My Blog Turns 15!
Fifteen years ago, when I was young and full of hope, I started a recipe blog.
It was called mykitchencafe.blogspot.com
If you recognize the blogspot address or either one of these original logos below, it means you’ve been around a long time…and…you probably deserve an award.
A few years after I started My Kitchen Cafe, I swapped out the blogspot address for a real, live dot com and it has been Mel’s Kitchen Cafe ever since (with no shortage of logo changes until I finally hired a professional, ha).
It would be impossible to describe all the changes that have occurred over the last 15 years. Both personally and in the internet/blogging landscape.
When I first started my blog, life looked a bit like this:
Whereas now, “life” has increased in the number of humans…and in wrinkles. 😉
Some days, it’s hard to wrap my brain around the fact that I’ve been sharing recipes in this space for 15 years. THAT’S A LONG TIME!
My kids don’t really remember life before “mom had a blog.” Sometimes, neither do I!
Funny story: when my kids were little, little, I’d spend our days doing kid/mom things and making a concerted effort not to be on the computer. However, the minute my kids went to bed, I would rush to my computer and do all the blogging “stuff” on my to-do list. Inevitably, as kids do, mine would wander out of bed and into the office to find me and ask for a drink or want to tell me a random story to delay bedtime or just sit on my lap for a minute (you know, because I HADN’T JUST SPENT THE WHOLE ENTIRE DAY WITH THEM). 😉 During this time, a teacher at church told me that one of my kids had announced to his class: “my mom likes to play games on her computer every night after we go to bed.” I didn’t know whether to laugh or feel mortified (both!). Turns out, all that time, my kids thought I was hiding in the office to play games when they went to bed! We had a quick family discussion about how mom goes into her office at bedtime to work on her food blog…not to play solitaire until the wee hours of the morning. 😂 But honestly, I think they still told their friends and teachers and friends’ parents for years that I was a late-night internet gamer.
Photo Growth
My kids’ shoe sizes and the number of animals we have acquired over the years aren’t the only things that have changed either. HAVE YOU TAKEN A DIVE INTO THE ARCHIVES TO SEE SOME OF MY OLD PHOTOS?
I mean, my goodness. Talk about before and after growth. 🤣
Things Change but My Motives Haven’t
I could write an entire blog post about how, outside of family life, things in the blogging world have changed so drastically over the last 15 years.
Over the years, the online world of food blogging has become less simple and more strategic.
Less relatable and more robotic.
Less carefree and more calculated.
It’s not all bad. It’s just different.
I started my blog as a way to share recipes with my mom and sisters who didn’t live near me. I never had any intentions of becoming a “full-time” blogger.
In fact, I was completely freaked out when a few months after I started putting recipes up on my blog I received a comment from a stranger saying they had made a recipe and liked it. I thought for sure that person was an internet stalker coming after my children.
Turns out, that first blog reader was a perfectly nice, normal human being who still follows my blog after all these years (hi, Kim!). Millions of readers have followed!
Years ago, I did a blog post called “This is Why I Blog”, and I could honestly repost that word for word because I still adhere to the same philosophies I always have about blogging. If you haven’t read that post, please do. It might give you some insight into why I am the way I am and why I blog the way I blog.
While blogging has changed infinitely over the years, my motives have not. Just like when I started putting recipes up on the internet late in 2007, my reasons I still do so are the same: to share my favorite, tried-and-true recipes with the world.
My blog started out as a hobby.
Now it is equal parts hobby and full-time job!
I never would have thought 15 years ago that my readership of about five people would grow into millions! What a tremendous, awesome opportunity and blessing it has been for me.
Some Fun Stats
For those who like geeky number-type stats, I thought it would be fun to share a few details/facts/numbers that help give a big picture look at Mel’s Kitchen Cafe!
