Hello 2013.

Dear readers – thank you so much for making last year what it was around Finding Joy in My Kitchen.  I appreciate all of you so very much, and your comments and Facebook conversations mean so much. 

I appreciate your readership, and want you to know that my commitment to keeping things real, sharing recipes that use everyday, “normal” ingredients remains as we head into 2013. 

My photos will remain un-staged – what you see is what you see!  As you make these recipes in your kitchen, I want you to have a realistic image of what the food looks like. 

And, I need you to know – we don’t waste any food.  We actually eat (or share) everything we post here on Finding Joy in My Kitchen.  We are a leftover family and most of the time like leftovers even better than the first night. 

We give a portion of our blog income to Feed My Starving Children regularly. 

We believe one of the best gifts you can give someone is food, and since we have so much and I blog about it constantly, I want to share that blessing with others.

These things will not change in 2013.  I’ll continue to share Friday Favorite Finds, Kitchen Tips, Menu Plans, and more healthy, easy recipes that will help you find JOY in your kitchen.  You can bet, we’ll Countdown to 2014 next December. 

But, some things will change in 2013. 

• My recipe index is updated! See it here.
• There will be layout changes and visual changes to the blog to make things easier to find & use for you, the reader.
• There will be new adventures and new collaborations. 

Since I don’t have a new recipe for you today, I thought I’d share a wintertime favorite: Cheese Crusted Lasagna Soup.  Think amazing lasagna soup, poured over a bed of cheeses at the bottom of your bowl.  Click here for the recipe. 

Thanks for making 2012 so wonderful!  Can’t wait to share 2013 with you too!

What would you like to see more of here this year? 

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Kitchen Tip: Locating Recipes

The Kitchen Tip segment here on Finding Joy in My Kitchen is something I hope to include as a regular appearance.  I often get email questions that I will try to answer here as well as sharing tips from my own experiences.  If you have a question, please let me know!

Today, I’m going to share three easy ways to find recipes on Finding Joy in My Kitchen.  I hope this will help you find recipes more easily! 

Three ways to find recipes on Finding Joy in My Kitchen:

1) Use the recipe index. 

This is best used if you’re looking to browse all the recipes on our website.  You can look at breakfasts, lunch or dinner ideas, crockpot meals, desserts, snacks and more!  Each recipe has a photo snapshot as a teaser! 

 

2) Choose ingredients.

Do you have specific ingredients you need to use up?  By selecting an ingredient, you can easily see the recipes that use, for example carrots.  Ingredients that appear bigger in font size have more recipes associated. 

3) Search!

On the right sidebar, you’ll find a search box.  This option is helpful if you have part of a title of a recipe that you recall from my site, or have many ingredients that you want to find in a recipe.  Begin by typing your search terms in the search box. 

If you are looking for a recipe with multiple ingredients, use the “+” to separate the ingredients. 

Hit the search button and wait until your results pop up.  Here’s how to make sense of what you see:

I hope this has helped make Finding Joy In My Kitchen a more user-friendly site for you. 

And, if you have any questions you want me to address, send me an email (joyinmykitchen@gmail.com), or leave your question in the comments!

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Our 5th Anniversary!

5 years ago today, I saw you standing there.

My heart was overwhelmed.
My spirit rejoiced.

On this day, our lives became one.

For better.

For worse.

God knew we needed each other.

God knew you & I belonged together.

Today, my heart loves you more than it did then.

Each day, I am drawn to you.

Happy 5th Anniversary, My Love!

I love you.

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Finding Joy … on Facebook?!

I have a like-dislike relationship with Facebook.  I like it because of how I get to interact with all of you on my Facebook Page – it’s such a treat for me! 

However, what I struggle with is the constant changes to the algorithms behind Facebook that directly influence what you see or don’t see on Facebook. 

I know that when I “like” a page, I do so because I want to see their stuff!  But, recently, I’ve found out this is not the case.  “Liking” a page is no guarantee that I’ll see each post in my feed. 

See, Facebook algorithms will show you more posts from the pages and/or people that you interact with the most.  And, you tend to interact with those pages/people that show up in your news feed & so the cycle continues. 

To make sure I see the posts from people and pages I care about, I’ve done two things:

1) Like the page & check “show in news feed”

2) Create Lists.  And, add your people/pages to your lists.

Lists are super easy to create & allow me, to categorize the people & pages that I like so I can see all the posts from a list in one click. 

To create a list, go to the left-hand sidebar of your main facebook.com page after login.  Scroll down until you find the section titled “Interests.”  There you will see a place for you to “Add interests.” 

When you click on “Add Interests”, you will see a page that asks for your input to create an interest.  You’ll see that Facebook suggests many interests for you, but also allows you to create your own.

Click on “Create List” and then you’ll get a pop-up window:

You’ll see that you can choose from “Pages or Friends” on the left side-bar, or any pages that are categorized in the categories below.  You can also search for people or pages in the top right hand corner search bar. 

Simply select the pages you want to include and then click “next” in the bottom right corner.  Then, you’ll see this:

Here’s your chance to (a) see who is on your list (right hand side of the screen), (b) name your list, and (c) choose who can view your interest list.  Choose “done” when you are completed. 

Then you can return to your left-hand side bar to view the list – mine is one for Recipe Bloggers. 

Clicking on that list gives me access to all the recipe blogger FB posts in one place! 

Yes, it takes a little bit of time, but I’ve found it worth it. 

So, what can you do to make sure you keep seeing Finding Joy in My Kitchen on Facebook?

1) Like Finding Joy in My Kitchen on Facebook & interact with me there regularly.
2) When you "Like” Finding Joy in My Kitchen, choose “Show in News Feed.”
3) Create a list of your favorite blogs/topics, and add Finding Joy in My Kitchen.

Of course – be sure to do this for all the great blogs and pages you love and enjoy keeping up with!  This has been a tremendous help for me, and I hope it is helpful for you too!  What tips/tricks have you found for navigating the changing FB waters?

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