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. 🙂
Love your blog-I’ve been here since the beginning. I’ve never commented but my best family recipes are from you. My 14 year old loves to bake and goes straight to your blog too. If I make something new my kids ask-“Is this from Mel?”
Thanks for your faithfully awesome recipes!
Love you Mel!!! It’s always so fun when someone I know makes a MKC recipe and I get to tell them you’re my cousin (once removed or whatever we are). I love how authentic and real you’ve been all these years. Keep being you!!!!
Also when I first got married I earned the title of “dessert goddess” with my in-laws because I made a bunch of your recipes (the knock off swig cookies, the homemade Twix, s’mores cookies, various cheesecakes etc.). Now that they know your blog they’re on to me. I don’t do anything special, I can just read your recipes and know it will be good!! They really are tried and true!
Loved reading this post! I started following you in 2013. I was a young mom of three little kids living in Wisconsin. I would sit up at night nursing my third baby and scroll through your website. And now here I am, 9 years later, and your recipes are my go-to each week as I plan our menu and make the grocery list. I have started to just say, “I got this recipe from Mel!” and the other day my daughter asked me if I know you. 🙂 Nope, but I sure act like I do! Our Thanksgiving menu came almost exclusively from your site. This was our first year making a turkey. We did the herb roasted turkey and my mother-in-law and I had tears streaming down our cheeks watching my husband stuff everything into the turkey cavity. It was a highlight of my Thanksgiving Day! And, the turkey turned out fantastic. 🙂 Thanks for your relentless work, and for sharing all that you do on here. You are nothing short of amazing.
Mel! I haven’t been following you for 15 years now because if I’m being honest that would be half of my life. Lol, no joke!!!
But I found you about 7ish years ago when I first got married. My mother didn’t grow up with her own mother, so she wasn’t very fond of cooking. My grandmother on the other hand found much joy in cooking. And I think I take that from her. But I literally had no idea where to start because my mother never taught me. My mother-in-law tried teaching me briefly. But when I got married my husband and I were living overseas and so there was no one to rely on. But thankfully the internet has involved so much that was the first place I went to look. And the rest is history! So, your blog has taught me so much. And for that I’m so very thankful!
Blessings and many more years of blogging!
I think my friends and family aren’t at all surprised anymore when I mention a recipe is from Mel. Yours is the only blog I keep up with and I think that’s for two reasons – I seriously love the recipes you share, and I love the real life. Being a fellow Idaho lover is a bonus. 🙂 Thanks for everything!
Jessica
I love this post!
Funny story for you. I feel like I’ve made nearly every recipe on your site. I’ve been following you since before I met my husband, which is 14 years ago, so clearly nearly the very beginning!
Anyway, yesterday was my birthday and everyone in the house has been sick and we are limping across the finish line of this week so I just said I wanted to stay home (please God don’t make me go out when all I can think about is getting back in bed-lol) and assumed we would just grab some takeout. Anyway, I got home from work and he’s in full cooking mode in the kitchen…got recipes all printed out and chopping away. So I go change clothes, etc and wander back to the kitchen he said “I checked your friend’s website and found some recipes” I said “what friend?” he said “Mel”…puzzled I’m thinking “Do I know a Mel?” so I said “who is Mel?” and he gives me a really bizarre look and said “don’t you have a friend Mel? I feel like you talk about her website all the time!” “no??” so he hands me the pages he’s printed off and I see they are from your site. OMG! I thought I was going to die from coughing after that. I was laughing so hard which quickly spiraled into a coughing fit but at least I would have died with a smile on my face. About an hour after we ate (delicious meatloaf, cheesy potatoes and green beans) we were watching tv and he mutters….”I can’t believe all this time I thought you actually knew this person!” Anyway….it might be one of those, you needed to be there, moments to really appreciate it, but it was so funny and just the levity we needed after such a long miserable week of all of us passing around this stupid cold/cough. Thanks for all the recipes and being such a great friend all these years!! Hahahaha!!!
Mel, such an interesting and lovable post. Thanks for all your efforts. I love the picture of your good looking kids!
Julie Hahn
Oh, and I love your recipes!
I wrote a super duper long comment (seriously. So long!!) and I think it just got eaten… so if it did… maybe I’ll come back and try to piece it together again later. Suffice it to say, we love you, Mel. And we’re glad you’re sticking around! Thank you for being here and sharing so much with us all!
Much love to you,
Arlene
I think it’s safe to say my comment really was eaten. Sad day.