At the Beginning (from about 2007-2010):
- Revenue/Income: $0
- Blog Visits: 50-1,000 per month
- Additional Employees: 0
- My Time: 10-20 hours/week
The Middle Years (2014-ish):
- Revenue/Income: part-time
- Blog Visits: 750,000-1,000,000/month
- Additional Employees: 1 part-time virtual assistant (5-10 hours/week)
- My Time: 30-40 hours/week
Current Years (2022):
- Revenue/Income: full-time
- Blog Visits: 3,000,000-4,000,000/month
- Additional Employees: 1 part-time virtual assistant (10-20 hours/week) plus a few contracted employees to help with videos/projects
- My Time: 20-45 hours/week
A Note About Income and Revenue
Things can get kind of weird when people talk about money (and heaven knows, I don’t want things to get weird between us!), but lots of people have been curious over the years if my blog makes money.
It does! But it didn’t always.
For the first several years, I made approximately zero dollars.
Around 2010, I started putting display ads on my website (first just on my own with Google Adsense and then with a long since outdated company, Foodbuzz through Federated Media). I remember literally falling over with excitement when I got a check one particular month for $125. I couldn’t believe I was getting paid that much to talk about recipes I loved!
I later changed ad networks to AdThrive and then switched to Mediavine in 2016 and have been with them ever since.
A VERY simplistic description of how ad networks, like Mediavine, operate is that they work directly with ad exchanges and companies to service and display all the ads you see on my website (and they work on the ad technology and gaining new ad customers so I don’t have to!).
I am paid based on a revenue split – meaning, I don’t pay Mediavine directly for their work servicing ads, rather, Mediavine and I split the revenue that comes from the ads on my site.
I can choose which ads I want displayed. Although that system isn’t always perfect, which is why you may occasionally see a questionable ad, like an alcohol ad, even though I have alcohol ads disabled in my ad settings. Please feel free to always report those ads, by the way! You can do that by clicking on the Mediavine logo in the lower right hand side of the ad and selecting “report ad” (see screenshot below).
Over the years as I’ve worked hard and traffic has increased and my ad structure has changed, my blog has grown to provide a full-time income for me and my family.
My income comes from: the ads you see on the blog, Amazon affiliate links (and L’Chef affiliate links when Bosch mixers are on sale), and Prepear menu planning subscriptions. I know ads can be annoying – and because of that, I only run about half of the ads available to me through my ad network – but those ads serve a purpose to help pay the costs of running and hosting a website, pay my employee and contractors, and compensate me for my work on the blog.
My Virtual Assistant(s)
I’m blessed in that my sister, Emily, is my virtual assistant! She started working with me in 2013 and she is a lifesaver. She schedules posts to Facebook, answers emails, works on Prepear menus, does tons of behind the scenes work updating recipes and categories on the blog, and more.
Her help allows me to focus more on recipe testing, taking all the photos, writing the posts, answering comments, interacting on Instagram, occasionally taking a nap, and maintaining the authentic voice here on the blog.
And since I’m deep in the middle of this acceptance speech (?? kind of starting to sound like one! haha), I would be remiss if I didn’t give a huge shoutout to my faithful partner and best friend. He’s the unpaid assistant around here.
Brian has been my biggest champion since the beginning. And as the resident taste tester (all those pictures on my blog with one bite taken out?? Yeah, thank Brian for that effort), he offers the support, compassion, brain gasoline, and endlessly patient listening ears that keep me and this blog putting one foot in front of the other.
The Numbers Game + Blog Visitors
2020 was a huge year for internet traffic. Because of the pandemic shutdowns and increase of at-home cooking, my visits per month were at a record high that year – nearly 10 million per month! But things have gradually slowed down and my traffic is actually less than it was a few years ago.
The thing is, I rarely check my stats. I can’t really tell you month-to-month how many visitors I’m getting or if it is waxing or waning.
The numbers game can be debilitating (both in traffic and with social media), and I’ve just chosen not to play it so that I stay better focused on my overall intentions. I monitor and check things out now and then, but I don’t dwell on it.
However, I did do a fun little check for this post to see where my visitors are checking in from!
