Today is July 1st, which marks five years since I started this blog. Five. In blog terms that means I have been around since the time of the dinosaurs. In real world terms, this is a really dedicated hobby. I started blogging for a bunch of reasons, but mostly because I was doing some web design at work and wanted a sandbox to play around in. I never dreamed that five years later this would be such a major part of my life and a driving force for my business. Part of that is my work, but mostly that is because of you guys. How do I say thank you for that?
Want to see something funny? I was hunting through my old photos from 2009, before I actually started blogging, right about when I was thinking about starting a blog, and had an idea that food blogging would become the thing (<< and I wasn’t wrong about that). Back then Pioneer Woman was the only food blogger I knew about and assumed the field was wide open. Ha! Now I laugh.
Anyway. My perception of the times told me that old fashioned Betty Crocker foods with a modern twist were popular (I think I might have been watching too much Sandra Lee). Want to see what I thought I could deliver?
1. BAM.
2. Horf!
3. BAM. We have come a long way, baby.
FYI that was my grandmother’s chicken noodle kugel, aka: Midwest in a Pot. Don’t forget the pretzels on top! Possibly the grossest, least healthy, but strangely delicious thing ever. I want you to know I have served this to people in real life who have loved it. LOVED IT. But yeah, how that translates to the internet…yeah. Nope. This wasn’t something I served more than once a year, so what made me think it would be a great way to launch a food blog, I don’t know. But you can see why that never got off the ground. Also, I thought was a really good product photo. And at the time, it probably was. I have certainly leveled up my photography game since then, but so has the blogosphere. Video is the new frontier. I suspect folks will be filming home movies in 3D before the decade is up. Hoverboards can’t be far behind…
Welp. A year post hood kugel, I started this site, AND IT GOT OFF THE GROUND. It got off the ground, spread its little wings, and carried me into a new and exciting adventure. Six years past noodle kugel, and nearly 1,000 posts later (not one of them involving an ugly casserole recipe), the adventure continues. I am so glad you are here to enjoy it with me.
Happy birthday to us!
Jennifer O'Neil
Happy Blog Birthday, AP!! Looking forward to enjoying your next 5 years…and beyond. You DO know, though, that everyone (!) is going to want that recipe!! Maybe you could do a guest post on Pioneer Woman’s food blog, should you get that itch again. 😀
Deb 'N Cats
“Ugly Casserole Recipes”. If EVER there was a topic for you, that is it.
Congratulations! This is a date worth celebrating. Funny where ideas take us. I hope you raise a glass, or two or three, to yourself and have some of that casserole, only some of us Midwesterners call ’em “hot dishes”. Seriously. I remember church pot lucks. You’d see in the bulletin, “For the all-church picnic in two weeks, if your last name begins with A-H, please bring a hot dish. Also, please put your name on the bottom of your dish. Mrs. Johnson, from the Ladies Auxiliary, reminds us there are a dozen unidentified dishes in the kitchen. Please check to see if one of them is yours.”
/cheers and toasts
Susan
Happy Blog Birthday!! I love reading your blog and I’m so head you’re here! Thank you!!
Beth
Happy blog birthday! Exciting!
Yes, I’m in the Midwest and hot dishes are certainly alive and well. I kid you not, my husband’s opening line to me was about hotdish. We were in a training class together (we did customer service for Amazon.com, which has a primarly call center in North Dakota) and it was a tradition for training classes to have a celebratory potluck on the last day of our 3-week training (even keeping in mind that these classes were 90% the 18-23 age range, and everyone still participated). He was trying to strum up conversation, and started an email chain back and forth with me about what kind of hotdish to bring. I know. How could I not snag him? Lol.
Also, we baptized our daughter in a tiny country church with only 20 members, and they potlucked breakfast food on the morning of the baptism for us. It was epically delicious. So hotdishes of all kind are essentially my culture. Any hotdish recipes would be welcome from me.
That cake looks unbelievable.
