Hi Guys! As I write this post, my greatest hits top 10 recipes of 2023, and we’re well into 2024 – March! So Happy New Year, belated, to everyone! And happy Valentine’s Day, St. Paddys, and Easter, too, very soon! I hope you’ll enjoy hearing about all the happenings of this past year in the New & the Old 2023. If that’s not your thing, hit the jump to recipe button for the countdown!
I had quite a year last year, 2023. It was one of those years that make you want to shake your fists and demand a “do-over!” With my luck, I’d end up on YouTube, Instagram or goodness knows where, and be tagged a “Karen!”
My new kitty, Otto, helping me out
By the way, while I can’t justify the mean, vicious, or meltdown behavior of the “Karens” out there, every once in a while I wonder what happened before the phone started recording or what was edited out. Tell me I’m not the only one!
So highlights: I finally had my shoulder surgery last May, which had been delayed the first time because I came down with Transient Global Amnesia. It was weird but the condition resolves itself in a matter of hours. It’s one thing not to remember your family, but you know it’s bad when you are looking at a dog sleeping on the floor and you don’t know him!
Chance
Of course, I’m kidding about the family, but those of you who follow me know how crazy I am about my nut-job of a Labrador, Chance. And even though the amnesia was fleeting, I had to see a neurologist and that sparked a whole bunch of other appointments with a whole bunch of other specialists, and my surgery was put off for months and months.
I was still recovering from that surgery when something happened no Doctor could help with. I got my heart broken. My fault; he showed me what he was and I ignored it; maybe I thought I could deal with it or maybe I thought the good over rode the bad. Guys, it never does and I don’t know what I was thinking! The lesson: play with fire, get burnt.
Macchiato or “Otto” for short. Half Maine Coon, half Domestic Short Hair.
Thinking I just needed something more to love (and maybe something more to love me) I got a kitten. It was very spur of the moment! I named him Otto, short for Macchiato because he’s a coffee & cream color like the beverage.
And by the way, did you guys see the movie A ManCalled Otto with Tom Hanks? I loved it! It’s all about opening your heart, second chances, and redemption. I’m all for that! Except for the not to be mentioned person I mentioned above, lol!!
right leg – my external fixator ran from upper thigh to almost my ankle.
The low of the year: in September, I fell, breaking both bones in my lower leg, displacing my kneecap, and severing the artery behind the knee. Then there were two hospitals, both trauma centers, four surgeries, a week in the last hospital, and a little recovery time in a rehab center.
I’m home and have been for quite some time; I have just had a hard time getting motivated to do much of anything. At the time I wrote this, I had no beau, no dog, no cat! If that doesn’t sound like a country song gone bad, I don’t know what does! I guess I’m too old and tired for a rock song and “s*x, drugs, and rock’n’roll but I think I would have preferred that if I had to choose, lol!
As I write this, I must update you on Chance, though. It turns out he is very ill and may not have much longer in this life. I know a lot of you that have been following me (and I love that you do, thank you so much) knew Chance from the beginning. When I first wrote about him, I called the post Take a Chance on Me. All of Chance’s baby puppy pics are there.
from the boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse
Enough about my strange life! Let’s talk about my Top 10 recipes this last year. I’m finding myself motivated, or maybe just hungry, talking about these recipes and seeing the pics. I hope you might be, too. If not, feel free to browse; there are close to 1500 recipes on my site so you *might* find something interesting to make!
Now let’s get to something better! Here’s The New & The Old 2023 Top 10 countdown of the most viewed recipes on my site as of end of December 2023.
10) In the number 10 spot are these Scottish Oatmeal Pancakes, They have been a family fave for decades and on my site since 2014. I’m happy to see them in the top 10 for 2023; they’re a comeback recipe; they made the top 10 in 2015, 2016, and 2017 then dropped off for a while.
I have got to put them on my “take a better pic list!” I remember me thinking how good this pic looked way back when with the drizzle of syrup and the melty butter…oh well. Food photography has come a long way! And hopefully, so have my pics!
Scottish Oatcakes – Oatmeal Buttermilk Pancakes
9) Steakhouse Mushrooms have been in the top 10 since 2018. They are scrumptious, and the recipe is worth a look. I went against everyone’s advice on how to cook mushrooms and came up with these gorgeous browned beauties.
Yep, I crowd them all together and then I add a touch of water if needed, and lid them. Once they are cooked, the lid comes off and any extra liquid evaporates. What a difference those few steps make.
Steak House Mushrooms – so beautifully cooked & caramelized – this method is magic!
8) A personal fave is my Easy, Cheesy, Broccoli Skillet. It’s divine. It’s broccoli literally swimming in cheese, so it’s not for the faint of heart (or those prone to guilt, lol!).
It’s best served with something simple, I think because it’s gonna be the star of the table. Published in 2018, it made the top 10 in 2020, then fell off the radar until this past year.