Readers Digest version:
Thank you for sharing your recipes, tips, and heart in your little online space. I have learned so much from you, and you’ve taken me from a total novice to confident cook in the kitchen. When I first got married 17.5 years ago, i made a lot of things like cream-of-something casseroles, shake n bake pork chops, and canned or frozen veggies. I was afraid to try new recipes AND we rarely invited people over because I was nervous to cook for them. But now, because of all you’ve taught (and a small handful of other places like ATK), we invite people over and I’ll even serve something that I’ve never made before. Because I trust you and your recipes that much.
And lastly, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your generosity and kind words. I’m excited to be learning the ropes with my new Bosch mixer, and reading your email brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for being here as my dear friend and companion in the kitchen.
Hugs,
Arlene
Wellllllll, guess the comment wasn’t eaten, because now I see it. Oops. :/ Suffice it to say, you and your blog are loved.;)
Happy bloggy birthday, Mel! I’ve been visiting you for a long time, but not quite the beginning… closer to the end of the beginning years, about 2010/11ish. I think. I know it was when we lived in Nebraska that my best friend sent me to your website (after she made your amazing no bake lemon cheesecake), but I’m not totally positive what year it was. I’m pretty certain we only had 2 children at the time, but it could have been shortly before #3 was born (and now we have six! One girl in a household of boys, just like you guys.) So. That’s my long-winded way of saying I’ve been around since somewhere between 2010-2013.
I digress. (You’re not the only wordy one in this world, but we are all here for it, clearly, since we keep coming back week after week!)
Thanks for sharing your recipes and your time and your best tips! I have grown greatly as a cook in my kitchen because of you and your well-written online “cooking school.” I did a lot of spaghetti casseroles, shake n bake pork chops, and canned veggies when we first got married 17.5 years ago, but now I’ve increased in confidence and capability so much that some people come asking me questions and wanting help troubleshooting recipes in their kitchen.
Thanks also for giving us a glimpse of your heart and mind on lots of things… it makes you personable and relatable, and it feels like you’re a dear friend after all these years.
And lastly, thank you for the fun and generous giveaways! I hardly enter things (because I never win lol), and then you go and gift a Bosch mixer from your most recent giveaway!!! I was shocked and in tears because of your kind words and generous prize. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Mel!
Years after my friend first shared your website with me, I’ve made countless recipes of yours, and I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve gone and made a brand-new recipe when company is coming. Because I know I can trust you and your recommendations.
Speaking of recommendations, I have recommended you to many! So. Many. Even strangers! Every time we have moved (courtesy of Uncle Sam), I make new friends who ask for the recipe of something I’ve brought, and they get introduced to my friend and kitchen mentor, Mel, as well.
Much love to you (and to your family for sharing you with us),
Arlene
Thanks for this post I highly appreciate it! I connect with real and you most certainly are that. Some of us sense the authenticity of the less savvy overly marketed ones and it feels good 🙂 it feels cozy and like home. Keep it up! How awesome to grow something for yourself while raising children and taking care of a family and home. You go girl!
Thank you for the recipes Mel! You have brought a lot of delicious joy to my home and family. I selfishly want you to make a cookbook so I have a pretty collection of your recipes. 🙂
Merry Christmas!
Mel’s kitchen is my number one go to when I’m searching for something to make for dinner. I’ve loved all your recipes and most of the time, my kids do too!! Win win! Thanks for sharing your talent for cooking with the world! I love your authenticity and the fact that you take time to write posts such as these. So fun to get to know you better and to relate with you on a whole different level. You truly are the best!!
This is exactly what I wanted to say. Your blog is a treasure. Grateful!!
Most of my kids’ favorite recipes are yours!
I’m so happy to know you- even if it’s just virtually! I’m grateful for all you share, recipes, and real life. You’re a force for good on the internet and in my kitchen. 🙂 thanks for all the hard work and sacrifice you’ve put into this for the last 15 years, Mel!
Thank you so much for all your amazing, hard work over these 15 years! If you do ever make a cookbook, it will just be a much more pretty/ organized version of my recipe binder… which is a mess of pages and pages of your recipes printed out (and covered with ingredients ). I’m certain there are 100’s of 1000’s more recipe binders out there stuffed full of your fabulous work! Thanks again. You are by far the BEST food blogger who has ever lived.
Mel, I’ve been following your blog since the very early days, and have learned and grown as a cook so much by following your recipes. Thank you so much for helping me feed my family over the past 14 years (I think I started following in 2008?). Sincerely, your recipes are wonderful and your site is a gift. Thanks for all of your hard work, it has been a true blessing in my life!
