I don’t usually write “best of the year” posts. The one time I tried, I divided the year into two posts and never got around to writing the second half! That was for 2006, the first year of this blog, when I was posting almost every day. In 2010, I adopted a much slower pace, choosing to post only those recipes that were very good–and to keep my sanity. With so many fewer recipes to choose from, I thought it would be easy to go back and pick my top 10, but somehow 10 turned into 14. Here they are, in roughly chronological order:
Black-eyed Pea Masala : 2010 was the year my daughter E started to love Indian food. I’ll never forget her “testing” this dish as I was cooking it–and then coming back for more and more samples. It was a delicious start to the new year.
Banana-Maple Oatmeal Cookies: Despite containing no white flour or sugar, these banana-powered cookies were one of the most popular recipes on the blog this year. They’re more cake-like than cookies made with margarine but are also very filling so you won’t be as tempted to overeat.
Ridiculously Easy Curried Chickpeas and Quinoa: Many of my readers love “ridiculously easy” recipes as much as I do, and they don’t come much easier than this dish, which you can use as a filling for bread or for lettuce leaves.
Baked Spring Rolls and Low-Fat Lo Mein: Despite having difficulty rolling the spring rolls in my too-old, dried out wrappers, I managed to pull off two good dishes, thanks to the encouragement of my family, who devoured them both in record time.
Roasted Eggplant Pesto: This immediately became my favorite oil-free pesto. Though not the most attractive oil-alternative, roasted eggplant contributes a hint of smoky flavor without overwhelming the other ingredients and makes a sauce whose consistency is more like traditional pesto than any of my other versions.
Banana-Cashew Balls: Inspiration hit me and I decided to dry bananas in my microwave, and their chewy consistency and concentration of banana flavor transformed these snacks into little bites of bliss.
Curried Eggplant, Lentil, and Quinoa Burgers with Onion-Pepper Relish: Of all the recipes I created this year, these unique burgers are probably my favorite. The roasted eggplant adds flavor and texture, but the burgers don’t actually taste like eggplant, so they’re safe to feed to any eggplant haters in your family.
Blueberry Breakfast Cake: I love breakfast cakes. They’re easier to make than muffins–and much easier to clean up afterward (none of those pesky little silicone muffin cups). If you have blueberries in your freezer, you can enjoy this summery cake any time of year.
Ridiculously Easy Lentil and Vegetable Stew: Canned pumpkin adds richness and a hint of flavor to this Spanish-influenced stew. And it’s ridiculously easy–need I say more?
Thanksgiving Meatless Loaf: I need to do more loaves! I was amazed at how quickly this became one of the most popular recipes on my blog, an honor that’s well-deserved. Usually by the end of the year I’m tired of Thanksgivingish food, but just looking at the photo makes me crave this herb-filled, savory loaf.
Honorable Mentions:
Collards Stuffed with Red Beans and Rice: These collard rolls were a big hit with my husband and me, but they’re a little too complicated to make often. They’d be an impressive entree on any Mardi Gras party menu.
Chocolate-Blueberry Cake: The other hugely popular recipe from 2010, this dense, brownie-like cake was tasty but not as moist or tender as my other chocolate cakes. Chocolate-Orange Cake remains my favorite.
Curried Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup: Can you have too much curry? I think not, but since I already had two curry dishes in my top ten (three if you count the black-eyed pea masala), I decided to give this soup honorable mention, but with a hearty recommendation that you give it a try.
Apple-Cranberry Strudel Pie: Working with phyllo dough scares some people, so I tried to make it easier with step-by-step photos and a diagram of the layers of this pie. I may have made it seem more complicated than it is because, trust me, you can make this light and delicious dessert!
So those are my favorites. What were yours?
Feel free to leave a link to your favorite recipe of 2010. Bonus points if it’s on this blog! 😉
Danielle
Our new family favourite discovered in 2010 is your Chili Mac!! SOO easy; one of those quick meals I make a couple times a month really…frozen kale on hand in freezer, can beans/corn, noodles and sauce always in the cupboard, so when ever a crazy day arrives (which is often) or I forget to defrost the meat (we are not vegan) this is my go to meal. My kids LOVE it!!!!
https://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2008/08/chili-mac.html
Simona
Susan you mentioned all the recipes I loved in 2010 and I would like to add Asparagus and Chickpea Casserole. It’s so good!
Janei
I love, love, love the pumpkin bites
Sometimes it’s “my meal”
Also do the thanksgiving meatless loaf
I’m going to try all of these this month
It’s just me so I have to adjust recipe ingreds down
And I still have enough for extra lunches
Janei
Jaclyn
i love curry dishes, i am especially eyeing your curried chickpeas and quinoa!