United States: 81.38%, Canada: 8.35%, United Kingdom: 2.53%, Australia: 1.35%, South Africa: .56%, New Zealand: .36%, Philippines: .35%, India: .33%, Germany: .29%
The Right Way to Blog…Or Not
Many bloggers in this food space are intensely savvy. They do keyword research and create their recipe posts strictly around what Google wants (with the goal to get high up in search results). They network with companies (and each other) and grow virtual empires. They publish books and videos and create products.
It’s amazing to watch and see. I love it!
My strategy, which should come as no surprise, is more of the homebody, naturalistic, girl-next-door approach. Meaning: I don’t network all that much, I don’t do keyword research, I don’t do sponsored posts.
I make a recipe. I squeal in delight. I force my family to taste it and review it. I make it again. And likely, again. And then I post it for you, because if I don’t, I want be able to sleep at night.
That’s not to say I don’t work hard at this gig. I do! Blogging is a ton of work (certainly more than just taking a pretty picture of food and slapping it up online!).
I set priorities for certain projects (like email growth, etc), and I’ve always put high emphasis on staying up to date with SEO principles and technology updates, but at the end of the day, I’m still an old school blogger who just wants a space to share my favorite recipes with the world.
Which means sometimes I turn a blind eye to “best practices” and do my own thing. I don’t do this to be ignorant – it’s really just a survival skill to preserve my mental health and ensure I continue to keep blogging.
For me, this space, is about so much more than numbers and stats and money and notoriety. It’s truly about human connection and sharing good things with you.
A Day in the Life
My schedule has shifted and changed over the years. Now that all of my kids are in school full-time (and one has graduated high school), I try to get all my blogging work (particularly) computer work done during the day instead of staying up super late to tackle my to-do list.
I don’t set specific “work hours” but it naturally ends up that about two days a week are spent on the computer side of blogging. Writing and publishing blog posts, answering comments and emails, coordinating projects with my sister-VA, and working on other techy-stuff.
Once I get my kids off to school, I feed farm animals, do scripture study, write in my journal, exercise, and (sometimes) shower, before diving in to blog work from about 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with laundry and other household/farm chores scattered in there.
Additionally, I end up spending another day or two a week bustling around the kitchen to test and photograph recipes (I use natural light, so right now during the winter, I have to get that done before 4 p.m.).
I usually make about 5-6 new recipes a week. Sometimes just for fun. Sometimes to test them (again) and/or take photos. I know, I need to get a life and/or diverse hobbies, but I can’t help it! I love food and making new recipes.
My kids always have Fridays off school, so I try to fit the blogging work in Monday through Thursday; however, inevitably there’s an evening or two that it spills over and I work in my office from 8 – 11-ish p.m.
I don’t shy away from saying I work from home or that I have a full-time job. But I do consider it a serious blessing that my job is this blog and that even though it requires hours and effort, I’m able to set my own hours and schedule.
And doing so allows me the flexibility to volunteer in my daughter’s class, do church and community service (right now I’m helping at a refugee organization, and it is life-alteringly rewarding), run errands when I need to, take a break from everything and help one of my kids or work on a house project, or just aimlessly waste time on the internet searching for watermelon carving knives.
To Sum it All Up
While my focus is mostly on really good recipes, over the years, I’ve also shared gift guides and Friday Thoughts (used to be Snapshot Saturdays!) and glimpses of real life.
At the end of the day, I’m a very average, real human who has a lot of highs and a lot of lows. And I don’t do a great job of pretending like those things don’t exist. Normalize real life. That’s my motto. 🙂
I have no idea how long I’ll continue to blog. If asked, some days my answer would be “forever” and other days the answer is more like “um, ask me tomorrow – I may have pulled the plug on the blog by then.”
The truth is, even with my laid back style, it’s hard work. Something is always going on (or breaking!) behind the scenes and there is a lot of management that blogging requires besides the delicious pictures of food and brand, new recipes.
I get tired and burned out.
But the reason I always, always end up sitting at my computer at midnight NOT playing solitaire 😉 is because of you guys.
Seriously.
It’s Because of You
If it weren’t for the real human connections I’ve made with you over the years, for the comments you leave and the stories and experiences you share, for the notes that tell me how a recipe has impacted your family or changed someone’s life for the better, for the hilarious anecdotes and the heartbreaking life experiences…if it weren’t for that, I’d be long gone.
