a good day for grilled cheese & tomato soup.

one day last weekend was cold & rainy, so i got to spend the day snuggled up with my husband.  it was a gorgeous day to listen to the rain, watch a movie, & eat some fabulous cold weather food.

after blakey fell asleep on this post-call morning, i started on our feast.  cooking a meal all day long has become one of my favorite things to do.  i love building flavors throughout the day & enjoying the aroma every time you walk by the kitchen {which in our loft is every moment}.

so this tomato basil parmesan soup recipe i found on pinterest {obviously} was perfect!!  {you can find the recipe HERE.}  it is made for a crockpot, but i wanted to use my awesome new gigantic le crueset, which worked absolutely perfectly.  i only made a couple changes to the recipe to suit our taste: used the entire 48oz box of chicken broth {instead of 32oz} & used 1 cup half & half and 1 cup low fat milk.  i don't like super thick soups, so we ended up thinning it some more with water, but that is a personal preference.

i do love chunky soup.  & i love creamy soup.  this was divine!

& for the grilled cheese - i took a note from urban & another from pinterest to create one of the best grilled cheeses we've ever had. 

for the most important part, we used american {don't judge.  i love melty american on a grilled cheese...}, havarti, & goat cheese! 

for the bread, i baked honey beer bread {found on pinterest.  duh.} & cut super thick slices.  {you can find the recipe HERE.}  i will warn you, cut your bread slices pretty quickly after you get it out of the oven, or you might accidentally eat the whole thing first.  it was delish.

ooooh, rainy days & comfort food with my byrds.  love it.

{yes, that makes the count for the word "love" at 5.  it was a great day.}

love love,
kjp.

let's bonfire!

ogden's TWENTY-NINTH birthday was this weekend!  & what better way to celebrate than burning some stuff.

christmas trees, to be exact.

it felt very texan of us.

& it was a ton of fun!

 {the hosts & the initial building of the fire}

 {ogden's second annual ridiculously crazy tree burning moment}

{please note the awesomely giddy look on his face}

 {so, of course, matt had to have his own ridiculously crazy tree burning moment}

{i was only slightly terrified.}

{understatement}

& if i have my camera out, you know a photoshoot will ensue:

 {the newlyweds!!}

 {our fellas}

 {to the ladies}

 {apparently elyse had wanted to take "this picture" the entire time on their honeymoon...}

{sure...we'll take one too...}

{oh, goodness}

the pups had a marvelous time too!  rogers, it is now that time for y'all to get a puppy to join in tanky & lola's fun.

the second annual christmas tree burning party was a huge success!  & i think ogden quite enjoyed his birthday.  

love our friends.

love love,

kjp.

a christmas miracle!

i completely forgot to tell you -

remember in the fall when blakey decided he was going to grow a magnolia tree in our loft {HERE}...

well, i will be honest.  i had given up on our little plants.  a couple of months had gone by with nothing.  no trees.  no sprouts.  no sign of life.

but when we got home from our christmas vacation home, we discovered our christmas miracle: 

one of the seeds is growing into a tiny little plant!!  

who would've thought.  apparently you can grow a magnolia tree in a loft.  or at least a tiny little sprout.  but we are very proud of our little seed-that-could.

grow, little guy, grow.

happy friday to you!

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday - to start the day.

this morning blakey turned on the hit jams radio station while we were getting ready for work.  heck yes.  jammin' out to nelly at 5 o'clock in the morning.  heck yes.

that is a fantastic way to start out your day.

it's amazing how little things really can make or break your whole attitude for the day.

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

love love,
kjp.

mother nature is a little confused.

mother nature is a little confused.

it is january.  the high today is 65.  & there is expected to be "abundant sunshine."

in january.

& there was a substantial tornado that came through alabama early yesterday morning.  we are just fine {thank you to those that thought about us!} but others were much less fortunate.  

a tornado.  in january.

oh, mother nature, you are confused.  but after a lovely run in the park with the tanky yesterday, we did come home & enjoy some hot chocolate with mini marshmallows!  {in my awesome new le creuset mugs!}

it is still january, after all.

love love,

kjp.

amazing shredded beef {& green beans too}

this is officially blakey's favorite meal of all time. 

ok, that might be an exaggeration, but it is pretty darn close. 

while we were home for the holidays, my stepmom made some a.freakin.mazing shredded beef sandwiches.  blakey has been talking & talking & talking about it since we ate it...twice.  so clearly that means i needed to make it.

the recipe she uses is a combination of two different pioneer woman beef recipes.  & that, in my book, makes it now her recipe!  so thank you thank you, ruth, for this fantastic recipe!

amazing shredded beef sandwiches

2.5 lb to 5 lb chuck roast

4 T butter

1 onion, sliced thick

3 cloves garlic

8 oz jar whole pepperocinis + juice

1/2 c soy sauce

1 c sherry

1/2 tsp salt

2 T italian seasoning

serve with: buttered & toasted deli rolls & a delicious melty cheese

1. heat butter in dutch oven over medium high heat.  saute onions for a few minutes, until starting to brown.

2. set roast on top.  add remaining ingredients.  cover.

3. bake at 275 for at least 6 hours, until beef is completely fork-tender & falling apart.  if it is not, keep cooking until it is!

4. shred completely.  serve, continue heating, or chill.

so so so good.  so good.

& here is my embarrassing side note:  ruth made this recipe for new years two years ago.  i loved it then.  so i went searching for the recipe shortly after blakey & i got married.  i searched & searched & searched & couldn't find it.  so i made my now favorite & completely overused pw dr pepper pulled pork.  

yep, that's right.  i apparently did not know the difference between pork & beef.

great find though.  so i'm ok with it.

oh!  about the green beans.  blakey loves green beans.  i, on the other hand, would rather eat just about any other vegetable.  but i decided to make a "blakey's favorite dinner", so i went with a green bean recipe in my awesome food network magazine.  

believe it or not, these are pretty darn good!  they sound super strange - green beans, tarragon, & whole-grain mustard.  {so strange.} but you should seriously try them!  {recipe is HERE.}

fabulous meal.  

love love,

kjp.