The Top Recipes After 10 Years of Fake Food Free

Nine hundred and eighty-one published posts. 

That is what it tells me when I log into WordPress. 

I wasn’t always on WordPress. Actually, I stayed true to Blogger as my platform until just a few years ago. But all those posts are there, from 2008 to the present. 

It’s probably not a lot compared to other blogs that have been around this long. Some years have more posts than others.

The first few had a lot of soapbox opinion posts about my views on nutrition. The blog has always had a smattering of internationally inspired content. For a while, you’d find nothing but mascavo sugar and white whole wheat flour. Then I relaxed the rules a bit on that. Mainly because the sugar got much harder and more expensive to find when we moved back to the States, and to be honest, I got sick of the flavor of that flour.

Then I went and wrote a cookbook about making foods with beer. And I started a business, now called Fake Food Free Productions, LLC where my main services are photographing food and writing related content. 

It’s been an interesting path. The pictures above are of me with my first sticky rice in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2009. Then a picture I took at my first food photography workshop. Jumping to current days, the next is one of the headshots I had taken when my cookbook published last year.

Lately, it has been fun to look back at all my content and see how some of my favorite recipes compare to the internet’s favorite recipes. 

I say the internet’s favorites because this doesn’t necessarily mean it is my reader’s favorite. These are just the posts that get the most traffic. I think most website owners agree that sometimes those results are puzzling. A post you are super excited about often does poorly while one you barely expected to get noticed brings in loads of traffic.

I’ve given up trying to figure it all out. I’ll leave that to the experts and browse their blog posts about it. 

My favorites are those recipes that started a personal trend for me. Something that I continued to make over and over again and put twists on. Something that I was like – wow this is good, and wow, this is pretty – when all was said and done. 

We’ll get to those posts in a minute, but let’s start with my FIRSTS awards. There are moments in blogging that I clearly remember because they were firsts in my experience. These are a few. 

My first slightly viral pin:  BLT Spinach Salad with Fresh Garlic Dressing 2012

And this wasn’t pinned by me, but by someone else with a big following. Now, I don’t even know that I’d know the person. At that point in Pinterest history you could easily track down who had pinned you and I remember being amazed that it had been repinned a couple hundred times! Ha!

My first image on Foodgawker: 7-Grain Blackberry Pecan Muffins 2010

This site is still operating and still drives plenty of traffic, but I’m not sure the wow factor is there like it was back in the day. I’ll never forget the first time I got an image approved. I thought I had MADE IT. Haha, again!

From that point, I went from about an equal amount of images accepted as declined to more accepted than declines. Now I’m at a point where I still submit for traffic, but I can predict which ones they will take and which they won’t 95% of the time. And I don’t care because my images now look exactly like I planned them to. If that’s too moody for Foodgawker, that’s okay with me. 

My first recipe complaint: Baking with Coconut Oil – Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since I don’t have a huge following, I also don’t have to sift through all the comments, questions, and negativity that many bloggers do. But I do remember when I got my first complaint. I felt SO BAD! I felt like I had completely ruined it for this person. Then I realized that the error was likely more in the ingredients, interpretations, and cooking skill than it was all my fault. But I did revise the recipe to be more specific. For example, the coconut oil should be the same consistency as butter!

The first time someone told me that my picture made them feel ill: Two of Our Favorite Things – Kaya and Soup Tulang

I love this one because I have been connected with Erika since we lived in Brazil. At the time, I don’t think she ate meat and when she saw the post of me sucking bone marrow from a mutton bone in a sauce as red as blood, she told me in the comments that it made her feel ill. I loved the honesty! And we are still connected on Instagram following each others posts today. 

My first cookbook review: Dollars to Donuts Veggie Pantry Burgers

I remember how excited I was to receive a free cookbook in the mail! I wanted to do everything I could to help spread the word for this author even though we’d never met. I just knew I wanted to support the art of everything involved. I think it’s really when my passion for cookbooks began. 

Next up. The top 10 posts according to the Internet in order with the highest traffic post first. Fair warning, some of these images will hurt your eyes! I know they do mine. And some haven’t been updated regarding text. And some have not been made in years or since I’ve evolved into a professional recipe developer for clients. So if something strikes your fancy and doesn’t make sense, let me know and I will resolve it. 

2014 Pomegranate and Pear Salad Recipe from Mason Jar Salads

2015 Simple Slow Cooker Mung Bean Soup

2014 Yellow Squash Dumplings with Spiced Tomato Sauce from Vegetarian for a New Generation

2017 Hawaiian Products to Buy at Costco Kauai

2014 Spicy Cilantro-Lime Michelada Recipe

2009 A Match Made in Heaven – Avocados and Bananas

2011 Baking Bread and Handmade Pottery

2010 Patty Pan Squash Stuffed with Basil Orzo

2010 Salmon Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

2009 Big Papaya, Small Papaya – Different Fruit, Same Name

Finally, Lori’s top 10 posts and recipes, in no particular order. 

2010 Ataulfo Mango Jalapeno Pizza

2012 Honey-Pecan Tomato Tarts with Blue Cheese

2012 Pesto Pizza with Red Grapes and Bacon

2012 Grilled Marinara

2013 Minced Pork with Garlic and Mustard Greens 

2014 Pumpkin White Bean Dip with Cheddar and Jalapenos

2014 Visiting Vienna Christmas Markets

2015 Chickpea Bowls with Ginger Cucumbers and Spicy Peanut Sauce

2015 Pear and Peanut Butter Yogurt Parfait

2017 Grilled Stuffed Baby Eggplant with Goat Cheese, Walnuts and Prosciutto 

So how many posts and recipes do you think I can turn out in the next 10 years?  We shall see. Cheers and thank you for reading!!