mmmm... nutella donuts! & my new wusthof.

happy friday, y'all!  i hope you have fantastic weekend plans to enjoy the beautiful outdoors & something delicious like these baked donuts topped with my housemade nutella.  yummm!

by the way, last weekend i finally bought myself a new knife for work!  it's the wusthof classic ikon 8" chef's knife & it is fabulous.  never ever ever underestimate the amazingness of a new, ridiculously sharp knife.  it cuts like a dream.  & that has brought quite a few smiles to my face this week.

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday - a wonderful gift.

my amazing sister sent me the sweetest gift this week - a box of green beans, cream of mushroom soup, & french fried onions with a note that said

since you didn't get leftovers from thanksgiving,

here is a reminder of our delicious meal

& fun time.

seriously, the sweetest gift in the world.  not to mention the cutest little chef card in the world.  

i love green bean casserole.  & i love my sister.

i hope you can think of something today for which you are thankful.

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday - thanksgiving!

our philadelphia thanksgiving was absolutely perfect!!  julie & ben & i cooked the day away while blakey actually had on time flights across the country.  huge win for all.  much success in cooking for all dishes planned.  & we actually remember to serve each one {wink wink, mom :)}  little malcolm maintained his adorable status all day.  & one of ben's friends from work joined us for our meal.  so many things for which to be thankful.

{a ruler is a necessary cooking tool.  don't you think?}

as per our annual thanksgiving tradition, we welcomed blakey home with ben & blake's favorite thanksgiving treat - a turkey & turkey shot.  wild turkey bourbon with turkey drippings.  yummm.  {totally lying.  julie & i wont try it.  but they swear it's good.  it's at least manly?}

while julie & i enjoyed a local pumpkin ale, we decided to jazz up the turkey & turkey with spiced whipped cream & sage.  totally thanksgiving now!  apparently it was disgusting.  we'll stick with the turkey & turkey next year.

the first vandaveer thanksgiving meal means ben got to learn how to carve a turkey!  thanks to youtube, he rocked his task...

{well done, benny boo.}

our thanksgiving feast included a delicious turkey, my favorite greenbean casserole, blake's favorite mashed potatoes, julie's favorite mushroom gravy, & ben's favorite butter bread.  

{if you would like any of our recipes, check out our thanksgiving pinterest board!}

{'merica: turkey legs & football}

& dessert!  it wouldn't be thanksgiving without our grandma's pecan pie with our crunchy pecan topping twist.  we added my pumpkin cream cheese bars with a graham cracker crust & spiced whipped cream. yummmmmm.

for as long as i can remember, julie & i have gotten the turkey wishbone.  so we had to continue tradition!  please see the following photo montage:

{what am i going to wish for??}

{ok. go!}

{i win!}

{by a landslide.}

{happy thanksgiving, julie byrd!}

a huge gigantic thank you to the amazing vandaveer family for hosting thanksgiving 2012!!  love you!

{little man enjoyed his fingers for his thanksgiving meal}

happy thanksgiving!!  so many incredible things to be thankful for.

i hope you can think of something for which you are thankful.

love love,

kjp.

my family's recipes.

my sister gave us the best housewarming gift when we moved into our new home this summer - framed recipe cards handwritten by my grandmother, mom, & my sister too!  each recipe is my favorite dish from each person.

my grandmother's recipe is one of her famous christmas candies - peanut butter balls.  i can remember eating these bites of delight all through my childhood.  we would be sitting in her living room with all of this adult talk & my grandmother would lean over, ever so quietly, & ask if i wanted a candy.  yes!  of course!  it is the most delicious bite goodness.  & it's hanging on my kitchen wall.

every birthday for as long as i can remember, my mom & i have the same conversation: she asks what i want to eat for my birthday dinner, & every year, the answer is her homemade lasagna!  a couple of years ago, i saw in my baby book that, for my first birthday party, my mom made everyone her lasagna.  it's tradition!  & it is so incredibly good.  the best lasagna in the world.

one of julie & my favorite food memories happened when she was off to college & called me one evening to tell me about the delicious dinner she made for herself.  she loved it & wanted to name it, so she told me all of the ingredients she added to her pasta salad.  in my oh-so-wonderful teen bop bratty voice, i replied "really yucky pasta salad."  & in all of julie's wonderfulness & patience for my bratty self, the name stuck!  we made it all the time when we lived together in college & she was teaching me to cook.  so "really yucky pasta salad" is our favorite recipe.