I tell my family all the time that it’s ok I never leave my house because I have millions of friends online.
And, ok, I know that sounds completely weird, and if my kids said that back to me, I’d definitely get them professional help.
But.
It’s also true. Thank you for sticking around. For being my virtual friends. For making this a space that I want to come back to day after day.
Love your guts. 😘
Also, a special shoutout thank you to all of you who leave comments/ratings/reviews on recipes after you’ve made them. This makes such a huge difference! For me, and for those who scroll through comments to get ideas/variations/suggestions when they are planning to make the recipe. Thank you for taking the time to leave comments and reviews and ratings!!
What’s to Come
Well, first of all, count on the best of the best new recipes to continue popping up here! I have some exciting new recipes coming your way. My goal is to get you 4-5 well-tested, fantastic recipes each month in 2023.
Additionally, I’m planning:
- lots of updates to many of the recipes that have been on here for over a decade (not changing the recipe, per se, just updating photos and recipe notes, etc).
- some additional content projects that will likely involve hiring another assistant to help with marketing and development
- site updates and changes to make the website sleek, savvy, and even more SEO-friendly
- continuing with Friday Thoughts posts now and then
- and a few other things swirling around in my brain
I get asked all the time if I’m planning to do a cookbook. I have a cookbook started on my computer – some content, lots of ideas, etc. But every time I get close to signing a publishing contract or going the self-publishing (or hybrid) route, I can’t ultimately commit. It feels stressful and wrong. I think my biggest hangup is that my first priority is to continue to publish a wide range of amazing content on my blog, and I don’t think I can manage a cookbook and the blog. Additionally, I’m not sure I really have anything to offer the cookbook world that hasn’t already been done. So. We’ll see! Never say never!
Anything you are dying to see on Mel’s Kitchen Cafe? Let me know below in the comments! I love getting suggestions from you!
The End, Finally
And herein lies another extensive novel-like post about nothing all that important, which will surely garner some hate mail from those that “just want the freaking recipe already so stop blabbering,” but hey, 15 years in, it’s hard to change these long-winded stripes.
OK, BYYEEEE. 😘 Here’s to the next 15 years!
If you have any other questions about blogging or Mel’s Kitchen Cafe or just want to tell me about YOURSELF (yes! that’s a good plan!), leave me a comment below!
In case you didn’t clearly hear me earlier in the post: I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR YOU!
The Comments
Thank you for all of your heartfelt comments. They’ve made me laugh and cry. I’m just so grateful for each of you. For the good humans you are. The efforts you make in your own lives. The affirmations you’ve allowed me to feel that this blog is “more than just a blog.” I’m just very grateful to be here with all of you.
Thank you for all of your suggestions, as well! I keep a running list of things you would like to see on the blog, and I’ve taken note of all of them!
To answer a few questions coming through in the comments:
- Where do you get ideas for new recipes? I have so many recipe ideas swirling around in my head, it’s a miracle I ever get to sleep! I’m so anxious to share all of them with you! I find inspiration from recipes you share with me (I LOVE GETTING NEW RECIPES FROM YOU SO MUCH – thanks for sending them to me!). I also get inspiration from a few recipe magazines and social media. But a lot of my recipe inspiration just comes from me thinking about food nonstop and figuring out recipe mashups I want to make.
- How many times do you make a new recipe before posting it? At least twice, but for baking recipes, usually an average of 3-4 times (with some recipes taking a few more testing sessions).
- How many of your recipes are original or modified from other sources? There are a lot of both! Although I would submit that there’s probably no such thing as a truly original recipe anymore since there are so many recipes “out there” already. I always cite a recipe source if I’ve used a recipe as inspiration or modified it. But there are some recipes I’ve come up with on my own from all those ideas swirling around my head (and many other recipes from my childhood)!
