Kalyn’s Kitchen is turning 21 years old today, and I’m sharing thoughts about that journey and how food blogging has changed! And if you’re a long time reader who’s finding this post, thank you for the support!

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Every year on April 24 I acknowledge my blog turning another year older, and share thoughts about that. I’ll always be grateful that my talented brother Rand inspired me to start a food blog! But I did write a lengthy post last year for my milestone twenty year blogging anniversary, so this year I’m trying to keep it shorter.

I will always be grateful!

I still want to emphasize the deep gratitude I feel for the many, many people who have supported and helped me. And my barely tech-savvy senior citizen brain has been depending on smart younger people to help me with technology for many years! I’m also more thankful than ever for the many faithful readers who have followed my blog for years and sent me kind feedback.

I’m not planning to retire, but . . .

People ask me regularly when I plan to retire from the blog! But I’m still working on the site almost every day editing recipes and adding improvements, so I’m not really thinking about that! But I’m not going to lie; the internet has changed in many ways that make running a website harder and less rewarding.

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It’s hard to believe, but Kalyn’s Kitchen has been hanging around the internet for twenty years now! So today I’m celebrating 20 years of blogging and sharing some thoughts about the journey and what has helped me stick with it!

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Every April my blog turns another year older, and that’s been happening for 20 years now! I wouldn’t have predicted that when I sat down at the computer and typed out a few recipes (without photos) in April 0f 2005! At the time I was a fourth grade teacher, and truthfully I didn’t imagine at the time that blogging would ever be a job, or that in a few years I would retire from teaching and still keep working as a full-time blogger.

But starting this blog has enriched and improved my life in so many ways! The about page on the site has some info about my blogging journey. But thoughts about the blog lasting for 20 years have been swirling around in my head for at least six months now, so there are a few more things I’d like to say! And if you want to share your own thoughts on any of these topics, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below! (And comments on the website are so appreciated because they become part of the history of my site, so thanks for taking that extra time.)

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When you’re planning a meal where you need to accommodate different dietary needs, the Filtered Recipe Search can really help with that!

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I haven’t gotten fully focused on Thanksgiving yet, because last week I came home from an amazing 17 day trip to Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam! But even though Thanksgiving is late this year, people on the Kalyn’s Kitchen Facebook Page who need a dinner that will work for family members with certain diets like gluten-free, dairy-free, or vegan have started asking me for recipe suggestions.

So for everyone who needs to plan around diet types you’re not normally cooking for, I’m reminding you that my site has a Filtered Recipe Search where you can sort the recipes by course, by diet, by method, and by ingredient, choosing as many of those as you need to narrow it down. I admit that this featured is easiest to use on a desktop computer, but even if you’re accessing my site by mobile or tablet, with practice you can make it work.

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It’s hard to believe, but today I’m celebrating 19 years of creating recipes and sharing them on Kalyn’s Kitchen! And if you want to give me a birthday wish, I’d love to know which recipe from my site has become a favorite at your house.

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How Kalyn’s Kitchen Started:

On April 24, 2005, I sat down at the computer and typed out the recipes my friends had been asking for into a simple website, and Kalyn’s Kitchen was born. And what a great adventure it’s been for the last 19 years! Each year when I write this anniversary post I talk about how grateful I am for the support and kind feedback I’ve received, and what a life-changing undertaking food blogging has been for me.

How it’s Going Now:

As the internet has evolved, blogging has gotten harder, more frustrating, and more competitive every year, so in my last anniversary post I asked readers to support the site by doing things that make a big difference in the success of a website. The response has been wonderful, and I appreciate everyone who’s helping out in those ways! And I’m also grateful for the support of my family, especially my talented brother Rand who has the dreamy voice you hear narrating the videos and reels on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

My 2024 Birthday Request:

Nothing is more gratifying to a recipe creator than hearing from readers about recipes they love and make over and over! So for my 2024 birthday, I’m asking you to let me know in the comments on this post about the recipe that’s your favorite from this site.

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(EDIT 2025: For more than 30 years I used Penzey’s Turkey Base to make turkey gravy, turkey stock, and turkey soup. Now it is a few weeks before Thanksgiving and reader has informed me that Penzey’s has stopped making it. I am sad to see it go, but I would now use Better than Bouillon Turkey Base (affiliate link) instead.)

I think Penzeys Turkey Base is a MUST-HAVE for Thanksgiving turkey and gravy, and this post is to remind you it’s time to order some! And you’ll also find ideas here to use turkey base to get rich turkey flavor in turkey soup and turkey stock.

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Thanksgiving is less than a month away, and if you’re going to be cooking turkey this year, this Turkey Gravy Public Service Announcement is my yearly reminder to order Penzeys Turkey Soup Base to make your turkey gravy, turkey stock, and turkey soup!

