My blog is five years old today! Blogging has been exciting and educational in so many ways. When I started blogging, my goal was to learn how to use social media, so that when my Gigi is a teen I wouldn’t be staring at her like a deer in the headlights, trying to figure out the difference between Twitter and Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr
Today, five years later, I’ve learned so much. Today I can spatchcock a chicken, although I still can’t grill. I have mastered the art of homemade ice cream, just not the custard-based kind. I still have to look at recipes, but I can combine several recipes into a creation of my own. I can bake bread, flip pizza dough with expertise, craft my own pretzels and even bake popovers. Chicken stock now comes from my freezer, not a box (but there’s nothing wrong with that, either). I know when to take short-cuts and when a recipe is worth the effort.
But most of all, I can cook. I can bake, boil, brew, melt, broil, brown, fry, simmer, slow cook, poach, seer, stew, toast and reheat.
Through the years I’ve also learned that blogging is so much more than learning to cook, write, photograph or style food. It’s really about the community. I’m lucky to count so many great San Diego bloggers – and even some national and international folks – as my friends. Friends who enjoy food and bring so much to the table with technical knowledge and support in so many ways. Thank you.
The Whisk & Cleaver community includes so many great readers, too – mostly my mom, sure, but also some amazing bloggers and home cooks (and even a few critics) who enjoy food as much as I do. Thanks to you all, too!
And so to really thank everyone who has supported me through the years, through comments and lunches, through writing groups and blogging conferences, through thick and thin, thank you.
I’m giving away a $50 Amazon gift card this week. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents. The Amazon giftcard will be sent via email. Good luck, everyone!
Yay! You’re five! Congratulations on your five year blogiversary and on all of the things you have learned along the way, which I might add, is quite a list! Here’s to five more!
Thanks, Kim! It’s amazing to think of when I started – and how much you can learn in five years 🙂
I like the Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites recipe.
Thanks, Lisa – those are a family favorite, too!
I love tons of your awesome recipes, but my favorite is GLUTEN-FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE BITES! They are the best cookies that I have ever eaten!
Also, Happy 5 years on your blog!!
Thanks!
Those are awesome, I agree!
My favorite is chicken and buckwheat salad
That’s one of my faves, too – great for potlucks.
Happy blogiversary! Isn’t it amazing the things we learn with “the blog” in mind? I’ve enjoyed getting to know you and following along on your adventures. Cheers to five more years!
Thanks! It’s been fun and great to get to know you, too!
YAY! Happy Blogiversary! So very happy that we’ve become friends as well as blog-mates. Wishing you 5 more wonderful years of blogging!! xxoxx
Thank you! So happy we’re friends, too 🙂
I like the Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites recipe the best.
Us, too!
I like the Rosemary Garlic grilled chicked recipe. Sounds perfect for the summer.
I make that at least once a week – it also does well as leftovers.
My favorite recipe from your blog would have to be the peanut butter M&M blondie recipe.
Oh, I haven’t made that one in ages, thanks for the reminder! And thanks for visiting the blog.
Congratulations Lisa! Hope we can get together and celebrate soon!
Yes, me too – I miss our writing group!
I feel like even though I have had my blog for nearly as long, that I’m just starting to really give it the effort I’ve always dreamed of and that means I’ve also done things I hadn’t before in the name of my blog and am better for it! It is quite surprising how this blogging thing can motivate us to learn new things that perhaps we had no interest in before. I’m going to go look at the gluten free chocolate chip cookie bites now!
I agree with you, and for me, I’ve definitely had times when I blog more often than at other times. Blogging has definitely opened new doors for me!
Wow, what an achievement – mine comes up in September – and I still can’t grill either 😉 xo Congrats!!
Thanks, Liz! Maybe we can learn to grill together 🙂 xoxo
Whoooot!! Happy Blogiversary!
Thank you, Maggie! It’s been fun getting to know you through our blogs!
I love your post about baking with kids! Congrats on 5 years!!
Thank you!
I like the PEANUT BUTTER M&M BLONDIES recipe.
Sweets are always a winner 🙂
Congrats on 5 years! I like the Peanut Butter M&M Blondies recipe! Yum!
Thanks! And thanks for visiting.
Congrats!! 🙂
Thanks 🙂
Happy 5th birthday!!! I am a new fan and so glad to have found you. Where have I been the last 5 years ? Hah! Can’t wait to see what’s to come . 🙂
Thank you and welcome!
So many yummy ones to choose from, but my favorite would have to be the “not your childhood chicken pot pie”.
That’s one of my all-time favorites.
Congrats!
Thanks!
Congratulations on 5 years!! That is a sign that you are doing something right. 🙂
Thanks!!
I love the chocolate chip bites. Thank you for this chance.
Thanks for visiting!
HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY!!! Wishing you many happy more to come.
Thank you! And thanks for visiting!
Congratulations on five years of amazing recipes and beautiful photography. I always love visiting your site. Can’t wait to see more from you!
Thanks you, Sondra! It’s been fun getting to know you through blogging and Shopswell!
I live your gluten free choc chip cookie recipe!!! Yummy! Congrats on the big anniversary.
Thanks, Rabecca!
My favourite recipe is LAZY GIRL STEAK MARINADE 😉
Thanks – that’s one we make often!
My favorite recipe is the chocolate ice cream
Penne Alla Vodka… always happy to find a good gluten-free pasta recipe!
The not your childhood chicken pot pie!
Congrats and I just love all your recepies . Ty for posting them.
The Quinoa and Chicken Summer Salad is my favorite recipe!
I love the chocolate chip cookie bites! They are delicious!
I really love the PASTA WITH GARLIC & PARSLEY recipe.
My fave recipe is the curry chicken and rice salad.
I think it was your blog where I first ran across the idea of cooking quinoa in a rice cooker. Now I do it all the time!
I love the Peanut Butter M&M Blondies recipe
I love discovering new recipes. however, one of my favorite Whisk and Cleaver recipes is the Penne alla Vodka recipe 🙂
I got lost in the vegetable section. I am always looking for new ways to make vegetables since i eat them multiple times a day and don’t want them to be boring. I like the butternut squash soup recipe, that is a fall fave of mine that i will definitely try. And the ‘not your childhood chicken pot pie’ bookmarked!! Will be the first i make!
I love new recipes. Food can get boring if you are making the same stuff week after week, month after month so I always am looking for new or different ways to make recipes. My favorite Whisk and Cleaver recipe is the Not Your Childhood Chicken Potpie. I love pot pie and this sounds so good. I can’t wait to try it.
I like the Seafood Stew recipe.
Happy blogiversary! It’s been a lot of work in the making! I wish I had more time to cook so I could learn as much as you! 🙂