Salt & Lavender 2024 Year in Review

A great year

I’m happy to say that 2024 was a productive year and a lot less chaotic than 2023 was (you’ll remember from last year’s year in review that it included a big move to Vancouver while writing a cookbook). S&L experienced a lot of growth, our debut cookbook has been very well received by our lovely readers, I got in some fantastic travel, and settling into life in Vancouver has been wonderful. Not missing the snow at all and loving the cherry blossoms!

Website highlights from 2024

• This was another record year for Salt & Lavender, with more than 100 million page views from over 47 million users.
• The most popular recipe that was published in 2024 was this Marry Me Chicken Pasta, and the most popular recipe overall in 2024 was this Easy Baked Pork Tenderloin (published in 2022).
• The small but mighty S&L team (consisting of me, my sister Miranda, and Steve) continues to work hard to bring you new recipes. If you’re curious, we revamped the About Us page this year with more comprehensive bios.
• Our weekly newsletter got a design update and new content, and through it we launched our monthly contest for an Amazon gift card this year too.
• We gave our Kitchen Essentials Guide a much-needed facelift. It’s the perfect guide to how to stock your kitchen along with a collection of recipes to use those ingredients and tools in.
• The cookbook was featured in the August 2024 issue of Phoenix Magazine, which was the coolest thing ever. Something about being in print is very special.

A few personal updates

• I went to Hawaii for the first time with my sister. It was amazing and even more beautiful than I’d imagined! We stayed on Oahu. Fun fact: we ended up visiting the Disney Aulani resort next door most days, and we aren’t even Disney people. The Mickey Mouse shave ice was the best.
• I got to see some of my blogging besties, Isabel from Tasty AZ in Phoenix and Danae from Recipe Runner in LA. Meghan from Fox and Briar and Julia from Vikalinka also visited me here in Vancouver.
• Closer to home, we went to the beautiful Bowen Island for a fun day trip. Vancouver has endless places to explore! Now I also have favorite local restaurants. This Greek restaurant and the Lobby Lounge at the Pac Rim are a couple. Check out my YVR faves story highlight on Instagram for my restaurant recommendations!
• My Netflix: I’m always late to the party, and I’ve finally watched Gossip Girl (yes, the original). Isabel got me into Love Is Blind, and I would say that even though my brain was atrophying, the UK and USA ones held my attention the most. I enjoyed spicy telenovelas like Fake Profile as well! I also watched Breaking Bad, and it was good until I couldn’t handle the last season because I’m a wimp sensitive. I also randomly met Danny Trejo (Tortuga) on a plane, which was so cool.

On a serious note

• We generally like to keep things upbeat here, but 2024 has seen some unfortunate things in the food blogging industry. We’re no strangers to algorithm shifts and other changes, but we’ve seen a huge upswing in AI recipes flooding the web.
• These computer-generated photographs and recipes are making the rounds, and in some cases they’re drowning out legitimate content creators, which is disheartening.
• We don’t use AI. Ever. All S&L recipes have been developed by me and tested in my own kitchen. All the photos are taken by me. Why does this matter? Well, would you want to waste time, money, and ingredients on something that wasn’t tested by a human? Watch out for people trying to make a quick buck by taking advantage of technology!
• The best way to continue to support real, actual human creators like me is to be active in our community. Comment on blog posts. Share them with your friends and family. Comment on Instagram or Pinterest.
• Here’s a great guide on how to spot AI-generated recipes and a deep dive on why it’s important.

What’s next for 2025

• On a more cheerful note, 2025 marks the 10th year of Salt & Lavender, and we’re going to celebrate this milestone anniversary in a big way! We have some fun things planned like giveaways with merch and signed copies of the cookbook. Be sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter (it’s free!) and/or follow on Instagram so that you don’t miss anything.
• You guys asked, and yes, we are putting some serious thought into a follow-up cookbook. If all goes according to plan, it’ll be ready sometime in 2026.

Thank you

As always, a BIG thank you to the S&L community for trusting my recipes, following along, making and sharing my recipes, leaving star ratings and reviews on them, telling your friends and family about Salt & Lavender, purchasing the cookbook, and sending me photos of what you make! I appreciate it so much.