Best of 2012

I truly am proud of this blog. Why? It's one of the few projects that I stuck with for longer than a month. I tend to have grand ideas, only to abandon them a few weeks later. This blog, however, is the exception!

It's been a great year of blogging, and although I sometimes posted out of duty and not enthusiasm, I never felt enslaved by the blog. I want to thank all of you that have left the sweetest comments throughout the year. It's your kind words that motivate me to keep posting!

To celebrate the end of the year, I've decided to compile a round-up of my favorites from the year. Instead of listing the "ten most popular" recipes or something of the sort, I've decided to pick one recipe per category. (If I just listed the "best of the year," it would essentially just mirror the most popular recipes on the blog, since my blog has only been around for a year!)

I picked the following favorites by ranking my personal favorites alongside the most popular recipes (aka the most visited or commented). In other words, there is no exact science to these rankings; they're kind of subjective!

1. Best Stove-Top Oatmeal

Almond Joy Oatmeal: There is something so sensational about this recipe. It's fudgy and rich, yet shockingly healthy! It's sweetened only by bananas, but thanks to the almond extract, you can't taste it!

2. Best Baked Oatmeal

Peanut Butter Cookie Baked Oatmeal: There were certainly a few baked oatmeals that got more hits than this one, but in my opinion, they just didn't stack up to this one!

3. Best Overnight Oatmeal

Overnight Cookie Dough Oatmeal: This one was too new to have a fair shot at racking up the most views, but it acquired so many repins so quickly that I thought it had earned the honor.

4. Best Stupid-Easy Oatmeal

Peanut Butter and Banana Baked Oatmeal: I can't believe how popular this recipe is! Certainly, it's one of my favorites, but it seemed like such an obvious recipe that I didn't think my audience would celebrate it as much as they did!

5. Best Labor-Intensive Oatmeal

Neapolitan Baked Oatmeal: Without a doubt, this was worth the hours I spent making it! Wow!

6. Best Topping

The Coconut-Pecan Butter from the German Chocolate Baked Oatmeal: If you're at all familiar with this blog, you know I have two loves: coconut and nut butters. This frosting-like topping combined those two loves and created something so out of this world that I felt compelled to hide it in the back of the fridge so my roommates wouldn't discover it. ;)

7. Best Crazy-Healthy Oatmeal

Green Monster Oatmeal: Yep, that's right. I put spinach in oatmeal. And you guys liked it!

8. Best "Naughty" Oatmeal

Thin Mints Oatmeal: Want to know a secret? This oatmeal seems naughty...but it isn't at all. Just like the Almond Joy Oatmeal above, it's sweetened by bananas.

9. Best Non-Porridge Recipe

Banana-Oat Waffles: Top these with some peanut butter (may I suggest Dark Chocolate Dreams by PB&Company?), and you've got yourself a treat!

10. Best Unusual Oatmeal

Baked Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin Oatmeal: Perhaps it's not the concept that's unusual, but the method. How on earth, you ask, did I put bananas in a lemon poppy seed muffin oatmeal, and not have it taste like a trainwreck? Even I cannot answer that. You'll have to try it yourself to believe it.

Did I miss any good ones? What were your favorite oatmeal recipes from 2012? :)

**You can also find hundreds of other oatmeal recipes (as well as tons of other meatless recipes) on my Pinterest account!  You can also like The Oatmeal Artist on Facebook. Thanks!