In my former life as a financial researcher/business analyst, I crunched numbers for a living so I rarely obsess over numbers these days. In fact, I don’t really look at my blog statistics in depth unless I’m working on a paid campaign that requires me to do so. It is fun for me to look at the numbers at the end of the year though. I like to see what readers enjoyed the most as I make plans for the next year. As such, I’ll be sharing some of the most popular posts from 2012 for the rest of the year.
FYI: My personal two favorites didn’t make the cut. My absolute favorite post of this year was one of the most recent ones – for Awesome Applesauce Apple Muffins. While I have created several cooking recipes, this was the first baking one that I created from scratch. I’ve cracked the “baking code” for simple things like cakes, muffins and such. Best of all, “my guys” keep asking that I make another batch asap!
My second favorite, European Inspired Macaroni and Cheese…with Bacon, received little love :-(. I blame it on the picture. Mac and cheese is hard for me to photograph, but it really is good. It’s one of the few dishes including goat cheese that all of “my guys” enjoy. Really…you should try it…
Anyway, the most popular post of 2012 to date is the Low-fat mango smoothie (à la Panera) that was originally published on July 25th. I’m going to attribute the thousands of views to the facts that this recipe is healthy, takes less than 15 minutes to make and that there are a lot of Panera Bread fans. In case you missed it the first time around, here you go…
A Panera Bread locations recently opened near my home in Forest Hills. (It opened in Rego Park.) Restaurants and shops are constantly popping up in my area, so that is nothing new. However, I have constantly heard friends rave about Panera’s food and drinks. I also thoroughly enjoyed a baking event that I attended with one of their chefs last year. Anyway, I immediately went online to look at their menu to see if a visit would be worth my time. After looking at the bakery and cafe menus, a trip is definitely in my near future.
While browsing around the Panera menu, I saw many things that I would buy – especially the baked goods since I only like to bake on special occasions. However, there were several things on the menu that made me think, “Oh, that would be easy and less expensive to make at home.” Their “Low-fat Mango Smoothie” falls in the latter category. Right now, I’m obsessed with mangoes. I have been having mango and orange juice smoothies for breakfast since Serena put smoothies in my head. (I just blend together 1 cup of chopped mango, 1 cup of orange juice and 1 cup of ice until it reaches my desired consistency. That is enough for two smoothies.)
Mangoes are very plentiful and inexpensive during the summer, so it is less costly to make my own mango smoothies at home. (Right now, they are 99 cents per mango/50 cents per smoothie!)
Loving research the way that I do, I found this 2009 video of a Panera Bread representative making a low-fat strawberry smoothie:
I don’t really care for strawberry smoothies though, so here’s what I think would be included in their Low-fat Mango Smoothie…
Low-fat Mango Smoothie (à la Panera)
Yield: 1 -2 servings
Ingredients
1 cup of peeled, chopped mango
1 cup of Stonyfield Farm organic, low-fat vanilla yogurt
1 cup of ice
Directions
1. Place the mango, ice and yogurt into the blender (in that order).
2. Put the top on the blender and mix the ingredients together for 10 – 15 seconds/until it reaches your desired consistency.
3. Pour the mixture in a cup and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
-This recipe actually makes (2) 1 cup servings, so it is enough to share with someone else.
-If you are lactose intolerant and/or just don’t like the taste of milk, you can substitute orange juice for the yogurt to get another version of a refreshing mango smoothie. (I actually prefer the orange juice version!)