- How adventurous are your kids when it comes to eating? My kids eat everything I make. They don’t always love, love certain ingredients (I have a tomato hater and a mushroom hater and a bean hater; they power through it), but they’ll eat it. I have two kids that love to try new things and will eat anything. They’re the ones at restaurants that order something unusual and fun and will dig into sushi with me and Brian. The other three go straight for the mac and cheese and chicken nuggets. 🙂
602 Comments on “My Blog Turns 15!”
I guess I’ve posted it before, but I’ve become famous for your PERFECT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. The only thing a russian girl could impress already ooey-gooey-loving brazilians. Only a couple days ago we had lunch with lds missiories at our house when one of them asked me where did I get a chocolate chip cookie recepie from. So, I told him about your blog. Only a week ago we had a Primary activity where I taught kids prepare these cookies. And when I get to any activity where people are supposed to bring food, I would usualy hear: “Have you brought your cookies, Mariya?”. The portugues version of the recepie travels through Whatsapp. These cookies have been means of service projects for years! And people would say: “These are the best cookies I have eaten in my whole life!”. So, thank you for your INCREDIBLE cookies and your whole blog. I love the way you write, you have a great literary talent. Thank you for your blog!
Loyal fan for about 15 years. With a 18 and 16 YO….you’re a big influence in our kitchen!
Congratulations on 15 years of being the #1 recipe source for so many people, including me and my sisters! We love you and trust that everything you share will be worth our efforts. I can’t tell you how often I get compliments on my cooking, and I always give you credit. I’ve been reading your blog and sharing your recipes since the beginning, and I like to think we’re great friends!
My teenage daughter and I were making your carrot cake for Easter yesterday. Talking about how people choose to spend their time and use their talents. She said, “Mel’s kids are really lucky!” I have five children also and enjoy cooking and baking. She is always very appreciative as she likes to eat as much as I do! She was just imagining all the magic that happens in your kitchen and so I wanted to share!
Not to be creepy, but I pretend we’re friends all the time. I have been following since 2010 back when I really didn’t know how to cook and I was afraid of making bread and just thought yeast hated me. With your coaching and encouragement, I can say that yeast and I have a healthy respect for each other now and I can make things. Your recipes have made me literally feel like a Rockstar and I have tricked so many people now into thinking I can actually cook. If I need something new, need an oldie but goodie, have 3 things to cook with, your blog is the first one I go to, full stop. Thank you for being amazing!
Mel, If and when you ever decide to stop blogging, would the site still be available? Should I start saving and printing your amazing work now? I take for granted it is all right here.
I love Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. I never go to a cookbook any more. Unless I can’t find it on your blog which is rare. Your recipes are tried and true. Thank you
Mel if your page ever went offline I would be in so much trouble! I found your page about 10 years ago as a young mom, looking for recipes to cook more at home and budget. I found that many recipes I found online or in cookbooks were terrible. Your recipes almost always worked out, so I kept using them more and more. Now all these years later, your recipes are family staples and requested for many extended family parties. The brown sugar ham has been nicknamed “vinegar ham” and is requested for every holiday by fam and friends (looking for leftovers.) Calico baked beans are such a pot luck staple, I think my friends forget I can make anything else. At home we love the Sweet and Sour Chicken (obviously), Beach Street Lemon pasta, your moms classic red chili, corn bread, baked crème brûlée French toast, Thai chicken salad, and many many more. Your recipes are woven into the fabric of our lives. Thank you so much for your time and commitment to posting such excellent, tested recipes. Here’s to another 15 years!
Hi Mel.
Thanks for the read. A cool story about what makes my VF tick.
The thing I love about your site is that I know there’s no bull dust attached to it, that the recipes work and that there’s lots of love here.
Keep up the good work Mel, or stop, or do what makes you happy. I know that what you do makes me happy.
Kind Regards
Rod Hart
I’m super late reading this post but I’m so glad I did because it was super interesting. Thanks for taking the time to write it, and thanks for continuing to blog all these years through all the highs and lows. You really are the best and I love your guts right back!
Mel, you’re a household name here! I still have my Rock Star apron. Thanks for getting me through the young children stage with delicious and simple recipes, and thanks for now being a go-to site for my grown kids out cooking on their own. We sure appreciate you!
