Top 10 Posts of 2019 & Honey and Mushroom Glazed Pork Steaks

Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog that’s great for your readers.

Brian Clark

The other day Ninja asked me how many blog posts I have put out into the world. I guessed maybe 250??? In reality this post is my 453 post!!! 😳 Can you believe it? I can’t! This year was pretty inconsistent for me and my writing. We have had a lot on our plates and finding time to sit down and put my words to paper (or keyboard) was touch and go sometimes. I have 35 posts in draft, which means I have 35 recipes ready to go but nothing to go with them. Sometimes I don’t have anything to say and as my online yoga instructor says, stretch with integrity, and that’s how I view this blog. I only want to put out posts that have something to say, I want to blog with integrity. 😊

I took a look back at my posts from this year and I have noticed a few things. I’m not big into numbers but I was surprised to notice that this year my top posts got 1000’s of views… each! That is just cray-cray! In fact, even though I had less posts this year, I had waaaaayyy more views than the previous 5 years! I also noticed that my top posts have great recipes but they were also some of my most vulnerable and most storytelling posts. That just firms up my belief about putting quality content out there and blogging with integrity. I ALSO noticed that some of your favourite posts are MY favourite posts! Great minds think alike 😉.

I would like to sincerely thank all of you reading right now. Thank you for your comments, thank you for your shares, thank you for trying my recipes and thank you for accepting me in all my craziness. I appreciate YOU 💕!

I have linked the original posts for you just in case you didn’t have a chance to try out the recipe yet 😉… So here it is,

HoneyBears & SydneyBeans TOP 10 Blog Posts of 2019!

#1 Martin Luther King Jr & Gingerbread Waffles HERE

#2 Life Changes & Maple Bacon Dijon Chicken with Quinoa HERE

#3 Pink Shirt Day & Pork Cutlets in a Creamy Mushroom Sauce HERE

#4 A Secret, an Epiphany & Forgiveness PLUS Beef Stroganoff HERE

#5 Big Changes & Monterey Chicken Pasta HERE

#6 Mother’s Day, Catchup & Crockpot Taco Chili HERE

#7 6 Years Without my Mom & Creamy Beef and Shells HERE

#8 Dance Life & Thai Chicken Pasta HERE

#9 Goodbye Grandpa & Epicurean Veggie Pad Thai HERE

#10 40 Things I’m Quitting Now That I’m 40 & Garlic Butter Chicken with Parmesan Cauliflower Rice HERE


Even though Ninja and I had no idea what day it was in that week between Christmas and New Year’s 😂 we were able to put out 2 new episodes of How Was Your Week, Honey?

You can check out episode 152: Mindful of the Decade HERE‬ As we take a look back at the 2010’s & ALL our life changes!

You can check out episode 153:The Finisher HERE We discuss: new bitters, hugging, Miracle, wrapping paper surprise, house update, closets, Hallmark, Helen Keller, arcades, Palmer email, stop and watch films & getting involved.


Ninja has been bugging me lately that I haven’t been cooking home-cooked meals as much as I have in the past. Not like on my case 😂 more like, I love your cooking can I have more of it please? Which seems crazy when you look at my top posts (above) and see all the wonderful home cooked meals I’ve made over the past year! However, I have to agree which him. In the past few years I have gotten bored with cooking… the same things! Our family definitely has a taste 😂 we like Italian, pasta, Asian flavours and Mexican. I told my family I am ready to start diving into new flavors! I want to try more Indian flavors, vegetarian dishes, and use ingredients like lentils and chickpeas! All 3 of them looked at me sceptically when I said this 😂 so I decided, baby steps! Last week we tried a few new dishes and they were all absolutely delicious! Although this pork recipe has flavours that I know my family already likes and it isn’n that far off from our regular dinner choices, I was looking forward to it and it definitely did not disappoint! This was a really great dinner that was fast and easy to make! The sauce is so good and it tasted amazing with the roasted potatoes that we had with it! Every single one of us literally licked our plates clean! 

Honey and Mushrooms Glazed Pork Steaks 
Adapted from Spend with Pennies


1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
4 pork chops (I did 3 big steaks)
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/3 cup chicken broth




Place butter and oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. When the butter has melted and the oil is hot, add mushrooms, salt and pepper. Cook for 3 minutes or until golden, then transfer to a bowl.



If the skillet is looking dry, add a touch of oil and return to the stove.

Season pork on both sides with salt and pepper. Place in the skillet and cook for 3 minutes on each side, or until golden and cooked to your taste. Remove into a plate and cover.


Add white wine into skillet. deglaze pan and cook for 1 minute. Add remaining ingredients and mix.


Simmer for 2 minutes or until it reduces and becomes like a thin syrup. Return mushrooms to the sauce. Adjust salt and pepper to taste, if its too sweet for your taste add a tiny touch of cider vinegar.

Serve pork, topped with the honey glaze and mushrooms.


To Canadian hockey fans Boxing Day means it is the first day of the World Juniors, a hockey tournament for those not in the know! As soon as Christmas ended, we got right back into working on the house! Ninja and I streamed the junior game upstairs well we primed, sanded, and painted. Spoiler alert, Canada won! We also feel like we won because our entire family pitched in and helped us get the first coat of paint done in the whole house! SBean picked Lavender Mist for her bedroom, HBear picked China Blue for her bedroom, they picked Malachi Green for the bathroom, for the majority of the house we picked Misty Grey with one feature wall of Thundercloud Grey and in our bedroom we picked, First Light! I am so excited to see it all done!

 

 

 

 

The Girls were great while we were upstairs, HBear made everybody lunch and kept SBean filled with candy and entertainment while we were painting. SBean also lost another tooth!

New Year’s Eve was pretty subdued this year because with all of the house stuff going on, New Year’s Eve kinda snuck up on us and came out of nowhere 😂 we did our nails, recapped the year, made resolutions, got hair trims, and then took some family pictures at the Lakeside Resort before dinner with the whole family at The Hooded Merganser.

 
 
 
We came home and played some board games before we made our own countdown and headed to bed!
 

On January 1 we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and went geocaching in Naramata before we headed over to my in-laws to meet Dad & J for an amazing turkey dinner 💛!

 

On our final days of holidays we went for a walk on the beach, played at the park, and while I cleaned the dance studio, HBear worked on her technique.
 
The Girls settled right back into their routine with dance and school. It was a bit late but we finally got snow in the first week of January!
As I was doing errands the other day I was driving between the bank and the butcher and I just had to stop and take advantage of the view! Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. I love where I live ☀️💕!
Once the painting was complete we were able to see what the wallpaper will look like and measure the windows for blinds.

We were also able to go to the Local to celebrate my Mother-in-law’s birthday this past weekend!

Books, cuddles, dinner with loved ones, manis and pedis… I feel like 2020 is off to an amazing start ❤️.

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