Keda
Okay here is my comment with your blog. I only try one new dish per quarter. Because every time, I try one, I love it and it becomes my goto dish for the next three months. So I’m only picking out of three and I’d have to say the meatless loaf. I made that recipe nto meatless balls, meatless patties and meatless crumbles.
Nikki @ The Tolerant Vegan
I can’t wait to try the curried chickpeas and quinoa!
prAna
These are great Susan! I will be trying these all as I have been looking for recipes for my new vegetarian diet this last year and am glad I found your site! I am also hoping you read this as I am very interested in profiling your site/recipes on the prAna blog (http://www.prAna.com/blog) as our readers have been asking for healthy recipes in the new year. Would you please email me at andre@prAna.com when you have a second. We hope you and your family had a great holidays and I look forward to hearing from you!
Cheers! Andre’
Kathleen @ Kat's Health Corner
Those recipes are amazing! Thank you so much!
Leslie Paquette
Definitely the Quinoa burgers. I’ve made them 3 times, last time making a triple batch to freeze. I love them all year round!!! Meatless Meatloaf is another favorite that I will be making again very soon. Thanks for all of your awesome recipes.
Anita
I LOVED the Creole Black-eyed Peas, the Mushroom Lentil Wild Rice Timbales with mushroom gravy, Double-layered pumpkin cheesecake, and the Tomato Soup with Roasted Garlic and Seasonal Herbs.
laloofah
What a fun post (and I love how you did the title for it!) I really enjoyed seeing what your favorite recipes from the past year were, as well as reading those of some of your readers. I’ve just added from your list to my already bulging recipe box feature… I hope that thing is made of heavy duty steel with strong rivets! 🙂
My husband can never, ever get enough curry, and we had a chickpea curry dish for dinner last night. So our answer to your rhetorical question is a resounding “No!” 🙂 I jumped onto your curry recipes right away, and those curried chickpea and quinoa lettuce wraps absolutely have me salivating!
I’ve had your meatless loaf recipe on my radar since you posted it, and have no intention of waiting till next Thanksgiving (or even till next fall) to make it! In fact, I think I’ll make that next weekend.
Honestly, I don’t even know why I buy vegan cookbooks! You could keep us happily, healthily fed till we’re at least 100! 🙂 Thank you!! And have a wonderful 2011!
SusanV
Thanks! I worked almost as long on the graphic as I did on selecting the recipes and writing the post. Happy 2011 to you, too!
Ryann -- MyWholeDeal
I’ve got to agree with Simona. I use your Asparagus and Chickpea casserole recipe all the time and it inspired some yummy variations in our house too. However, I am a sucker for any quick lentil stew recipe and I love collards and wrapping food up in other food….it’s just too hard to choose!
Lisa A.
I tried four of these dishes:
Apple-Cranberry Pie
Blueberry Breakfast Cake
Eggplant, Lentil and Quinoa Burgers
Banana-Maple Oatmeal Cookies
Now I will definitely be trying the first recipe Black-eyed pea masala. Somehow, in my 2.5 years of being vegan I never got around trying these types of beans.
Michelle
You actually posted it in 2007, but I discovered it in 2010, and it’s one of my favorite go-to recipes: the veggeroni or seitan pepperoni. https://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/04/veggeroni-seitan-pepperoni.html
I do most of my cooking on Sunday, stocking the refrigerator for the workweek by whipping up a hearty soup, a curry, and maybe a batch of whole-wheat pita bread or almond cheeze. Every couple of weeks, I also make two logs of veggeroni – one for sharing on Sunday and another for weekday meals. I like it cubed and mixed into split pea soup or sliced into a pita sandwich with almond cheeze and tomato sauce.
Cassandra
I made this: https://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2008/04/cherry-chocolate-mousse-pie.html for the first time for our New Year’s party. It was a HUGE hit with vegans and omnivores alike. I didn’t even get to bring any home. 🙁
Ingrid
They all look fabulous!!
Jude
Cannot begin to tell you how many times I have made the Black Eyed Pea Masala!
We love it!
Anne
YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM…. Oh, and did I say, Yum! … You had me at Vegan. 😉
Moonwatcher
Hi Susan,
I enjoyed reading this post, and remembering these recipes, some of which were my favorites, too! I had forgotten about the black eyed pea masala, which I liked so much that I made a few times last winter. And the cookies (made gluten free)–yum, yum. . .this summer I convereted the chocolate blueberry cake into a gluten free carob raspberry cake–which was a huge hit. In September, I LIVED on those curried eggplant lentil quinoa burgers. At Thanksgiving, we feasted on that wonderful meatless loaf. Now I’m wondering when I’ll get around to the ridiculously easy lentil stew, the pesto, the blueberry breakfast cake. . .I’d still really like to try the collards stuffed with red beans and rice, too. . what a delicious year to remember! Thanks for all the great recipes, and your wonderful blog. Happy New Year!