Congratulations on 15 years! You’ve never led me astray and I’ve loved every recipe I’ve made from your site. Yours is the only food blog I subscribe to, at first because of the food but then because you’re just so relatable and real.
You also taught me to make bread, for which I am so grateful! Before your step by step instructions my bread never turned out well at all. Now family asks me to bring your rolls to all our dinners!
Btw, I already own your cookbook since half of my recipe binder is printed out from your site 🙂
We ♥️ you, Mel! You’re our go to for recipes. Thanks for all of the work you’ve put into keeping the website going all these years. There’s one thing I’m hoping is on your to do list soon: all the things about girls camp food!!! You mentioned you would post about everything you learned last year and I’m in charge this next year I would LOVE to learn from you!
I found out about your blog a few years ago and its a game changer! I love how there are no cream of soups, ingredients are reasonable and how your healthy recipes are real recipes instead of just wierd trends. I love your tips like how to use a fresh garlic clove or blend butter into a pastry. You’re teaching me to be a better cook. Thank you! And trying a new recipe on other sites can be so risky but your site is a go-to! Your site really is a blessing! Ps. My idea for a cookbook which maybe isn’t reasonable is one where we can pick our favorites of your recipes and order those as a cookbook. There are a lot of your recipes I make so often and I’d rather have it in a book than bring them up on my phone every time. But maybe thats not feasible- but its an idea!
Thank you for keeping up this blog for so many years! You are a household name at our house! We love all your recipes so much!
Congratulations on all the hard work and the labor of love. When I need some-thing a little extra I look thru your recipes and find something perfect and something my family will eat.
Happy 15th blog birthday! Yours is the first place I go for recipes and ideas. But I think I love your blog so much, not just because of all the stellar recipes you’ve given us, but because I too feel like you’re a friend. You may not know me, but I’ve been around here for a long time and I’ve learned enough about you to know that we would be friends if we ever met. So there. Go tell your kids that. 😉
I have to tell you Mel, my sisters, sisters-in-law, and friends, all trust you immensely. You are our go-to for success in the kitchen. I will never forget one Thanksgiving when we were texting each other for recipe recs and my sis-in-law said, “Don’t worry everyone, we got this. In Mel we trust.” and I laughed my head off because it was so true!! And I think of that moment every Thanksgiving now! You’re a true gem of a human and we love you and your reliable, delicious recipes!
Thanks Mel. I have been regularly using and checking you blog for ideas to feed my family for 10 years now. I really appreciate you natural authentic approach rather than trying to play the numbers. Just wanted to say thank you for helping me get food in my families bellies and make memories together. I appreciate it!
Hi Mel! I really enjoyed reading that post. I was told about your website 10 years ago right after having my second child, and you have been my go-to ever since. There are probably about 20 recipes of yours that I use regularly. I always know that I can count on your recipes to taste good and that you use ingredients similar to what I keep in stock. Thank you for the time and dedication you put into your website, your recipes, and all your posts. I feel like we’re friends even though I’ve never met you!
Your recipes were the ones I tried as a college freshman, then later as I was trying to woo my future husband, that I now cook & bake daily for my three littles, that I take to friends who need some extra love & that I bring to family/friend/neighborhood gatherings. You’ve been with my through it all! I hope you know what an enormous impact you’re making on lives all over the world! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
I have been here since the beginning and LOVE everything I’ve made, which is about 90%. Thanks for feeding my family well.
Congrats on the milestone! I’ve been a fan of your website for several years. You should celebrate with a big, fancy glass of Mormon Champagne. It’s what my family used on Thanksgiving and Christmas my entire childhood, and now our family follows the tradition. Simple recipe! It’s equal parts 1. Ginger Ale, 2. Apple Juice, and 3. White Grape Juice. That’s it! It looks festive, tastes amazing, and make it feel like a celebration without a hangover.
Love you Mel!! So glad you’re real. And we’re about the same age and have the same fair skin….And the aging wrinkle thing is not fun! Thank you for your wonderful recipes. My very favorite from your recipes is that you introduced me to is the holy trinity of vanilla, lemon, and almond extract, they’re amazing when paired together!!!
I’m still waiting for that lemon-zucchini-pecan cookie recipe ;-). Maybe next summer ;-).
Happy Blogging Birthday! You’re a fellow mom’s hero!!!