In my family we’re huge fans of this product! And after many years of testing different brands of turkey soup base, in my opinion no other brand compares in flavor to the the turkey gravy, turkey soup, or turkey stock you can get from Penzey’s. (And for anyone who might be wondering, Penzeys has never paid me to promote their Turkey Soup Base, and I’m sure they don’t even know my little blog exists!)

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I can hardly believe the simple little cooking blog I started on a whim in 2005 has been around for 18 years! It’s been a wonderful ride for the most part, but if you’re a fan who’d like to help me celebrate, there are a few easy things you could do that would really help this site!

I say it every year, but truly I never imagined how my life would change when I started this blog, and it’s been a blessing to me in so many ways. I’ve met smart amazing people, enjoyed keeping my brain active in retirement, and been gratified by the kind responses from the many people who have told me how much they enjoy the recipes. And there is absolutely no doubt that blogging has been the best retirement job ever!

Blogging in 2023

But I also want to be honest. Blogging in 2023 is definitely a struggle. It’s become a highly competitive industry, search engines demand that recipes be formatted in a specific way, social media is a constant challenge to keep up with, and the technology is constantly changing. And the income keeps going down while the expenses of blogging keep going up. So despite the generous feedback I get from people daily and my sense of satisfaction in what I’ve created, I’m constantly wondering how long I can continue.

How Can you Help?

I know without a doubt that many, many people love this site and would be happy for a chance to help it continue to succeed if they only knew what to do! So Here’s a short list of birthday favors I’d so greatly appreciate.

• When you search for recipes on Google, target Kalyn’s Kitchen.
• Leave star ratings on the recipes you enjoy.
• Leave comments (especially on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok)
• Consider subscribing to my site via e-mail.

More about how to do those things:

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There’s been a lot of change in my life the last few months, but I’m now happily moved and living in a very nice condo in a great historic district in Salt Lake!

In the more than 17 years I’ve been blogging, I’ve worked hard to keep the blog mostly about the food and not so much about me. But through the years I’ve shared personal news like milestone birthdays, memorable trips, fun gifts from the family, a move to a bigger house, and nine months of house renovations on my first house! That type of post is in an archives called Things I’m Thinking About. These are posts some readers may not care much about, but I like collecting them as a history of my life.

And today I’m sharing the news that I moved to a condo in Salt Lake City, which has been a process that has totally taken over my thoughts and my life for more than three months! During this time there hasn’t been much new content on the blog. I’ve been happily surprised that no one seemed to notice, and also grateful for all those good recipes I created in the past that I could feature again while I was managing house renovations and repairs, packing, selling the old house, and moving. Thank you for your support and patience while all that was happening!

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Kalyn’s Kitchen is turning 17 years old, and I’m sharing some thoughts and expressing appreciation to readers who give me such kind feedback! And if you have time to leave a comment I’d love to know how you found my blog and how long you’ve been following me.

Every April I celebrate the day in 2005 when I typed out my first post, and Kalyn’s Kitchen was born. And every year I re-emphasize how glad I am that I started this site and how much it changed my life! And even though this type of anniversary post is old-fashioned in the high-tech, highly competitive world of food blogging 2022, I love having the chance to reflect on how blogging has changed and what changes might be ahead for me.

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Kalyn’s Kitchen had a make-over and the new design has some great features, including Filtered Recipe Search! This post spotlights how to use that, plus a few other things that have been updated for the new design.

If you’re reading this post you’re seeing the newly-updated design for Kalyn’s Kitchen, and I’m excited to share the new features, especially Filtered Recipe Search! Once again Lindsay from Purr Design did a beautiful job on my site!

Loyal readers may remember back to 2017 when I had a major re-design and switch in blogging platforms that led to years of editing posts, adding nutritional information, and updating of older posts. I’m glad that’s mostly done now, and the new design really bumps up the functionality of the site and adds a clean, crisp new look that I hope you will love !

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Break out the birthday cake because today this blog is turning sweet sixteen! For my birthday I’d love to know about a recipe you’ve enjoyed enough that it’s become a favorite on your family’s menu rotation!

I’m old-fashioned in the blogging world with these birthday celebration posts, but I love taking a moment each year to think about how happy I am I started this site back in April of 2005! And I say it every year, but I had absolutely no clue about how starting a blog would end up changing my life. 

The blog is a constant work in progress, and in January I celebrated completing the nutritional information for every recipe! In that post I mentioned that I was cutting back on my posting schedule. But (much to my surprise) I am finding I prefer the old schedule with recipes on M-W-F, and the weekly round-up post on Saturday, so starting next week I will be switching back to that schedule.

Those who follow the blog by e-mail will get the round-up in your inbox on Sunday morning. If you decide you prefer less e-mail, every e-mail from me has a link at the bottom that says “Too Many E-Mails? Try Weekly.” Just one click and you’ll be switched to a digest version that gives you one e-mail on Sunday with all the recipes from that week. 

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