The Nifty Foodie

Am I the only person who is shocked that Christmas just passed? I can’t believe it. Neighbors are taking down lights, and our tree looks SO empty without gifts under it. My favorite holiday is over, and crazy enough, it’s time for a new year. 2012.

Time to take the shrink wrap off of the new planner and get used to writing “2012″ on papers/emails/etc. This is just crazy.

Also crazy…sometime in 2012, my 4 year blogiversary is happening and my 3 year wedding anniversary is happening too. WHAT?

It’s a lot to look forward to, but before everyone rings in the new year, I just wanted to share with y’all the top 10 posts of 2011.

10. Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream – This was my first time making SMBC, and I swear, if you haven’t tried SMBC before, just do it. Please?

9. Pecan Pie Macarons – Gotta love macarons. These were really a huge favorite for Thanksgiving, and the star shape (which was a happy accident) made them super cute and festive!

8. Restaurant Style Queso Blanco – This is it. The ultimate queso blanco. If you’re as addicted to queso as me, you’d understand how wonderful it is to FINALLY have a recipe for this!

7. Strawberry Cream Cake – I’m actually glad I compiled this top 10, because I sort of forgot about this cake. Since it’s currently strawberry season in Louisiana, I think I MUST make this cake again. Yum!

6. Peppermint Bark Cheesecake Truffles – This is the recipe that made my year, basically. I still can’t believe I won that recipe contest, and I’ve been told by a few friends who made this that these little truffles were a hit at their holiday parties! So happy to hear that!

5. Banana Nutella “Ice Cream” – Two ingredient “ice cream”. It’s basically awesome and couldn’t be any easier. Your food processor does all the work!

4. Grilled Corn Grits – I can’t be from the South, and not have a post about grits. I promise you if you make this, your hips may never be the same again, but your taste buds will tell you it’s completely worth it!

3. Easy Pasta Salad – My first (and so far, only) vlog. I might get the courage to make one again, since you guys seemed to like it so much!

2. Cooking For Kids – The infamous post. Yup, who’da thought that a soda cupcake would get so much response from you guys (both good and bad)…yikes!

1. S’mores for a Shower – Nutella S’mores. I can see why you guys loved this one so much. I’m sort of craving s’mores right now, actually.

I hope you have a wonderful New Year with your family and friends, and thank you so much for reading The Nifty Foodie! See y’all in 2012!

You may have noticed that I’ve been a little quiet on the blog. This is an odd time for me not to post, since Fall started and I really enjoy making dishes that scream Fall.

There’s a good reason for this, I swear.

WE’RE MOVING!

We just closed on this house Friday, and have been in a packing frenzy for a couple of weeks now! So, the kitchen is closed right now. It’s actually sort of hard for me, since the Fall recipes are pouring in, and all I want to do is be in the kitchen. However, in a week or so when we’re all settled in, this will all be worth it.

And of course, I wouldn’t show you the house without showing you the kitchen.

I absolutely love how open the kitchen is and I cannot wait to start cooking in it! I also love that the kitchen will have so much natural light in it (this picture was taken with natural light alone)…easier blog pictures, right?

Thanks for bearing with me during the move! We’re so excited!

I’ve been seeing this blog idea around the blogosphere for a little while now, and last week, I got tagged by The Wannabe Athlete to post my 7 links. This was a little hard to do, because I’ve been blogging for well over 3 years. How could I just pick 7 links to share with y’all?

However, after a good bit of thought, here are 7 links on my blog that I think you should totally check out if you haven’t already!

Most Beautiful – My Blog, My Moments

I really enjoyed writing this post for Project Food Blog last year. It made me dig deep to share with y’all why I blog about food. Some people find it a little weird. Heck, my family and husband found it weird at first, but they realize that this is now a hobby of mine and fully support me. My mom even tells me all the time how much she enjoys my writing, which is a huge compliment.

Most Popular – S’mores for a Shower

I had no idea that this post would be as popular as it was. This dish was made for a virtual baby shower, and I think that contributed to its popularity. The picture/post also got featured on Foodgawker and Tastespotting. The result? The hits were about 10 times more than the normal daily hits on my blog! Definitely exciting!

Most Controversial – Cooking for Kids

Another post I was surprised by. I wrote this post, mainly because I wanted to share a fun cupcake coloring technique to do with children. The post was actually written, because it would result in a $50 donation towards a charity. The controversial part was the diet soda cupcake recipe idea that I shared from a Weight Watchers meeting. Since the recipe featured nothing but cake mix and soda, a lot of snarky comments resulted, which really made me realize that thick skin is really important to have as a blogger. While I wouldn’t make diet soda cupcakes for kids, I would definitely make them for myself in a pinch. I still don’t understand why some people commented so rudely.

Most Helpful – Nifty Tricks

This was a post series idea that I had a while back featuring little tricks you can use in the kitchen. I actually forgot about this series until writing this post. (oops!) I really want to start up these posts again, since it was a fun idea, and you guys seemed to really like it, too!