Congratulations Mel:)
I recommend you to everyone, ever since you were recommended to me, *almost* 15 years ago. So thank you. For your candid-ness, your thoughts and of course your recipes. You’ve boosted my confidence in my abilities and as someone who didn’t always love cooking, makes me love it. So thank you, you’re the best! P.S. I wore out my Mel’s sweatshirt – any time soon for another pop up shop? 🙂
So fun to see the old logos!!
Your blog is my favorite! I found you as a newlywed in 2010. I followed many bogs back then but they’re all long forgotten. I have loved (almost ) every recipe of yours and I frequently make new things for guests because I know I can trust your recipes! 5 kiddos later, you have more fans now.
One of these days I’ll get around to sharing a chocolate meringue pie recipe with you. It’s from a lady in her late 80s who used to have a cake business. I make it twice a year for my father-in-law for Father’s Day and his birthday, but we have yet to perfect the meringue. And the dear recipe is a little clunky with awkward directions. I want you to do the hard work for me and get the meringue foolproof!
Thank you for all you share here and for keeping your sanity so that you can continue to share here. Your style is what makes me stay.
Oh bummer my emojis didn’t transfer over. But there’s a 😉 face after the (almost).
I’m glad I visited today and wish I knew when I started using your recipes – know it was sometime after 2006. When I cook for others I often hear “Oh, this is good – is it a Mel’s?” I haven’t been on your site as much in the past few years as my dear children have flown BUT I appreciate your content so much. You really stand out in the explosion of cooking blogs. I know you’ve thoroughly tested the recipes and aren’t copying others’ content or trying to sell me leggings or skincare you haven’t personally tried. You also assume I’ve cooked before but haven’t attended culinary school. A delicate balance! Thank you for your generosity, as I know your blog could likely be better monetized by being much more flashy, commercial and – dare I say millenial? – and I love that it is none of those. You’re like the reliable “red plaid” (Betty Crocker) cookbook I grew up with but more modern, versatile and free online. Congratulations on this milestone. Merry Christmas!
Okay, not a recipe, but I’m still rating this post 5 stars. 🙂 Goodness I love you! Thank you, Mel, from the bottom of my heart. Really! I’m not sure I’d survive dinner making without you. I say that in jest, but not really. I’ve relied on you for a decade and every week at this point. Often daily. I’m glad you consider us friends 😉 because I’ve introduced you as a friend, too. Lol. I love your heart, your philosophy, your humor, your honesty, your food. You are pretty spectacular you know! Sitting around the dinner table with my family is my favorite time of the day. Thank you for being a big part of that!
Dear Mel, I used to follow a zillion crafty and foodie blogs back in the day, and over the years slowly gave them up as they stopped fitting with my life. Yours is quite literally the only one I still regularly follow and utilize. I love that there aren’t ads and videos constantly popping up and blocking the content I actually came to see, and that you don’t do a lot of sponsored content. It makes it clear that you are honest and genuine and relatable. I don’t remember exactly when I started following you, but in 2007 I was pregnant with my second baby, finishing up my degree while working at BYU. Some ladies I knew had started a group blog called Telestial Kitchen, and someone shared blogs they followed. One was “My Kitchen Cafe, of course” which makes me think they knew you? So perhaps we have mutual friends, which I love to believe. I’m so glad that your little blog turned into such a good thing for you. Thanks for all you do. For keeping it real and sharing the good and the not so good. I make one of your recipes nearly every day, and whenever someone asks to have a recipe I’ve made, it’s almost always from you. You are a force for good in so many ways! Thank you.
I just want to say I love your blog! I always check yours first for inspiration if I can’t think of anything on my own. Your bread/roll recipes have made me into a really good bread baker which I never thought would happen (thinking about the bricks I made in the past) One of the most loved recipes I make all the time is your breadsticks. It is my daughter’s favorite, and my great niece loves them so much, she told me “I could get a job at Olive Garden” :0)
High praise from her! Keep up the fabulous work, you inspire many, and I look every day to see what is new!
LOVE your website, your recipes, your family and you!!
Hope you have a joyous Christmas season and a wonderful 2023.
Thank you for all you do!
Oh, I remember the blogspot days, so I’ve been around awhile! Thanks to you, my family ate well while my boys were growing up. Several weeks ago, I was talking to a woman I had just met, and we somehow got on the topic of food. She told me about her favorite carrot cake recipe and I told her about mine. She started telling me where she found it, and I finished her sentence! Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, of course! Needless to say, we instantly bonded :] Thank you for sharing your passion with us and making the world a better (and tastier) place! Love your guts, Mel!