& now my three favorite recipes from the three most amazing women in my life are hanging in my kitchen bringing me so much joy each day.

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday - these are my confessions.

i love my job. 

y'all are probably sick of hearing it, but my job pretty much rocks.

in the kitchen, we talk about music ALL.OF.THE.TIME.  between the musician & the artist & just being in birmy, music is the constant topic of conversation.  classic rock is the most prevalent, which is one i know next to nothing about. 

{prior to working in the kitchen, i knew absolutely nothing about it.  but i have learned most skynard songs, as well as the difference between tom petty & john mellancamp.  so now, it has improved to next to nothing.}

one day during our 8millionth music speak sesh, i commented that if they ever looked at my old cd collection, they would have a hayday.  so i brought it in...

{yes, get a nice little laugh about a "cd collection".  i have no idea why i still have it or moved it to birmy.  but i am so happy i did.}

this is my lifetime's cd collection... high school to college... not touched or even opened since then.  so you know what is gracing this collection...

a lot of usher.  jt in nysnc & solo forms.  britney, christina, jessica.  a few musical soundtracks.  a ton of christian albums.  some country.  a good bit of rap.  a little indie music from my sister.  even a classic rock album or two.

it's diverse. 

& we jammed out.  it was amazing.

as it turns out, i still know every word on usher's confessions album & the jtimberlake rap from like i love you. 

party in the kitchen to early 2000s pop music.  i loved every second of it. 

my job rocks.

i hope you can think of something for which you are thankful today.

love love,

kjp.

our christmas morning.

happy happy post-christmas!  we hope you had a marvelous christmas.  blakey, tanky, & i certainly did.  

since blakey had to work on christmas day, we got to celebrate all day saturday.  after a little sleeping in, we let tanky open his christmas present first...

he tore into that gift!  it took him about 45 second to get his new elephant unwrapped.  he gets one, maybe two, stuffed animals a year... as it takes approximately 3 minutes to rip them open & get the stuffing out.  i think this guy was a new record - probably 1 minute. 

{hard work being the t guy}

we spent much of the morning chatting with blakey's family & my family.  & then we continued with gift opening!  

{pretty new christmas ornaments!}

my sister & benny boo did a pretty freakin awesome job with gifts this year.  we had a numbers theme for the girls & a ninja theme for the boys.  they definitely followed the themes much closer than we did.  but all gifts were fantastic.

{my amazing new bubblewrap calendar!

there is a bubble to pop on each day for 2012.

so so excited about it.}

{blakey's stink bomb...}

{& his ninja gear!

ben - you suck.

but blakey totally loves it.}

then to our gifts!

{to: birdie.

from: byrds.}

i got blakey a new wedding ring!  he lost his earlier this year {tear}, so he needed to be married again :)  & he got me two AMAZING gifts!!  a new super awesome "buffet" le creuset.  it is in between a skillet & a dutch oven.  & is so so great.  & he got me matching le crueset coffee mugs!  they just started making coffee mugs.  & i love them.

{he's the best.}

onto christmas breakfast!  i got to immediately use my new super awesome buffet & make migas topped with chorizo.  what are migas?  delicious mexican eggs.  i know this will shock you, but i used the pioneer woman's recipe {HERE}.  super delicious.  super easy.  try them.  i think they are our new christmas tradition.

{christmas mimosas!}

{migas & chorizo!}

love love,

kjp.

a better bowl?

i want your suggestions...

williams-sonoma melamine mixing bowls are fantastic.  they are pretty & stackable & pourable & nonslip when mixing.