Easy Cheesy Broccoli Skillet
7) In the number 7 spot is my French Onion Soup Burgers. It’s not a new thing to add Lipton’s Onion Soup to a burger mix-up (heck, my Mom did it in the 70s) but the caramelized onion with a bit of Sherry or Brandy (oooh la la) along with the melty cheese takes these over the top!
These burgers, published in 2018, claimed the #6 spot in 2020, #8 in 2021, and #7 in 2022, and of course, the same this past year.
French Onion Soup Burgers
6) If you’ve never heard of Cowboy Candy (they’re sweet & hot pickled Jalapenos) you’ve been missing out! They are crazy good, and if you want to tame the heat a bit serve on top of crackers slathered with cream cheese.
This past year is the third year in a row they made the top 10. They were first posted by me in 2017 so they were a late bloomer.
Cowboy Candy Sweet & Hot Pickled Peppers
5) Yanno That Old Lipton Onion Soup Pot Roast Recipe? I posted it on a whim one cold, rainy September day in 2018 and it’s been in the top 10 ever since!
If ever there was a recipe that screams “comfort” it’s this! I think everyone in our family has made this pot roast for decades! My Mom taught it to me when I was a teenager.
That Old Lipton Onion Soup Pot Roast Recipe
4) This is the third year in a row that The Original Fat Burning Cabbage Soup has made the top 10. Yeah, I expect a surge every January after we all make our resolutions, but this stayed steady in my stats.
Diet or not, I love this soup and hope you will, too! It was published in 2017.
Original Fat Burning Cabbage Soup
3) Classic Lipton Onion Soup Dip was new to the top 10 in 2022 and held steady ever since. I made it and posted it when I needed to refresh my mind on the recipe and the tried and true classic was not coming up for me on a search!
I made no changes from the way we all made the dip in the 70s (Go Boomers, lol) because some things shouldn’t be fiddled with! This is yet another recipe posted in 2017.
French Onion Dip made with Home-Made Lipton’s Onion Soup MixI
2) I love how my post on Canned Refried Beans, Restaurant Style has taken on a life of its own. There’s no doubt there’s room for improvement in a can of refried beans and it’s been fun hearing everyone’s reactions and their own spins on Pinterest. (yes, Pinterest is still a thing!) Posted in 2016, this “recipe” hit the top 10 in 2017 and has stayed there ever since.
The pics are horrible but I don’t want to jinx them by taking a new one, lol! Besides, this is what they look like almost every time I make them, and doncha get tired of looking at gorgeous food pics that don’t necessarily reflect the final dish when you make the recipe?
How to doctor up canned refried beans
1) Now in the number one spot for so long it’s getting boring, lol, my Ruth Chris Copycat Au Gratin Potatoes. I posted them in November 2018 and they viral thanks to a kind Pinterest influencer and have been in the top 10 ever since!
They’re easy, fast, and have such creamy, cheesy deliciousness! I have never served these to anyone who hasn’t raved.
Ruth’s Chris Potatoes au Gratin Copycat = see how creamy!
There were two recipes that dropped off the top 10 this year, or fell from glory, as I like to think of it. I don’t know what’s going on this last year because both of those are serious get-together foods and after Covid, so many of us were doing just that.
- My fabulous Doctored Up Baked Beans. These are really incredible; a little sticky, a little sweet with long-cooked homemade flavor. They’re ooey, gooey, too, in the best way.
- The other is my version of Million Dollar Dip and it has been in my top 10 since first published in 2017 – until this year!
They are going to join my Sister’s Cornbread Salad which is yet another party food! It fell out of the top ten in 2021. There was only one other Cornbread Salad on the internet that I could find at the time it was published so it was really an OG.
Every year I try to highlight one of my fave recipes that hasn’t gotten the visitors or views I think it deserves. This one, Honey Roast Chicken with Spring Peas is glorious; everything about it is amazeballs!!! Crispy, slightly chewy skin, moist chicken, and oh that sauce! I don’t love peas but will happily eat these because they’re infused with flavor from the chicken.
By the way, I’ll show you how to do an easy, workable truss on that chicken, too. It takes about a minute.
Honey Roast Chicken with Spring Peas
So anyway, here’s to 2024, or at least the rest of it, and to the best the future can hold. Cheers. And I’ll be back with new recipes soon! I thought it would be therapeutic for me to get back to normal (for me, lol!) and post recipes. Coz you know next to dogs, I’m all about the food! Besides, I miss blogging and I miss you guys, too!
I’m so glad you’re here and so glad you’re following and commenting and sharing. I hope you’ll continue to stop by, and we’ll keep chatting & cooking together. And be sure to tell your friends and family if you think they might like my site. Ask them to follow by email or on Facebook. As I say every year, like that old Girl Scout song:
“Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver, but the other gold…”
Happy New Year Everyone! And may you have many more new memories this year to cherish along with the old…
Mollie (and Chance and Otto!)
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