xo
moonwatcher
Kelly
Being the blueberry muffin lover that I am am, I would choose the blueberry b-fast cake as my favorite of them all! I will have to make these when mountain bike season starts again. 🙂 Thanks Susan!
http://www.poorgirlsvegandiet.com/
Tiffany
Your recipes always turn out beautifully, so it’s difficult to pick a favorite! I’m all about the comfort food, so I’ll definitely have to try the Thanksgiving Meatless Loaf. The Black-eyed Pea Masala also sounds particularly wonderful.
pamela
Hi Susan
Have just recently found your site and am absolutely blown away by the standard and range of your recipes. Thank you so much for all your hard work, I’m looking forward to trying many of your dishes starting in february after our house move and I get my hands on my new double oven and wok-friendly hob. I’m also a summertime raw vegan now so am pleased to see raw recipes, but at the moment am especially keen to try the three recipes for aubergine, aha, eggplant (sorry) as I do indeed have two very sorry specimens languishing in my fridge right now. Eggplant burgers and dips coming right up!
xxx
Katie
I recently discovered your website and it’s my favorite recipe site to visit (I’m allergic to dairy products and eggs.) I love the vegan omelet. The celebration pot pie was a big hit with my family, as was the green bean casserole. My mother doesn’t like the typical green bean casserole, but loved yours. The gingerbread biscotti satisfied my sweet craving before the holiday. I can’t wait to try more!
Krissy
I have made your pumpkin pie cheesecake and the stuffed tofu and they were incredible! I love your site and am truly inspired by you. The second your cookbook hits I will be the first in line!
Angela Richmond
Hi, i have just tried your “Ridiculously Easy Curried Chickpeas and Quinoa”… however i didn’t have any Quinoa so i cooked some rice and added the cooked rice in place of the Quinoa and it worked perfectly fine! 🙂 just thought i would let others know also, as it is hard to find Quinoa (in Australia! and in my town..)
thanx for the recipes, look forward to some more…
Ange
vegan food pyramid
Great recipes for sure! The lentiles recipe would probably be my fav. Then chocolate-blueberry cake for desert 🙂
Samantha
I found your site last summer when I was looking for a funky, healthier cake version for my boyfriend, and have randomly made some recipes ever since. My New Year’s resolution (like half the country I’m sure) is to get in better shape, so I’m going vegan and I’m doing it cold turkey. Your site has made it SO EASY that I don’t miss anything and I feel like with every meal I’m being taken care of. My favorite has been the tofu with lower-fat peanut sauce, but everything has been soooo delicious! Thank you so much for helping me straighten out my diet! I am pretty sure I’ll only be making stuff from here for at least the next month 😀
Chicki
Although only an honarable mention, I love the Collards Stuffed with Red Beans and Rice. My finacee (meat eater) does too! great for sunday dinners and potlucks.
My other favorites (not from 2010) are the Eggplant and Chickpea Masala and the White Bean Stew
I LOVE YOUR BLOG. not only are the recipes yum, but they are well written, have great stories behind them, and the pictures are amazing.
I heard you won a veg news award for best blog. you deserve it! 🙂
Alicia
I love your web site! I also love your best of 2010 idea! My daughter loves reading your kids recipes!!
Keep up the great work, you are truly an inspiration!
Kat
I guess I’ve been making mostly your older recipes, as I’ve only tried one on this list: the eggplant pesto. But that one was totally awesome and we’ve made it a few times! I’m really addicted to your quiche recipe as well.
Sweepstaker
I love the Curried Chickpeas and Quinoa! Thanks for sharing your all wonderful recipes. Happy New Year! 😀
Maddie12
Curried Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup! Yum! Loved it and many of your other recipes, too. So filling and keep me happy.
Hannah
I look forward to trying these soon. The only one I’ve made is the pesto, and it’s absolutely my favourite recipe. Super easy and tastes amazing. I freeze it in an ice cube tray and then use the cubes as needed because I’m single and can only eat so much at once! It seems to go much further than similar amounts of store bought vegan pesto.
Gena
Susan, as usual, 2010 was a year of stellar cooking for you! Thanks for sharing your “best of” roundup 🙂
Jess
I’m also partial to the Chili Mac. It is my fav recipe, hands down. Prob will be for a long time. I was surprised to see that I had made almost all the dishes on your top list! I guess I’m a sucker for your blog 🙂
Nathalie
I appreciate your website very much. Thank you for sharing.
Sarah
I forgot about the curried chickpea and quinoa recipe, silly me! Thanks for the reminder (and all the other ideas), I’ve just made it for supper again and my stomach is very happy after a few days of not having been.
Coloradomtnmamma
New Orleans style white beans are easy and delicious. I made them in my crock pot, but my new pressure cooker (my first) arrives from Amazon this week, and I am looking forward to trying it out with this recipe.