A Post Whose Success Surprised You – Caramel Apple Pie a la Mode Bites

I wrote this post for a recipe writing contest (no, I didn’t win). I really didn’t think the idea would be popular at all, since the crust was simply sliced bread and cinnamon sugar! Even Joy the Baker commented on this post! Seriously crazy and surprising!

A Post You Feel Didn’t Get the Attention It Deserved – Turkey Cake Pops

I have to admit, cake pops take a ridiculous amount of time, and usually, dishes that take time to make, get more hits for some reason. I really thought this post would be more popular, since it was written right after Thanksgiving, but maybe I should have blogged it before.

Most Proud Of – Gumbeaux

Roux is an intimidating thing. It can easily burn, and when making gumbo, you have to work on a roux for quite a while. It’s intensive and stressful for me. After many burnt rouxs, I found this idea from Alton Brown to make roux in an oven. SCORE! The resulting gumbo was absolutely delicious, and I felt so proud that my husband and I made a gumbo from scratch for the first time.

Now, to tag 7 other bloggers:

Serena of Big Apple Nosh
Amy of Sing For Your Supper
Jessica of The Novice Chef
Cate of Cate’s World Kitchen
Carrie of Carrie’s Sweet Life
Stephanie of This Casita
Ali of His Birdie’s Nest

Can’t wait to read everyone else’s 7 Links!

In a little less than a month, my hometown (well, not exactly hometown, since I live in a suburb outside) of New Orleans will be hosting several amazing food bloggers for IFBC.

Originally, when I heard the announcement of IFBC being hosted in NOLA, I was very excited about going. I was definitely going…definitely.

But then the price tag hit me. $350. It was a little steep for me, and since we’re currently saving to get a bigger house in the near future, I just could not justify the expense on my hobby, as much as I wanted to go.

Then, IFBC tweeted today that they are graciously gifting 3 bloggers with free registration. To enter, all I have to do is write about why I want to attend. Where do I start?

I’ve been food blogging for over 3 years, and have never had the opportunity to go to a food conference. Usually, they fall on weekends that just run into family events/birthdays. As lame as that can sound, I’m a huge family person. I just don’t skip family things, if I can help it. August 26-28th is free in my calendar. No birthdays, anniversaries, reunions, graduations, etc.

While food blogging is strictly a hobby for me, I’d love to hear from inspiring, successful speakers to learn how to take my blogging to the next level. Some of the sessions I’ve especially got my eye on are food photography (Hello, have you seen my inconsistent photos? I sometimes think I have no clue what I’m doing with my DSLR!), recipe writing and development (I’d love to dabble in this on my blog and share more original recipes.), time management (Yeah, I have no idea where my time goes), and eating on a budget (Our grocery bills are way too high lately!).

IFBC this year is in my hometown. New Orleans is about an hour away from where I currently reside, Baton Rouge. Doesn’t everyone love a local?

Shameless cute picture. Millie can play with Dixie all weekend. Millie is my dog. Dixie is my family’s dog. They are sort of besties, and would love to spend a weekend together.

The food. SO many wonderful restaurants will be feeding the attendees at the conference, including one of my favorite bakeries: Sucre. Aren’t those macarons just gorgeous?

Image source (this is the link to the blogger who took this picture, since I never take pictures of myself) — Me (right) and Big Apple Nosh

Actually putting names to faces in the food blogger community. I’ve seen the blog roll of the attendees, and I would be absolutely stoked to meet everyone. I met a bunch of fellow wedding bloggers from Weddingbee this April, and had an absolute blast. It’s so fun to meet Internet friends.

Whew…that was a lot to share!

As you can see, I have many reasons to attend this conference. Thanks so much for sticking around and reading this post, by the way. Please cross your fingers and toes for me to get chosen to attend!

It’s so great to read about how much Yahoo!’s $20,000 commitment to Share our Strength has been buzzing around in the social media world amongst other food bloggers! I’m just in awe of all the awareness that has been brought forward, because of this great contribution to help our youth.

I’ve learned so much about the astounding numbers involving child hunger while being an ambassador for Foodbuzz. I really had no idea that 1 in 4 children are hungry in this country. Numbers like that make you really truly count your blessings and realize that there are a lot of children who need our help!

There are so many ways that we can help, too. From donating money to contributing our talents and time (hint hint to the bakers out there…Great American Bake Sale), every little bit helps. If you can’t even do that, take a small step now by showing your support of Yahoo!’s commitment to Share our Strength by making Yahoo! your homepage now. (click on the button in my sidebar or click here) and/or share the campaign with your Facebook friends and Twitter followers.

I can’t wait to see the impact that Share our Strength has on our youth in the near future, and I appreciate everyone who has read about this wonderful cause. I know it’s not the norm on here to post about something other than recipes, but I’m really glad that I was able to write about this organization on here.