![It’s my Birthday! [Pink balloons flying through the air!]
Lots more to come on the festivities. Wine and apps with the girls last night, dinner with the boy tonight at Nopa, weekend in Napa ahead with 8 of my favorite amigos - pinata and all.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1px1qL5f51r6434no1_500.jpg)
It’s my Birthday! [Pink balloons flying through the air!]
Lots more to come on the festivities. Wine and apps with the girls last night, dinner with the boy tonight at Nopa, weekend in Napa ahead with 8 of my favorite amigos - pinata and all.
I wasn’t kidding about trying at least of the below desserts! Gave the mint chip cookie sandwiches a go except I’d call my version “the lazy girl” mint chip M&M cookie sandwich.
What you’ll need:
Dark Chocolate Mint M&M’s (kind of hard to find, but I found little bags and bought 2)
Easy-bake Chocolate Chip Cookies (TollHouse or Hersey)
Mint Chip Ice-Cream
What I did:
Put the cookies on a non-stick pan and add two or three M&Ms to each pre-baked cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for 10- 13 minutes (depends if you want soft or hard cooks). Give them a good 5 minutes to cool down and then add 1 scoop of ice-cream to make your sando. That’s it, my lazy way to make yummy ice-cream sandwiches! Took less than 20 minutes to whip up. They were such a good treat and everyone loved and devoured them saying the dark chocolate mint M&M’s were the perfect touch! [I can totally see this same recipe made with all kinds of M&Ms and ice-cream - thinking next I would try peanut butter M&Ms with some kind of chocolate peanut butter or chocolate cookie ice-cream.] Thanks to Bake at 350 for the inspiration. Enjoy!
Stumbled upon these two delicious St Patties Day themed desserts and think I might have to try both of them this weekend. I am a quarter Irish after all!
Baileys Chocolate Pudding + Jameson Butterscotch Pudding via HelloBrit
Hint O’ Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches via Bake at 350
This year on V-Day Jeremy and I joined forces with Kate (my co-worker and good friend) and her roommate Kevin at their place to concoct a delicious dinner. I stumbled upon the most adorable heart shaped pasta and insisted on finding a recipe to put the pasta to good use. As fate would have it, the Tasting Table email of the day on V-Day was the most perfect pesto recipe a girl could ask for. Check it out, it was easy and delicious - and I ate leftovers for lunch and dinner for two days straight! Yum.
Nutty Love, Pistachio Pesto via TastingTable
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INGREDIENTS
1 cup shelled pistachios
1 tablespoon kosher salt plus extra for pasta water
1½ pounds medium shaped pasta (we combined shells/hearts, but can use whatever you prefer)
1 large head broccoli, stems trimmed
2 garlic cloves
Juice and zest of 1 Meyer lemon (or zest of 1 regular lemon with 3 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 tablespoon orange juice)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
½ cup mint leaves
1½ cups extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup finely grated Pepato or Pecorino Romano cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
Sea salt
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DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 350°. On a rimmed baking sheet, toast the pistachios until fragrant and lightly toasted, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a large plate and cool, then coarsely grind in a food processor. Transfer the ground pistachios to a bowl and set aside
2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add some kosher salt and the pasta and cook until almost al dente, about 8 minutes. When the pasta is almost finished, add the broccoli to the pot and cook for 2 minutes more or until the pasta is al dente and the broccoli is tender. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water and drain the pasta and broccoli through a large colander.
3. In the same food processor, combine the garlic, lemon zest, red pepper flakes and kosher salt and grind into a fine paste. Add the parsley and mint and pulse to make a rough paste. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Transfer to a medium saucepan and stir in the ground pistachios.
4. Add the pasta water to the pesto; bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes.
5. In a large bowl, combine the pasta, broccoli and pesto. Stir in the lemon juice and set aside for 5 minutes. To serve, divide the pasta among plates or bowls and garnish with the grated cheese, chives, sea salt.
Love these pretty little festive ladies. Will definitley be sipping some sparking Rose tonight! Stay tuned for the heart shaped pasta dish (oh, yes I am!) I am whipping up tonight with Jeremy, my friend/co-worker Kate, and her roommate. Should be a good one!
xo
J
(Source: fuckyeahweddingideas)
My favorite? Theodore’s take on being single v. married. Hilarious! Kids say the darndest things.
via Eva Rose
A belated, but very Happy New Year to all! Hope everyone had a great NYE! I spent it up in wine country with 6 very good friends. It was perfect. More pictures to follow!
(Source: a-ladys-findings)
via hellobrit
A couple of week’s back we threw a little birthday party for Lauren (my roomie) at our apartment. We wanted to make it as festive as possible, but had very little time (and money for that matter) to throw this shindig together. I saw this trick on Brit’s blog and gave it a whirl. Totally make shift, but totally adorable.
My attempt below. Unfortunately I only took this one picture! I think I was too caught up in prepping the appetizers. I could only find green tape, but it worked all the same.
The birthday girl and her mistletoe headband below.
![Merry Christmas!!
tallgirltales:
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays, friends!
[via theglitterguide]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lwq2e0DY631qgx1spo1_500.jpg)
