Joybee, What's for Dinner? : Sweet Dill Glazed Carrots

Showing posts with label Sweet Dill Glazed Carrots. Show all posts

Friday, May 1, 2015

Best of the Month March 2015

A recap of my most popular posts from March 2015.

I implemented many new changes in March. They seem to be working too I have many more views than I had before.

Most importantly, I've started sharing my recipes/posts on Yummly. I believe that Yummly is bringing the most viewers to my blog. It quickly became my leading referral site.

Yummly quickly became my leading referral site [Tweet this]

I have also started adding pictures and links of similar recipes at the end of each post. It's not making any huge difference but getting some of my older (maybe less known) posts seen again.

I've started adding click to tweet bars to each post too. I don't see them tweeted all that much, but it's just another easy way for viewers to share my recipes. Along the social sharing line, I also added a new floating social share bar.

I've been making the most out of my link ups to link parties by tweeting them and this has seemed to bring me more twitter followers and a few more views.

I changed some og tags (open graph protocol) in my blog template HTML to make my site more facebook share friendly. I really have no idea if that is making any difference in my views, but I feel good that it's done.

Lastly, I started adding a search description to each post. On blogger, it's at the right under 'Post settings' in the post editor. This is another thing I don't know if it's making a difference or not but I was surfing the web/blog info and saw that I should be doing it and I had not been. Now I am.

Overall, I am always tweaking my blog and I believe this is something I will always do because the blog world is constantly changing. Whether it increases my views or not I feel good about trying to make my blog better.

The blog world is constantly changing [Tweet this]

Now on to the best of the month:

Last years most viewed of March:

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Soft and chewy cookies studded with semisweet chocolate chips. Now has 227 views and 33 +1s. This had the most views that month at the time of posting however, it was quickly beat out.

#BestoftheMonth March 2015 #ChocolateChipCookies -last years best of March via @joybeewhatsfor [Tweet this]

Egg and Cheese Crepes

Protein packed crepes filled with more protein of eggs and cheese. Now has 1204 views and 18 +1s. At the time, it only had 172 views but it blew up on Pinterest. It's my most pinned recipe now.

#BestoftheMonth March 2015: last year's Egg&CheeseCrepes -most #pinned via @joybeewhatsfor [Tweet this]

Now back to this year's best of the month:

Sauteed Kale

Warm kale sauteed until tender and flavored with onions, garlic, and balsamic vinegar. 793 views and 45 +1s.

#SauteedKale | #BestoftheMonth March 2015 via @joybeewhatsfor [Tweet this]

Sweet Dill Glazed Carrots

Tender orange carrots cooked in a butter, brown sugar, and dill sauce. A colorful and flavorful vegetable side dish. 401 views and 34 +1s.

Sweet #Dill Glazed #Carrots | #BestoftheMonth March 2015 via @joybeewhatsfor [Tweet this]

Guinness Smoked Brisket

Slow smoked brisket seasoned with a dry rub and sprayed with Guinness. 384 views and 29 +1s.

#Guinness #SmokedBrisket | #BestoftheMonth March 2015 via @joybeewhatsfor [Tweet this]

Lamb & Guinness Shepherds Pie

Minced lamb and vegetables cooked in a Guinness sauce and topped with mashed potatoes. Perfect for a St. Patrick's Day dinner. 377 views and 85 +1s.

Lamb & #Guinness #ShepherdsPie | #BestoftheMonth March 2015 via @joybeewhatsfor [Tweet this]

Lamb Salad

A green salad topped with leftover Herb Roasted Leg of Lamb, olives, tomatoes, and feta. 353 views and 38 +1s. Oops, I put this one on Best of the Month February 2015 by accident. It was posted in March so this is where it should be.

#Lamb #Salad | #BestoftheMonth March 2015 via @joybeewhatsfor [Tweet this]

Check out last year's Best of the Month March (2014)

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy.

Linked to: Pretty Pintastic, Best of the Weekend, 2 Cup, Treasure Box, Lou Lou girls, Tickle my Tastebuds

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Monday, March 30, 2015

Sweet Dill Glazed Carrots

Yum

Tender orange carrots cooked in a butter, brown sugar, and dill sauce. A colorful and flavorful vegetable side dish.

I was looking for a new winter vegetable side dish when my husband remembered his mom making this when he was younger. He didn't know the exact recipe so I looked it up online and made a few adjustments. I first tried it at Christmas with our Swedish Meatballs and fell in love. Then I had to make it again to go with other winter meals like Lamb & Guinness Shepherds Pie and Chicken and Wild Rice Hotdish. This is a wonderful warm vegetable side and I love the orange color. It's like sunshine on a plate.

