Spicy Treats - Recap & Best Of 2012 & Thank U Note!!!

As i said in my previous post i don't have any recipes in hand, so would like to present U the best & a small recap of 2012 recipes of my Lil' space :) My blog is going to complete its 2nd year in two weeks and in terms of Blogging 2012 was a great year to me. I posted about 135+ recipes, got more new friends and followers, did more interesting n innovative recipes and above all have improved myself lot in presenting a recipe with neat pictures, hope so :)
I started the new years'2012 first post with a sweet n my kids fav Banana Choco chip Muffins.

And followed by few recipe and as my anniversary special post with 3 in 1 Biryani.

In the same month, one more special post, Cashew Butter Cookies- my first Guest Post for Good Food of Sobha. And its one of the popular post now and it was tried my Julie of Erivum Pulivum. She even did much better than my cookies.

And in the Valentine Month, I and other 6 blog buddies started a group which designed to present all Gourmet Recipes/Exotic recipes and to prove that we too can all Restaurant recipes and named the Group as "The Gourmet Seven" !!
And our cooking journey started with a Exotic Desserts and i chosen Chocolate Cola Cake With Chocolate Glaze. It was a rich buttery and delicious cake which my kids loved it to the core.

In the same month i started my First Event  - HITS Event which got huge response and support from my blogger friends and they are even kind enough to host it every month under their desired theme. So friends Even is open for 2013 if anyone interested in hosting my event checkout the link and mail me.

Now coming to the Featured & most Liked/Pinned recipes of Spicy Treats' 2012 recipes.
The first recipe/picture which got good recognition, Orange Mocktail and it was Featured on RecipeNewz Facebook Page. One Morning when i checked my mail, am so happy n surprised to see the mail from RecipeNewz team regarding my recipe/picture. And if u would like to see my RecipeNewz gallery plz click HERE.

"I want to thank you for joining RecipeNewZ. It's a pleasure to have
you among our contributors! I love your recipes and your photography.
And I am not alone: looks like our visitors also love them, because
your Orange Mocktail was very popular. And as such, it was featured on
our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/RecipeNewZ. Congrats! I
would also like to invite you to "like" our page, if you are using
Facebook.
Thank you once again for sharing your delicious recipes with our
viewers! I look forward to seeing your future posts!"

So this message was really motivating and am so much thankful to the team.

And on the same month, i got another mail from RecipeLion that my Eggless Mango Mug Cake got featured in their Weekly Food Trend Friday Posts.

Again a big thanks to the RecipeLion team for featuring my recipe!!!

U could see the difference or improvement in my pictures from the beginning to till date. Yes i got to learn to take pictures in Manual mode. Initially i took pictures in Auto mode only then changed to A mode and finally am ok and comfortable with M mode.
It developed mainly after i started submitting my pictures to Food porn sites like Foodgawker, Tastespotting, RecipeNewz & Tasteologie.

I would like to thank Divya of Divay's Culinary Journey, becoz only she insisted me to submit pictures to Foodgawker. On a regular Blogging Marathon Group Discussion she raised a question regarding the tips & techniques to get approval of our pics on those sites. That time she insisted me to try and my first Submission, Carrot Salad was rejected :(

Then i didn't stopped with that started submitting more pictures and now there are 114 picutres in my Foodgawker Gallery. Thanks a lot Divya sure without ur n other BM buddies encouragement i couldn't reach that.
My first approved pic on Foodgawker, Baked Masala Broccoli. First time am able to see the drastic change in my site Traffic and it suddenly increased Twice my regular stats, which surprised me and i was so much interested to submit pictures on every post and waiting for the result. It sometimes creates a Stress but i luv it that experience too :)

Another top favorited/Popular recipes of 2012, Garlic Breadsticks, Carrot Mug Cake, Mashed Potato Fritters, Southern Biscuits, Eggless Marble Cake.

The only non vegetarian recipe which in posted in this year, Salmon Fry and its the most popular recipe of all time.

Then my recent experiment with Broccoli, Broccoli Snack Roll was another Hit recipe and got about 2K pins and is now in second most popular post.

Another popular posts on Pinterest, Carrot Lemon Rice which got 680+ Pins and another my experiment, Onion Bell Pepper Pull Apart Rolls got 500+ pins. Thanks to everyone who liked and pinned on your boards.

I wanted to Thank another great blogger n my friend who inspired me, Sharmilee of Sharmis Passion. She is one of the passionate blogger who love to cook n blog recipes related to the current/special/festival season. She is one of my inspiration, i was in Break during October month becoz of some personal issues but after seeing her space filled with all Diwali recipes and the hard work she put for her blog induced me to do something for Diwali in my space too. Then i am back soon  and am happy that i too shared few Diwali Recipes here, Rice Murukku, Black Eye Bean Obattu, Ribbon Pakoda, Thenkuzhal, Boondi Laddu.

I even tried to share some Christmas related recipes, Snowball Cookies, Coffee Cupcakes, Chocolate Cut out Cookies, Dates Cake, Carrot Cake With Chocolate Ganache.

Before ending this post I would like to Thank all my fellow bloggers, friends, family and each n every one who visit my space and hope u will extend your support and encouragement in the following years too :) Hope u enjoyed my recipes and one more special thanks for taking time to read this Post...THANKS A TON!!!

Wishing Everyone a Very Very Happy, Prosperous and Peaceful NEW YEAR 2013!!! May this year be filled with all happiness, good health n good fortune!!!

Happy New Year!!! NJOY!!

See u Next year with some Appetizing recipes :)

Bye!!