And so a new year begins… let’s get inspired, shall we?
Well, this is it, people!
First day of 2012. May this new year bring you all a copious amount of joy, happiness and, well, obviously health!
Please, let me take this opportunity to thank you all for making this place so fun, so busy, SO ALIVE. If it weren’t for you all, visiting and spending time with me, grabbing a chair to read for a while and leave a note on your way out, or in between chapters, this place would be awfully desert and boring.
I appreciate each and every single one of you for being in this with me, for sharing your thoughts and for just plain being interested enough in my vision of “a healthy lifestyle” to visit me on a regular basis.
You guys are just the best and this place just wouldn’t be the same without you all.
So thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
Thanks to you, The Healthy Foodie has gone from a very simple Tumblr log site hosting not so great pictures and the occasional recipe to a great inspirational site to hundreds of people, beginning with me!
And as 2012 rolls forward, this place will continue to evolve and you can expect many, many great changes in the year to come!
However, I have to admit that The Healthy Foodie wouldn’t be what it is today if it wasn’t for fellow bloggers who inspire me on a daily basis, who help me grow and evolve by inspiring me with their content, stories, experiences, writing skills, photos, recipes and ideas.
So instead of giving you a recap of my/your favorite recipes for 2011, I thought I’d share some of my favorite sources of inspiration with you. After all, if they inspire me on a regular basis, chances are you will also find inspiration on their sites, if you don’t already…
Of course, there are many others that I didn’t mention here, but if I mentioned them all, you’d still be here reading this a week from now…
So, without further ado and in no particular order, here they are:
The ever so pretty Charissa, at Colourful Palate, is such a breath of fresh air. Her posts are always extremely interesting, as she shares her life stories, experiences, goals, and of course, super healthy recipes.
Jessica, over at Chockohlawtay, creates the most amazing healthy “treats” and “sweets”. There seems to be absolutely no limits to what her mind can create. Then, she captures her creations so beautifully that my keyboard often needs a good wipe after I’ve been on her site. To think that she does all that from a tiny dorm room? Unbelievable.
Anja, the untiring marathoner, always comes up with awesome, healthy recipes, which she always illustrates with such beautiful simplicity. I am a true admirer, both of her food skills and her utter determination.
Erin, my very good friend Erin… The super awesome German Texan baker temporarily based in Germany (but NOT held there against her will 😉 ). I wish I could make ALL of her recipes. While most don’t really fit my “super healthy” lifestyle, she is nonetheless a neverending source of inspiration for me. As I bake more and more healthy desserts, I get the feeling that a lot of her gorgeous creations will eventually find their way on here, after I’ve given them a little bit of a “Healthy Foodie” treatment, of course… 😉
Michelle, over at Peachy Palate, seems to share the same mind with me, especially when it comes to breakfast. Her creations always look so delicious, I wish I could just reach through the screen and pick my breakfast from her site every morning. So seriously, if you like what I do, there is absolutely no way that you will not love what Michelle does!
Angela, at Oh She Glows. She needs no introduction, really. She couldn’t have named her site better. That girl truly glows. And her recipes? They rock. So do her pictures! But of course, you already knew that, didn’t you? I mean, who doesn’t know Angela? She’s simply an inexhaustible source of inspiration. And she always serves it to you with a smile!
The very beautiful, very talented, extremely inspirational and unbelievably nice Nora, at Natural Noshing. She is my twin sister separated at birth. Seriously, it seems like our minds our one, sometimes. The recipes that she comes up with are truly amazing, and so in line with my own philosophy, I could very well use her site as my own personal recipe book! Needless to say I always get super excited whenever Nora publishes a new post.
Simone, at JungleFrog Cooking. Professional photographer and blogger extraordinaire, her pictures are simply out of this world awe inspiring, and she handles the keyboard just as good as she does her camera, which makes for the most interesting stories to read. Of course, her recipes are also incredible, although most are out of my range. Still, I aspire to be as good a photographer as she is one day, and her blog continues to inspire me day after day.
Mellissa, at I breathe therefore I am… hungry! She’s such a beautiful person, inside out, and her pictures are simply gorgeous. Her recipes are pretty much always right up my alley, and she inspires me to use ingredients in a ways that I never thought possible. In fact, she’s the one behind my Orange Chocolate Cake, made primarily with chickpeas… I’d’ve never come up with that one had I not seen a similar recipe on Mellissa’s blog. Check her out, who knows what you might discover on her site!
Leanne, at Healthful Pursuit. Here’s another wonderful blogger that certainly needs no introduction. Leanne is a holistic nutritionist who has a visible passion for what she does. She simply is an unbelievable source of really valuable information. Add gorgeous pictures and mouth watering recipes to the equation, and you have a site that is more than worthy of a daily visit.