I have always been happy with every recipe I’ve tried from you, and that’s saying something! Thanks for the great food ideas.
I love your authentic approach and you’ll always be my go-to!! Thank you for sharing goodness and blessing so many families!!
Mel – I consider myself a good cook and baker. About 10 years ago I was going to bake my standard peanut butter cookie recipe that I have used for years. On a lark, I decided to search for “the best peanut butter cookie recipe” and your site was the first one that popped up. Needless to say I still use your recipe for “the best peanut butter cookies” all these years later. I signed up for your newsletter and we enjoy so many of your recipes. When I try a new one and my husband raves about it, he asks where I got the recipe and he knows by now that my response will be “Mel’s”. You are part of the family.
What comes thru in your sharing is your heart from which you write. That means so much. It is evident that you love your family, you love serving God and others and you love to cook and bake and share your recipes. I appreciate that you have done all the testing too.
I pray The Lord bless you, and watch guard and keep you; The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious, (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you. The Lord lift up His approving countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually). Numbers 6:24-26 – Amplified Bible Translation
Merry Christmas
Don’t you dare believe for one second that you have nothing to offer the cookbook space. Mel, every single recipe you make is tried, true, dependable, delicious and nothing short of pure love. Recipe books are not just about the recipes in it, but also the person behind the recipe. You have a style and a technique unique to you and people adore it. If my internet bookmarks for your recipes could show wear and tear mine would have creases, sticky marks, oil stains and more because I reference them so often. I understand if a cook book isn’t the right path, however I just want you to know, the world would be very fortunate to have a cookbook written by Mel!
Fun to read this and reminisce with you. I’m pretty my sure I was here in the blog spot days. Can’t remember my cooking life without you, Mel. 🙂
I love your recipes and love even more how REAL and relatable you are.
I didn’t know you really liked receiving recipes. Now that I know, on the rare occasion that I find a winner somewhere other than your site, I’m sending it over!
Hi Mel!
What a milestone post. Although, I’ve been around since 2013, and have read bits and pieces, I enjoyed reading your story in full and the why you do what you do. I love your recipes, stories, tips, recommendations, gift lists, Friday thoughts and all the rest that your blog has offered through the years. I look forward to seeing what new things you have in store for us readers! Blessings to you and your family in the coming New Year!
Over the past ten years my family (and I) have shared many delicious home-cooked meals (and letsbehonest… oatmeal chocolate chip cookies) thanks to your blog, Mel! We SO appreciate your generosity and hard work! I did not grow up with parents who enjoyed cooking, so when my husband and I began a family I wanted to prioritize making nutritious, delicious family meals in our home. We share special meals and precious time together thanks to your recipes and blog. Your hard work has blessed us, and we’re so grateful! Thank you from Tennessee! 🙂
You are awesome Mel!! Thanks for sticking around the blog space! I’ve been following since the beginning and I credit it you for basically teaching me to cook and bake over the last 15 years. Keep it up!
I’ve been along for the ride since 2013. You are one of my favorite bloggers. Mainly because I do feel like you are so real, down-to-earth, and I believe we would be friends. My favorite recipe so far is the baked sweet and sour chicken recipe. I actually never order Chinese takeout anymore because of that recipe. If I could add anything it would be more Indian, Thai, and Middle Eastern recipes. And add more recipes to the freezer-friendly section!
I teared up when you wrote about the past 15 years. And especially when you talked about your husband. I hope you never pull the plug on this old thing! You’ve connected our family and our guests to many delicious meals around our table. I feel like I’m talking about a friend when I say “it’s from Mel.” Blessings to you! Kristin
Thank you for your post, Mel! I have been getting the majority of the recipes I make for my family of 7 from you since the beginning. My family always teases me about you being my bestie (creepy maybe?). When I tell my husband I have to check our a game because “Mel suggested it,” he rolls his eyes a little, but I can’t help it, since I’ve gotten so many great gift suggestions from you in the past. My oldest is a senior, and we both had our now-10-year old daughters close to the same time, so alright I’ve never met you, I’ve always felt like we would totally be buddies if we lived closer. Anyway, thank you for not giving up on your blog, because, as weird as it is, it’s helped me get through some tough times. Thank you for providing so many yummy, family-friendly recipes that have become absolute staples in my home! And thank you equally for being real and relatable. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels like they have a friend in Boise.