Happy 4th as well!
Amy
Happy Birthday! Time is certainly flying by. As a former mid-westerner I’m curious about that recipe. I’ve seen plenty of potato chips on “hot dishes”, but not pretzels. Pretzels were used more in “fruit salad” dishes; you know the kind with canned fruit, jello and cool-whip.
karen
this needs a picture of Lola in a party hat 😉
aunt peaches
AGreed!
Bronwyn
Love your blog. Happy 5th birthday. Don’t ever stop!
Jane
Congratulations on your blog’s birthday! Five years of wonderful posts – so happy I found you!
We’ve always called them casseroles here in Florida, even though my mother was from Missouri. Her favorite go-to was a can of tuna, a can of cream of mushroom soup, and a bag of potato chips. Some of the chips were mixed in and some crushed on top before heating it up in the oven. She was a wonderful cook but she’d make this when she had a migraine or had been out all day, and we all loved it.
Here’s to many more years of Aunt Peaches!
Deb in Oklahoma
Happy Happy Blogday to you, Peaches! I’m so glad I found this alternate universe of yours, because it has provided some hysterically funny reading and creative decorating ideas, but also, a lot of food for thought. I would never have found out about paper confetti cake toppers or the Old Tomato Wreath without your pages, and then where would my life be?
So, thank you, and here’s to another 5 glitter-and-sequin-covered, flamingo-pink years! ::clink!::
Jenny
Happy Blogday Peaches, and thank you! The last three years of my life would have been less colorful without my daily fix of AP.
aunt peaches
Thanks so much!
Rebekah
Happy blogiversary, Peaches!
jaime
Wow! Nice work, that is a HUGE accomplishment, cheers!
Laura @ Me & Mr Jones
Happy Birthday!!! I just looked when I published my first post and it was 4 years ago next week. I love looking back at the early posts and see how far I’ve come (and how far I still have to go!)
aunt peaches
Congrats! We have come a long way. I’m thinking a bouts crapping some of my early days…no reason to publicize growing pains, right?
Susan Harper
Happy Blogday to you, Peaches!! Love your posts…always fun!!
aunt peaches
Thanks so much, Susan!
AnnW
You are too funny. My husband has never eaten a casserole in his life, unless you count chicken tetrazini. I made my kids a tuna casserole once. Only once. I think you should consider an e-book. I would love to have a recipe with pretzels on top. One of my best friends helped compile the Baker MacKenzie (law firm) company cookbook. We have the chicken with potato chips on top casserole every year at our Christmas party. People come into the kitchen and pick the leftover pieces out of the dish, it is so good. I’ll send it to you.
Congratulations on becoming an internet success. How about telling us how many readers you have? Much love and kisses.
aunt peaches
You are missing out on the casserole fun! I can’t imagine life without the occasional hot dish.
I try to stay away from readership #s, but there is always an analytics snapshot on my about page. Probably should update again soon.
Beth Kluth
Congratulations!! Your blog has been a real inspiration to me – and a big reason I have made a point to dedicate time to being creative this last year. I’m back to painting and exploring new artistic avenues. Thank you!
Sue Wagner
I love love LOVE your blog (and you!)! It’s the one thing guaranteed to brighten my day and make me think happy thoughts. Bless your heart!!
Amanda
Happy Birthday to AP! I’m going to go with some of the others here and agree that I’d love this recipe! We could all even do an exchange of embarrassing casserole recipes! Everybody’s got one recipe that everyone loves but kind of cringes at too…
Debbie from Maryland
Congratulations on your blog birthday! I’ve only been with you the last two years, but plan on staying to celebrate your silver jubilee. Thank you for doing what you do. 🙂
EG1972
Happy anniversary! And thank you – I appreciate all that you do.
🙂
Kara
Happy blog birthday! Thanks for. Sharing your awesomeness with the rest of us.
Jane Gordon
First time reader! Congrats on 5 years, can’t wait to see what you have to offer! 🙂