Heidi, over at Food Doodles, is one of the first bloggers that I ever followed. I’ve always been a great admirer of her simplistic, less is more, approach. Her pictures are always so simple, yet so deliciously mouth watering. With Heidi, the food always shines. And of course, her recipes all look super delicious.
And last but not least, Lauren, from Cravings Gone Clean. The title says it all! Definitely tasty, surprisingly healthy! That’s definitely what her site is all about. Lauren is probably another one of my relatives whom I’ve never met or something. Our minds think so much alike! Sometimes, we’ll even post very similar dishes at the same time without even knowing it. Great, great source of awesome, healthy yet tasty recipes. You should check-out her Peanut Butter Cup Cake. Two words: Oh my…
26 Comments on “And so a new year begins… let’s get inspired, shall we?”
Happy New Year, Sonia! Thanks for the mention, I’m so flattered. You are SUCH an inspiration to me as well. In fact yesterday I adapted a version of your peanut butter chocolate energy bars, and I’m hoping I made a few alterations that will help with your wishes like lowing the fat content 🙂
Thanks for all your wonderful recipes, and I am so excited to see what 2012 will bring for you and your blog! xoxo
OMG, are you serious? I so can’t wait to see your recipe! Did you also manage to up the protein content by any chance? Happy New Year to you also, Lauren and thank you for your continuous flow of inspirational recipes. I look forward to another great year of good blog camaraderie! 😀
Hi Sonia
Thought I would take a minute to let you know that thanks, in part, to you my Christmas Eve dinner party was a huge success! Most of my menu was from The Healthy Foodie. It was almost comical how much everyone loved the variety of HF pizzas 🙂
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with in 2012!
Are you serious??? OMG, Jill, you have no idea how flattered I am. Thank you so much for letting me know, I’m just out of this world thrilled about this. Wow. For someone like you to tell me my variety of weird pizza combinations were a big hit at a Christmas party? I’m speechless. Thank you. So much! Definitely look for more strange pizza combos in the year to come! 😉 Thanks again for sharing this with me Jill, and Happy 2012 to you!
I love this! Usually when bloggers list their favourite fellow bloggers, I’m familiar with most of them, but this is a list of fresh faces (to me)! I only know 2 or 3 of them. Thank you for recommendations & happy new year!
That’s just so great, Jessy! So happy to have made you discovered a bunch of new faces! A super happy 2012 to you also! 🙂
I’m with Jessy! This is really neat. I’ve just subscribed to several new blogs. 🙂
Thanks again for the mention! And just so you know, you inspire me too. I sometimes really think, “Oh no, if Sonia could see how much sugar I’m about to use she would not approve.” And then I use less! You don’t actually use sugar at all but your influence at least makes me cut back on the sugar and use honey if possible. You don’t seem to bake with fat either but my olive oil isn’t going anywhere. 😀
LOOOL! You are just sooo funny Erin. And your comment just soooo made my day too! I mean, really? You do that? I am truly flattered, but I feel like some sort of a “Health Big Brother Police Conscience Watch” of some sort… =D I’m glad to be influencing you in a good way, though! 😉 Hey, you can hang on to your olive oil all you want, it’s good for you. I’m the one who needs to use more of it… Now you need to get your hands on coconut oil! 😀 Thanks Erin, for being there, for following me, for inspiring, and for having my back like you do! You’re awesome, girlfriend! 🙂
I seriously do that every time I bake. With some things like brownies, I say oh well, they’re brownies and I don’t care. I’m going to have brownies with sugar and not brownies with beans or something. But for most other things, I think, “Try to use only honey! Or waaaay less sugar!” But then I go and mess things up with the icing/glaze/whatever. It sounds silly, but it’s true. 🙂
And I have nothing against beans-in-brownies-people. It was just an example!
I found coconut oil on Ebay if I can’t find it in a store. And I’m still waiting for a good deal on coconut flour. And it’d be neat if shredded coconut existed here. I seem to need a lot of coconut.
