s an oldie but a goodie and deserves to be in your arsenal of healthy special treats. (READ HERE)

6. Cast Iron Mixed Berry Cobbler

Berry goodness abounds in this recipe. It could also be named Triple Berry Cobbler because it has Raspberries, Blueberries and Blackberries that make up the recipe. It is topped with a coconut and almond flour dough that browns up in the oven. It is yummy plain, with whipped cream or healthy homemade coconut ice cream. If you don’t have a cast iron pan you can make this in an 8×8 glass or ceramic baking dish. (READ HERE)

5. Snowball Cookies (from the 12 Days of Cookies Series)

This year I decided to do a 12 Days of Christmas Cookies Series that featured 12 cookie recipes in 12 days that were all grain-free and refined sugar-free. These snowball cookies were featured on Day 1 and made this years top 10. They are loaded with organic butter, pecans and almond flour and stay together with a little raw honey and sweetened with the raw honey and stevia. (READ HERE)

4. Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cups

A top 10 list without some chocolate, that’s unheard of. I am so glad that these were a reader favorite because they are so flavorful and combine a couple of my favorite things: chocolate and essential oils. I get the peppermint flavor from peppermint essential oil. It gives the cups such a true, real and pure peppermint flavor. And I use coconut butter and unsweetened chocolate in this recipe. You can make your own coconut butter so easily! (check out my recipe here, it’s also #9) These will store in your freezer for a couple of weeks so you can make a batch and eat them slowly when you need a little chocolate fix! (READ HERE)

3. 12 Days of Christmas Cookies Series

I did a series this month called 12 Days of Christmas Cookies. I released a new cookie recipe each day for 12 days with the twelfth day being Christmas Day. All of the recipes are grain-free and refined sugar free. Some are egg-free, nut-free and completely sugar-free. The last day (twelfth day) was my Christmas present to you and also a Thank you! It was actually a double recipe with a recipe for Nutella and then a Nutella Stuffed Cookie. You can use this link to find ALL 12 days of cookies. Some of them are more Christmas focused, but others you can use year round as a sweet treat. (READ HERE)

2. Crockpot Chicken Tacos

Have you noticed almost all of the top 10 posts are desserts and treats? I guess you guys like your treats! (Well, truth be told, I do too!!). Anyways, #2 is a crockpot dish and it is my delicious chicken tacos. You can make them into chicken lettuce wraps or taco salads. The sky’s the limit with this recipe and can be ready to go cooking away in the crockpot until you get home from work or are ready to eat it. (READ HERE)

1. The How’s and Why’s of Fermentation (+ Recipe Round-Up)

This post was inspired by my love of fermentation. I wanted lots of fermented recipes on my blog but knew it would take a long time to compile them all myself. So what did I do? I asked a favor from my blogger friends and linked back to some of their favorite and best recipes on fermentation. That way YOU can have access to them in one place! To be honest this is one of my favorite posts too because fermented foods are crucial to building gut health and was a major piece in my own healing journey. (READ HERE)

 

Did some of your favorites make the list??