I so so SO appreciate your honesty and your clear reflections here (and I love the recipes you post.) As a fellow-blogger-but-in-the-infant-stages, it’s refreshing and validating. Thank you!
I am a long time follower and one of the reasons I stick around is due to your authenticity. You are truly a breath of fresh air. Plus your recipes are so so good! I’ve honestly never been disappointment by any of your recipes and I have tried a LOT of them. Thank you for all your hard work and for being so candid. It’s nice to see a real human online.
I can’t imagine my adult mom life without Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. I’ve long considered you my “food spirit buddy.” I’ve needed your recipes, your posts and your humor. I’ve always wished you were my next door neighbor because of your girl next door approach. Thanks for being you, for genuinely sharing real life and good food with all of us. ❤️
I know we diverge in opinions when it comes to casseroles but I’m always a fan of an amazing casserole.
I just love, love your blog. It is really the only one I consistently go to when I am menu planning (or just at all anymore) as I know anything I make from it will be good and probably make its way into regular rotation. I appreciate your approach. All good blogs/youtubers/instagramers end up changing who they are in the effort to get more followers. And I don’t think that is a good thing! They lose the authenticity and what made them popular in the first place. You have always remained the same in what counts and I hope you always do! Thank you and congratulations on 15 years!!
What a great recap and impressive stats! You may be “old school”, but you have the best blog around. A great balance of honest and tested recipes and sharing about parenting and other things. You recipes are always so good and the instructions are so clear and helpful. Thank you for holding back on the ads, some other blog sites are impossible to navigate because of the sheer number of ads. I hope you are compensated well because it is a lot of work and you deserve it.
I started reading your blog when you lived in Minnesota – I was searching for a food blogger from MN (I live there because it is God’s country LOL), and found you. Your blog is the first place I look for a recipe I need! I can’t tell you which recipe of yours in my favorite but the fact that your sloppy joe recipe was a huge hit with my very picky hubby says A LOT! Thanks for all you do and are, Mel!
I love this recap of your blog history! What an accomplishment! I’ve been around for a long time and you are my #1 website for delicious and simple recipes!! Thank you for all your hard work to help us have yummy meals for our families!! You are one of a kind food blogger!! Merry Christmas!
I think I’ve been around for 8 years or so? You’ve become my #1 source of inspiration for recipes AND games to try with my family, I feel so lucky to have this corner of the internet. You’ve also inspired me to be better about printing recipes and saving them in a recipe binder — it’s one of my prized possessions!
I’m a huge fan of yours Mel! I love your recipes, your farm-ness and how genuine you are. Your blog is my go-to for every meal and I love to send people to your site. In fact, a lady from my son’s mission texted me to get a recipe I often make and of course I forwarded your blog to her. Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing your talent! At work when I bring in food for treats, I always say “It’s Mels”, and everyone knows it’s you! My 82 year old mom knows about your blog and she doesn’t even cook. My favorites are your orange rolls, the ones that call for the scalded milk, they are so delicious! We had your Homemade Stove Stop Stuffing for Thanksgiving and I used your Rustic bread for the bread. That Rustic Bread is so yummy! And so easy! Actually I don’t even have a favorite becuase it’s all my favorite! Thank you! You are a bright light!
I’m part of your Canadian 8%, I’ve definitely been around for a few iterations of the page, but I never comment 🙂 We are a family of 6 and so many of your recipes are staples in our house now, my family thanks you! It’s nice to have such a longstanding, consistent resource, and also weird to think that some of my kids have been eating your meals basically since they have been born (they are teens and preteens now). I find so many other sites can be hit or miss, but with yours, I know that supper will always be a winner. I don’t have to hesitate, I know it will be good. Thanks!
I love love love all your recipes and time and work you put into it, thank you!!!!