It's like sunshine on a plate [Tweet this]

Everyone knows carrots are good for eyes, but they are also delicious. Carrots have a natural sweetness that can be enhanced with the addition of any type of sweetener and this recipe does just that. The carrots are tossed in butter, brown sugar, and dried dill then baked until tender. The sugar brings out the sweetness, but it's not too sweet. This is a great way to cook carrots that will brighten up any plate. You can use sliced carrots or even baby carrots for a simple and quick vegetable side that tastes and looks great.

Everyone knows carrots are good for eyes but they are also delicious. [Tweet this]

Sweet Dill Glazed Carrots

Ingredients:

1 pound carrots (either sliced or baby carrots)
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar
a few shakes of dried dill

Preheat oven to 350F

In a large bowl, melt the butter in the microwave and then mix in the brown sugar.

Toss the carrots (at room temperature--if they are cold just out of the fridge the melted butter will solidify again and be more difficult to coat the carrots) with the butter mixture until all the carrots are coated.

Sprinkle with some dill and toss more adding more dill as needed until all the carrots are coated with some dill.

Pour everything into a covered baking dish, cover, and bake at 350F for 30 minutes-1 hour until tender. Sliced carrots take less time than baby carrots (it all depends on the size of the carrot).

Makes 4-6 servings.

Enjoy.

Other recipes mentioned in this post:

Swedish Meatballs -----

Lamb & Guinness Shepherds Pie

Chicken and Wild Rice Hotdish

For more carrot side dish recipes check out:

Moroccan Raw Carrot Salad

Maple Glazed Roasted Carrots

Simple Carrot and Cucumber Salad

Linked to: 2 cup, Best of Blogosphere, Treasure Box, Teach Me, LouLouGirls, Full Plate, Freedom, Food Friends Fri Pretty Pintastic, Best of the Weekend, Show Off

Friday, March 27, 2015

Chicken and Wild Rice Hotdish

Yum

A delicious and simple hotdish of chicken and wild rice flavored with cream of mushroom soup.

Chase off the last of winter's chill with a hotdish. This is a recipe my husband remembers his Mom making when he was younger. We didn't have her recipe so we put this together as best as we could with his memories and my cooking experience (with some googling).

Chase off the last of winter's chill with hotdish. [Tweet this]

For this hotdish, I used all wild rice. Some people use a wild rice mix with white or brown rice, but I wanted all wild rice. I still had plenty of wild rice from my husband's last trip to Minnesota so that's what I used. My husband found a family sized package of boneless skinless chicken thighs on sale so that's also what we used. You could easily use chicken breast or a whole split chicken with or without skin and/or bones. To add a little color but still keep this recipe simple I added some frozen broccoli. Then, of course, to make this a hotdish it needed cream of mushroom soup.

I see why hotdishes are so popular. Hotdishes are hardy, simple, and taste amazing. This hotdish was exactly that. It also made a big 9x13 pan full so it's plenty to feed a large family or just 2 people all week.

Hotdishes are hardy, simple, and taste amazing. [Tweet this]

Chicken and Wild Rice Hotdish

Ingredients:

2 cups dry wild rice, cooked
1 shallot, minced (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
2 10.5 oz cans cream of mushroom soup
2 10.5 oz cans full of milk
1 1 pound bag of frozen broccoli
12 chicken thighs

Preheat oven to 350F

Cook the wild rice in water or chicken broth until it's tender (I did this the night before).

Saute the shallot and garlic in a little butter or oil until tender and fragrant (if using). Or you could also just use some garlic powder and onion powder.

In a large bowl mix the wild rice, shallot, garlic, soup, and milk until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

Season the chicken thighs all over with salt and pepper and lightly sear on both sides in a frying pan or griddle. (This step may not be necessary but I didn't want to risk the chicken not cooking properly. The whole hotdish bakes for an hour and gets very hot and bubbly so this may be an unnecessary step...use your judgment)

Pour the rice mixture into a 9x13 baking dish and smooth out. Top with the broccoli and lastly the chicken.

Bake at 350F for about 1 hour until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and the soup mixture is bubbly and thickened.

Allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving. Serve with side of your choice I served it with Sweet Dill Glazed Carrots (I'll post this recipe soon).

Enjoy.