I found you during quarantine when Jennifer Garner mentioned your bagel recipe in her baking video. I’m no longer afraid of bread because of you, and your blog is my first stop when looking for any new recipe. I’ve never been disappointed-your recipes are amazing! Thanks for all you do!
Congrats on fifteen! I’m a casual RSS blog follower for some number of years now. Always enjoy your content and format. Thanks for the notes on your picky and not picky eaters. My two kiddos (seems like child’s play compared to your 5) are both super picky. Still young though. I’m hoping I can get them to be a bit more food adventurous so I can try more recipes on them.
Thank you for what you do! You have taught me how to cook and my family eats well because of it. We make your recipes most nights and my family doesn’t bother asking me where the recipe came from anymore because they already know the answer, haha. I live in real fear that you will be done blogging and I won’t have access to your site and recipes. I won’t know what to do at dinner time! Promise you’ll publish a few cookbooks of fan favorite recipes from your site before you retire, pretty please? You are wonderful and your work has blessed a whole generation of children raised on Mel’s food. Thank you!
`15 years? I honestly don’t know when I became a devoted and committed lifelong fan. lol It’s been at least 9 years, because I am pretty sure I was using your recipes when we moved into our current house and that will be 9 years in January. Probably before that but only started to haphazardly embrace cooking around 2011 or 2012. My timeline remembering is a bit whacked since 2020. lol
You are my go to recipe source. I know anything on your site is reliable and if it doesn’t turn out, it’s absolutely my fault. lol
I’ve become a better cook and baker and just absolutely enjoy all that because of you and your lovely recipes. I was NOT a good cook before that. Oh the progress I’ve made. I’ve shared your site with my hair stylist, my dental hygienist and other random people I end up talking about food. When I see your email alerting me of a new post- I literally squeeee with delight. Generally drop everything to inhale your post and see if it’s feasible to make ASAP. I have my absolute favorites- The Italian lasagna rolls and the lemon Turkey skillet meatballs are my favorite right now, also the Lemon Chicken and Orzo soup, the leftover turkey and rice soup and your favorite coleslaw. *sigh* I’m going through a meatball phase. lol Lets not forget your foolproof pizza dough. OHhhh yeah.
Now I’m drooling. lol Thanks Mel! Here’s to another 15 years!!!
THANK YOU !!!!
I heart everything about you. Of course, your recipes, but mostly your kind heart and genuine personality.
Thank you for being my go to recipe website for over 13 years! My family is especially grateful. I am constantly sharing recipes from your site.
I found you in 2009 and you have shaped my abilities and motivation in the kitchen. I consider you a friend and refer to anything I make from your site to be ‘one of Mel’s recipes.’ My family all knows you by name and we praise you every time I make something of yours. Thank you and blessings to you and your family!!
You are something special! I’m always using a Mel recipe! One of my kids has even deemed my rolls (ahem…your French bread rolls) as world famous! Thank you for doing the hard work to share your recipes and heart with us! I’m a forever fan! <3
Your blog is such a go to site for so many people. Can’t believe it’s been 15 years. Thanks for all you do Mel! Love your guts too!!
If the whole world of bloggers and social media influencers were as genuine as you, the world would be a better place!
Dear Mel,
I’ve been following you for a few years now, ever since my friend shared your homemade spaghetti sauce recipe with me. I haven’t made a recipe from your site that I haven’t been thrilled with. Your fruit salad and decadent hot chocolate are my favorite. Thank you for all you do. Congratulations on 15 years! Most of all, keep up the great work. You make a difference in the world.
Congratulations Mel!
I started following your blog in 2010 from Wisconsin and we had a mutual friend, also named Mel. She led me to your blog and I haven’t strayed. Now that I live in Cincinnati I have many other friends who have become followers because of your recipes that I can’t help but share. It’s been so fun to watch your family grow as mine has over the years. Thank you for all of the effort and love you put into the world. You’re the best!
You’re the best. I remember following you in the early years with my kids about the same ages as yours. You got me through a lot of years of I didn’t know what I was doing. Now I’m confident. You are a household name. And I tell my students and all my friends why my soups, breads, and cookies are all so yummy, it’s because of you! If I make Any recipe on your site I know that I will end up with something delicious! I’ll continue to share, like, comment because you’re the best!! Thanks for helping this mom be a rockstar in the kitchen!!