WOW.  It is the end of an absolutely amazing year!  I can not BELIEVE how fast 2015 flew by!  It was the year of truly great things happening for me, and my family and friends!  I got engaged, and got Maggie! My best friend has a baby on the way! One of my closest friends that I met from BLOGGING also has a baby on the way!  The good news kept coming, and I loved 2015 for that very reason!  But it was ALSO a great year in books, in tech, and in food and fitness! I have carefully chosen some of my absolute favorites from the YEAR to showcase for you today!  I hope you enjoy them! 

Best Audiobook – Young Adult

Both of these YA contemporaries were absolute gems!  I loved getting involved with both Annie and Lara Jean, so I couldn’t possible decide between the two! 

Best Audiobook- Adult Suspense

 
This was so hard! I read MANY great suspense novels this year, but these two were true winners.  Black Eyed Susans was truly shocking, and told a great story of a cold case that was wrongly marked as solved.  And Where They Found her, I can not even explain how much I truly loved this novel!  McCreight just keeps getting better, and the audio was FANTASTIC.  

Best Audiobook- Adult Contemporary

 
The irony here is that I JUST read both of these THIS MONTH! Come Away With Me broke me and put me back together again and reminded me of Taylor Jenkins Reid and JoJo Moyes, TALK ABOUT HIGH PRAISE! And Big Little Lies was my second read from Liane Moriarty, and let’s just say it is an absolute SHOWSTOPPER.  READ IT.

Noteworthy

I didn’t read that many physical books this year, however I must mention three of my favorite reads of the year were:

Best Recipe I Made

 
 
Turkey Sausage and Black Bean Chili was SO tasty, and easy too, since it was a slow cooker recipe! Find it here!

Best Recipe From Another Blog

Mexican Quinoa Skillet– This is my favorite healthy dinner, ever! It has some of my favorite foods, too! [Beans, avocado, quinoa!] A huge thanks to Estelle for showing it to me, and I hope you guys get to making it! [Find it at Damn Delicious!]

Best Kitchen Tool

 
KitchenAid Immersion Blender– This is the BEST for soups and stews!  It is affordable and comes in multiple colors, too!  I used it when making this Lentil Soup!

Favorite Food Blog

Oh My Veggies– Though I’m by no means a vegetarian, this blog is simply beautiful and gives great inspiration for anyone looking for great, healthy meals to make!

Favorite Tech Device

Macbook Air is my favorite device that I own! [those are some STRONG WORDS] I posted last year about how I’m simply NOT a tablet person, but I do love my laptop because its practically as light as a tablet, yet it does everything I need it to, and it didn’t break the bank!

Favorite App

Feedly– This was a shoe-in.  I use Feedly EVERY single day to read all the blogs I subscribe to, and its proves to be the best way I have found! You can create sections [I have a book, tech, food, fitness, organization, and wedding section!] and peruse that way, or just let feedly fetch all the recent posts for you!  It is a beautiful, clean interface, and I absolutely adore it!

Best in Fitness: Motivation

Instagram.  I’ve said this before, but TRULY, go on Instagram and look at the tags for #tiu #bbg and #toneitup.  You’ll be in absolute awe, and you’ll need to go to the gym, ASAP!

Best in Fitness: Workouts

If you’re surprised by this answer, you haven’t read my other fitness posts!  TONE IT UP has the best workouts!  I love them, they have SO MANY to choose from on both their blog and their Youtube, and also on their DVDs and in their newly released book!  The best part is that some are super quick, so if you’re in a hurry, you can still fit in a great workout!

Best in Fitness: Gear

I am ruling out workout clothes here, and focusing on the accessories and tech gear!  So I am going to have to say the item that has stuck by me all year is my fave headphones! I mention them all the time, and you should definitely pick them up! They’re cheap, bluetooth, and have awesome controls! [Mpow Cheetah]

Best In Fitness: Activewear

If you know me, you know I’m not one to splurge on something I’m not going to wear ALL the time, that remains the case with activewear, and I have been SUPER lucky and gotten some GREAT bargains!  My favorite of the year is definitely my New Balance sports bra, and my Champion Leggings!

Best in Fitness: App

NIKE RUNNING, HANDS FREAKING DOWN.  Love the challenges, the layout, and the simplicity! It makes running fun, and it tracks everything seamlessly, plus gives you fun controls!  

Best in Fitness: Blog

The Hungry Runner Girl is my absolute 110% favorite fitness blog.  I love her posts, she is raw, honest, and real, and has an adorable daughter! Plus, she tells it how it is and gives really great tips!  Seconly, I love The Fittnesista!  She is so great, and a fitness instructor as well, so she’s a wealth of knowledge!

PHEW! That was a LOT of stuff to share, but I am so glad I had the year I did!  I hope you found some awesome stuff on this list!  Here’s to a wonderful 2016, loves!

The post The Best of 2015 appeared first on The Casserole.