There’s no need to thank me for any of that stuff, but thanks! You’re awesome too. 🙂
Sonia I am so honored to be on this list that I’m almost speechless!! Really you have no idea how much this means to me! You have inspired me from the beginning and I look forward to seeing what you are up to every day. Thanks for sharing your life with us, happy moments and sad – and of course your mouthwatering recipes that make me want to eat healthier every day! PS. love the new profile pic! XO Mellissa
Thank you so much Mellissa, that is so very kind of you to say. It’s only normal that you should be on my list, for you also inspire me a lot with your creative recipes and mouthwatering pictures! It’s always a pleasure for me to see a new post by you or to get a new comment from you on my site. I am so very happy to be a source of inspiration to you, it’s always such a good feeling to know that you inspire those who inspire you. Glad you like the new pic… it’s actually opening the way for something even better! 😉 Wishing you a very Happy 2012, my friend, and I look forward to many great creations by you to inspire some of mine! 😀
Ooooh…”opening the way for something better” Well now I’m dying to know what you are up to! Cookbook? TV show? Whatever it is I’m sure it will be amazing! Loving your new “daily” paper by the way! Hoping 2012 will bring a healthier inspiration to my blog but I’ll get devilish pleasure from the occasional decadent post and you can be sure I’ll be rubbing my hands together cackling gleefully thinking “Let’s see Sonia make THIS healthy, heh heh!!!” 😉
Whoa Mellissa… I said better, not blow your mind, fantastic, extraordinary, out of this world… 😉 You never know, though, but not in my immediate future. I basically meant that this was the first improvement of many to come this year! And you really crack me up with your “Let’s see Sonia make THIS healthy…!” I’ve already got a challenge with you, remember? Your absolutely, decadently superb lemon cake that has nothing but lemon as far as healthy ingredients are concerned? I haven’t forgotten about that one! Hey, I might surprise you with it someday! 😉 Glad you like my daily! This too, should really improve overtime!
Aww! I’m so excited to be included in your list! Thank you! And I love your idea for this post – I’ve added a couple new blogs to my reader which is always a good thing 😀 Thank YOU for so much inspiration! I love so many of your recipes and ideas and I’m always inspired by your photography. I’m so excited to follow you through this next year 😀
So happy that you got to discover new blogs, Heidi! Of course, you had to be on that list. You truly are one of the first bloggers that I ever started to follow. I was so sad when you took a little break, I thought for sure that I had lost you as a source of inspiration. Thank goodness you resumed, though. My blogging world wouldn’t be the same without you! And I so can’t wait to see that little bundle of joy that’s growing inside you. I feel some very exciting posts to come on your site. I sincerely can’t wait. Happy New Year to you, Heidi. No doubt, this one will bring you loads of joy and smiles and happiness! Enjoy every minute of it.
Right back about you!!! Wow I am SO flattered to be included in this list miss Sonia! Thank YOU from the bottom on my heart! How sweet and thoughtful you are!!! I am so thankful our paths crossed back in late Spring last year!!! You have been a continual inspiration to me as a person as well as my blog and my recipes so please know the feeling is completely mutual! 🙂 We are definitely twin sisters that were separated at birth 🙂
BTW you totally made my day! Thank you for your blog, all your kind comments and for following me at my humble little space – many blessings to you this year, you deserve all the joy and fabulous things that may come your way! XOXO
Awww, thanks Nora. As usual, always so kind! I too am so very grateful that our paths crossed, and I hope that one day we get to cook together in the same kitchen! What a blast this would be! Glad to have made your day, for you have made mine so many times. Thanks for your extremely kind wishes. I Hope 2012 is a great year for you and that your projects work out exactly as planned! And who knows, maybe I’ll drop by for a cup of delicious frozen yogurt, one day! 😀
Oh how much fun we would have together in the cooking! I’ll just have to plan on that some day in the future 🙂 and if you EVER are in Helena, you have a place to stay and a free yogurt on me! : )
Awww, thanks Nora. We definitely have to get together sometime. HAVE TO! That yogurt sure sounds tempting! 😀
Thank you for including me in this post, Sonia! I’m so honored that I’m among some of my absolute favorite bloggers that also inspire me so much! There are also many blogs on here I’d never heard of. Checking them out now 😀 Happy New Year!!
The pleasure is all mine, Leanne, really! Everything about you is such a great source of inspiration for me, there was just no way that you could not be part of my top 12 list. I am truly honored to read that I am actually part of your absolute favorite bloggers and that I inspire you too! Wow! I’m blown away! I had no idea. I am sincerely touched and honored. Thanks a million Leanne, and Happy New Year to you too, and happy healthful blogging! 😀
Sonia! I can’t believe you included me onto your list! Thank you so much, you really know how to make a fellow blogger feel special 🙂
As always, I love your recipes and visit your sit quite frequently. Now that it’s winter break I’ll try some more of your recipes out.
PS: I tried your apple cheesecake a while back, but it didn’t turn out like the pictures, but I blame the high altitude… BUT, now that I am FINALLY at sea-level, I will try your cheesecake again. I’m sure it’ll be a hit!
Of course, I included you, Jessica! Your creations are just plain wicked incredible! Drool inducing… without fail! Sorry to hear that the cheesecake didn’t work out though. I didn’t think high altitude would be such an issue… I look forward to getting more feedback on your second trial at sea level. I keep my fingers crossed that it WILL indeed be a hit!
Thanks, Sonia for having me on your list. I like the idea of showcasing favorite blogs this way. I might steal this idea from you, as my inspirations often come from other blogs and they truly deserve to be mentioned in a special way, rather than a blogroll at the bottom of the blog.
Pleasure is all mine, Anja. Glad I inspired you to do something similar and I look forward to seeing your recommendations!