HOWEVER, these little suckers are slippery when you are washing/drying them & are really really breakable.

i've broken two bowls, thus losing two full sets in my life.  & my wonderful & amazing husband dropped & shattered one last night while being awesome & doing our dinner dishes.

certainly there is something better out there.  what mixing bowls do you love?

love love,
kjp.

pirate cupcakes!

blakey's birthday cupcakes were our wonderful red velevet with red sprinkles & a yo ho ho pirate theme!!

blakey loves pirates.  have i ever told you this?  i should post about his surprise 25th birthday pirate party.  it was amazing.  one of the most fun days of my life.  "if ye aren't dressed as a pirate, ye will be the only one."

but back to this birthday.  pirate cupcakes for the birthday boy!

 {pirate cupcake liners & flags from williams-sonoma.

i explained to the lady checking out these were not for my child's pirates of the carribean party,

but for my husband's birthday.

:)}

 {& i FINALLY got to use my beautiful new hot pink kitchen aid mixer!!!}

 {aren't they adorable?!}

 {we, of course, loved the pirate byrd.}

there were a few cupcakes leftover that wouldn't fit in my carrier, so i left them on the kitchen counter during the game.  as it turns out, tanky loves my baking.  he helped himself to the icing on 3. 

glad you got to celebrate blakey's birthday too, tanky.

happy friday, friends!!  we have two more nights of birthday celebrations ahead of us.  i hope you do something fun with someone you love too.

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday #23

remember when i said i found the most beautiful kitchen tool i had ever seen {here}?

well, my super amazing & supportive & clever & sneaky & genius & wonderful family got the hot pink kitchen aid mixer for me for pastry school graduation!!!!!!!!!!

oh. my. gosh.

they are seriously the most fabulous people on earth.  but i already knew that.

& this is seriously the most fabulous kitchen tool on earth.  it is so gorgeous.  & looks quite divine in my kitchen.

what should i bake in it first?!  probably something great for the fourth of july.  wish you were here, huh?

thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!

i hope you can think of something for which you are thankful today.

love love,

kjp.

my new favorite thing: homemade salsa.

while i'm waiting to get the pictures we took in ooooooooklahoma on julie's camera {that looks exactly like mine, as i stole her idea, & thus is difficult to tell apart}, i'm going to tell you about my new hobby:  making homemade salsa!!

if you have a food processor, this is the easiest recipe ever.  & it is super delicious!  you can even change it up to make it more like you like it.  is super chunky salsa your favorite?  great.  rather have the watery version?  totally doable.  spicy?  of course.  sweet?  got it.

here is blakey & my favorite version, although it always turns out new every time :)

super awesome homemade salsa

4 large tomatoes

1 large yellow onion

2 bell peppers 

{i go with orange & yellow.  there is enough red in the salsa already & i hate green.}

3 jalapenos {de-seeded, if you don't want it ridiculously spicy}

5 cloves garlic

a bunch of cilantro

a few limes, just juice

1 T-ish salt

2 tsp-ish sugar

some cumin

1. chop the tomatoes, onion, & bell peppers into big chunks.  i go ahead and finely chop the jalapenos & garlic to make sure it gets well distributed.

2. process away!  i like to do it in batches of the different items, to make sure they get chopped to the consistency i want.  

3. add in the cilantro, lime juice, salt, sugar, & cumin to taste.  

4. it's better after sitting a little bit.  let the flavors "marry".  really, they want to fall in love with each other.

5. eat eat eat!  if you are anything like blakey & me, it will be gone in a couple of sittings.  if you eat normal amounts of salsa, it is plenty for a party.

ps this makes a relatively "juicy" salsa, which is exactly how we like salsa to be.  if you want it less watery, strain the liquid out of the processed tomatoes.  if it is still too water, use lime zest instead of lime juice.  oooh, actually, now that i thought of that, i'm going to try that next time too.  i love fruit zest.

oh!  & one of my favorite parts about making salsa: tanky LOVES cilantro stems.  he was whining at me one day while i was chopping, so i tossed him a stem certain he would hate it.  he showed me.  he chews & chews & then asks for me.  cheapest treat ever.

love love,

kjp.