My Personal Favorite Alaska from Scratch Recipes of 2013

Last week, we looked at readers’ Top 5 favorite recipes of 2013 – the posts with the highest traffic and the most pins on Pinterest. After much consideration and recipe searching, I have come up with my own list to share with you, recipes we eat and enjoy again and again, dishes to which we always come back, and things we crave.

Maya’s Top 5

5. Homemade Grapefruit Soda – the ultimate thirst quencher, made with just a few simple, honest ingredients.

4. Ginger Cashew Granola – my favorite homemade granola recipe to date. Crunchy and lightly sweetened, with a kick of heat from lots of crystallized ginger. Plus, it has added protein from the addition of toasted quinoa. Easy to make, and makes a wonderful food gift. If you are a ginger-lover, another one of my favorites this year was Ginger Shortbread (which would be an awesome and unexpected Christmas cookie/food gift).

3. Garlic Sesame Snow Peas – the fastest, freshest, most flavorful side dish. I could eat an entire pan of these by myself.

2. Butterscotch Bread Pudding – oh, it’s just dreamy. One of my favorite desserts in the fall and winter. Perfect to serve for guests.

………… and my #1 this year is a collection of recipes I like to call……………

1. Cast Iron Skillet Dishes

I had such an impossible time choosing between these four favorites that are cooked in a cast iron skillet, that I decided to feature them all as one big, triumphant number 1 for 2013. Each recipe is tremendously delicious and crave-worthy. They are:

Jalapeño Lime Skillet Shrimp