The Top 10 Posts of the Decade

Come April 2020 I will have been blogging here at Peanut Butter Runner for TEN YEARS. WHAT!? The craziest thing is that I’ve actually been blogging for 12 years. I started my first blog (a now retired food blog) back in 2008. Sharing a decade of my life on the internet feels mostly surreal.

Given that we are entering a new decade, and I’ve been blogging for a decade, I thought it would be interesting to share my most popular posts of all-time. It’s not surprising that they are all evergreen content. This is content that isn’t time-sensitive, like recipes and workouts and has more staying power than things you would read once like a weekend recap or a day in the life post.

Blogging is interesting because the personal/timely content is what keeps readers coming back but the evergreen content is what keeps the blog alive. I honestly enjoy producing both types of content, although it is MUCH easier to create the one-off content. Evergreen stuff requires a lot of work all the way from photography and photo editing to social promotion to SEO optimization and more. It’s my goal to continue creating both in the new decade.

Thank you guys for reading all of my content. And here are the top 10 posts of the decade!

1. THE BEST EASY HOMEMADE PAD THAI RECIPE

This recipe for Homemade Pad Thai has been a favorite of mine and so many of my friends and readers since I first shared it in 2015. I developed this recipe when I was looking for an alternative to takeout and boxed kits, and it’s really been a winner. One of the best things about this recipe is that you don’t need a lot of special ingredients…and the base for the sauce is peanut butter! If you’ve not tried my homemade pad thai, please put it on your short list!

2. PERFECT PALEO BANANA BREAD

Never in a million years did I ever dream this Paleo Banana Bread recipe would escalate in popularity the way that it did when I originally posted it back in 2013. I was managing a CrossFit gym and Paleo was all the rage. I participated in our gym’s Paleo challenge and developed this recipe during that time. It’s an amazing banana bread recipe for any of my readers who are paleo or gluten-free.

3. THE BEST HOMEMADE CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

This recipe for Homemade Chicken Enchiladas is one that I am most proud of on my blog. The best thing about them is the homemade enchilada sauce. It truly makes the dish and I promise you that it’s not overly complicated. While I wouldn’t call this recipe “easy,” it is definitely worth the work.

4. INA’S APPLE PIE BARS – EASIER THAN APPLE PIE! 

When considering the number of times that this recipe has been viewed and Pinned, it seems that there is really nothing better than apple pie. Ina’s Apple Pie Bars have been the most popular recipe on my blog for the last couple of years.

5. MY FIRST WHOLE30: RESULTS, WHAT I LEARNED, HOW I WAS CHALLENGED AND MY ADVICE

WHOLE30!!! As crazy as this sounds, I miss it! I love the challenge of cleaning up my eats and going sugar/alcohol/dairy/gluten/all the fun stuff-free for a period of time. I’ve done two Whole30s and have nothing but great things to say about it if you view it as a short-term experiment/clean-up. Even though I am staunchly in the camp of intuitive eating, I would do Whole30 again in a heartbeat. You can read the recap of my first Whole30 here. The coolest thing about my first Whole30 was that it healed some super painful and itchy eyelid dermatitis that nothing other than steroids could clear up…and it’s never come back!

6. 3 YOGA POSES FOR TIGHT, ROUNDED SHOULDERS

In this post, I share three of my favorite yoga poses for tight, round shoulders. It was interesting for me to see this one skyrocket in popularity. It became quite the Pinterest sensation for a while. Definitely need to share more content like this!

7. SWEET POTATO BREAKFAST BOWLS

I did my first Whole30 in January when it was cold out. I couldn’t eat oatmeal on the Whole30 and was looking for a go-to warm breakfast. I can’t even remember how I came up with the idea to mash together banana and sweet potato but I’m sure glad I did! These sweet potato breakfast bowls became a staple breakfast far beyond the Whole30.

8. EASY & HEALTHY HOMEMADE GRANOLA BARS

I couldn’t believe that this easy and healthy granola bar recipe was in the top 10! Not because it’s not delicious but because it’s quite old. It’s kind of a slow-burner kind of post that has stayed alive for years thanks to Pinterest.

9. MY TOP 10 TIPS FOR RASING A GOLDEN RETRIEVER PUPPY

ADORED seeing this in the top 10, especially as a top search term to my blog today was “surviving raising a puppy.” Haha. I feel this on a deep level. There were definitely days that I asked myself if it was possible to return Zoey. (KIDDING but raising puppy is hard stuff!) I share my top 10 tips for raising a puppy in this post.

10. 5 OF THE BEST EXERCISES FOR GLUTE ACTIVATION 

YAY for glutes! You will never take a strength class with me that does not incorporate glute activation. This post has five of my favorite exercises for glute activation. Each has a video demonstration.

CHEERS TO 10 YEARS!

Thanks for being along for this ride. Stay tuned for a survey focused on learning what kind of content that you want to see on Peanut Butter Runner in the next decade. Grateful for you all! xxoo