Top 10 ‘Dine With a Darling’ Recipes for 2011

2011 is almost over. Can you BELIEVE it?! This year flew by, but a lot has happened in our house. We moved to Louisiana, purchased our first home, had some fantastic cooking-adventures in this new home, conquered some DIY home-improvement projects and have definitely realized what a responsiblity owning a home is. This year I started a new job and most recently we have a new addition to the family.

No, not a baby…you would’ve heard about that by now! It’s a little puppy – a Mini-Goldendoodle (golden retriever and mini poodle mix). Her name is Toula.

Toula Name Explanation:
1. There is a town near us called Ponchatoula. We thought our cajun-born pup should have a cajun name so she always remembers her roots!
2. Fotoula (full Greek name for Toula) means “light of God”. (Thank you, My Big Fat Greek Wedding movie for this info…)
3. Toula(git to quit) says my brother-in-law, Greg. Isn’t he funny?! Toula seriously is ‘too legit to quit’ so the nickname is a perfect fit. Crazy pup is already queen of our Cajun castle…
4. Toula is a town in Lebanon (okay, some of these facts we didn’t know when we picked the name…)

Anyhow, it’s been a fun, blessed year in our house and I hope you have had an exciting year of happiness and milestones yourself.

Speaking of milestones – it’s been a little over a year of DineWithaDarling.com now and I thought I’d share with you the Top 10 most popular (most viewed) recipes on the blog for 2011. (I feel like I’m on Letterman…”And the TOP 10 Most Popular Recipes of 2011 starting with #10 are….”)

#10 – Strawberry Basil Martini