Happy New Year! We’re kicking things off this year with another Monthly Scoop post – December 2019 addition. I’m talking about all the yummy recipes posted, a review of the past year, TV shows and movies we’ve been loving and a fun little project/goal John and I have been working on together. It still doesn’t seem like Christmas happened because it went by so quickly and it was SO warm here in Nebraska! Nevertheless, it did and there was a lot of good food enjoyed. Next year, I’m going to make it a goal to keep count of how much butter I purchased during the holiday seasons, because it was A LOT. Currently speaking, I have 17 sticks of butter in my fridge. I may have a problem…

Speaking of butter, are you team salted or un-salted? Gimme salted all day long!

Naturally, December was loaded with baking up lots of sweet goodies. From cookies to cakes, I don’t think we went a day in December without a dessert on hand (whoops). Also, I ate so much homemade Chex Mix that the roof of my mouth was sore. Once I get started, I can’t put it down. Looking back over the past month, I think I made 9 baking sheets of homemade Chex Mix…we were snacking GOOD. 

This past month was also heart-warming to me, because so many of you made my recipes! I absolutely love seeing pictures or hearing about how a recipe turned out in your kitchen. It makes my heart so happy! I’m incredibly thankful to everyone who has taken the time to like, comment, follow along or make a recipe in their own kitchen. That’s what it’s all about! 

Speaking of recipes, let’s take a look at what December had!

December Recipes:

Recipes during the holiday season are always so fun to me. You can really let your creativity flow or stick to the classics – either way you are bound to have something delicious and memorable! December recipes were all about comfort, memories and festivity. Many of which can still be made throughout the year! Click on your favorite recipe below and get to cookin’! If you make any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you! Shoot me an email, post a comment or share on social media tagging @kjandcompany or using #kjandcompany!

2019 in Review:

2019 was a big year for KJ & Company because of the new website launch! Going live in August, the new website has made it so that you can easily access recipes and navigate KJ & Company without a hitch. Artillery Media did a fantastic job in the website development! Since the new website went live in August, I had a lot of “down time” this last year where I wasn’t able to post anything. This gave me the time to really get back into the kitchen and let the creative juices start flowing. We hit the ground running in August and haven’t looked back since!

In regards to traffic and page views to the new webiste and recipes, December has been the best month yet for KJ & Company! Thats all a thanks to YOU! I’m very excited to see where this next year takes us.

Monthly Favorites:

1. Every winter, John and I watch all the Harry Potter movies and it’s definitely a time that we both look forward to. This year, we decided to mix things up a little! We challenged ourselves to read each Harry Potter book before we can watch the movies. It’s been so fun reading with each other every night – better yet, when John would read to me while I was cooking or baking away. It’s been such a fun thing for us to do together and a really special time set aside for us. We snagged the Harry Potter book set on sale on Amazon!
2. I’ve talked about it before, but we’ve also been binge-watching West Wing on Netflix. It’s an older show, but we finished all 7 seasons this past month and are already talking about starting it over!
3. I’m completely smitten with these new sweaters from Aerie – I seriously want one in every color!! They are SO comfortable and are definitely my new go-to. I even gifted a couple of them for Christmas this year! Run don’t walk!
4. Ok, this is the turtleneck version of the sweater and you gotta have it too. A girl’s gotta have options!
5. I also finally jumped on this hair clip and scrunchie trend. They are a fun little somethin’ somethin’ to add to your hair!
6. We went to the new Star Wars movie and I loved it! If you remember, we binge-watched all the other ones to be ready for this new one. Now, I’m not an avid-long-term Star Wars fan, so others may have different opinions about the movie, but I thought it was really good!
7. Homemade Chex Mix – I ate so much the roof of my mouth was sore…and I still have two bags of it sitting on my counter! Can’t stop, won’t stop. 
8. Recipe videos on Instagram have been so fun to do this past month! Definitely something I’m going to continue to do going forward and you all seem to love them. Follow along on Instagram to see what I’m talking about!

Next Month:

Holy smokes it’s January and 2020! Coming off of the holiday months is always and adjustment for me, but I’m excited to see what this year holds! Time to take down the Christmas tree and get back into the kitchen!

KJ