Top-searched recipe for 2017? You might be surprised (it's not avocado toast)

We'll resist drawing conclusions because, honestly, who knows why? But Google's most searched recipe in 2017 was for beef stroganoff. That was followed by recipes for apple crisp, corn casserole, brining a turkey, something using zucchini, chicken Parmesan, a way to cook pork chops, hard-boiled eggs, something using yams, and hash-brown casserole. Apparently you don't need a recipe to make avocado toast.

As reported by wellandgood.com: At the 2017 Midwest Produce Expo in Kansas City, a specialist with the trend-tracking Oppenheimer Group revealed that 30 to 60 percent of millennials buy their groceries online. For grocers, the impact will most be felt in the produce aisle. Only about 4 percent of produce is ordered online. But millennials eat 2.7 servings of fresh produce a day — more than any previous generation.

Take this with a grain of salt, perhaps, but a new book claims that cooking together might save a troubled marriage. "Cook Your Marriage Happy" (CYH Press) by Debra Borden, a licensed clinical social worker in New York and New Jersey, says that cooking together can help ease negative emotions and make it easier to discuss such issues as fairness, perspective, responsibility and gratitude. Metaphors abound. Draining, she writes, "can be super powerful! As the excess liquid goes out of the dish, remind yourself that you're willing to lose what dilutes your marriage, and reserve the best of everything." Recipes follow themes, such as Miss You Mucho Mini Muffins, Life Is Sweet and Sour Meatballs, or Tune-In and Talk to Me Tacos.

True, the benefits of cooking together have been documented, mostly anecdotally or by cooking industry surveys, but the idea of working as a team can't hurt. Right? For more info, visit cookyourselfhappy.com.

KIM ODE