200th Post... And Mexican Fiesta Date Night

While I may have been a pretty pathetic blogger lately, on the whole I totally rock because I have officially made it to post 200!

Every time I hit one of these big milestones, I am shocked that I've kept up with this blog for so long. I'm not exactly the best at sticking with things, so the fact that I have hit "publish" 200 times is a pretty impressive feat for me. 

Speaking of poor follow-through, my goal of doing a date a week while Joe is in dental school hasn't been the most successful. So far he has been in school for 34 weeks and we've done a whopping 11 dates. For those of you who aren't math geniuses, that's a 32% success rate (don't worry - I'm not a math genius either. I used my favorite online conversion calculator). 

***Side Note*** The closer Joe and I get to starting a family, the more I start viewing things in terms of how long pregnancy will be. The fact that Joe has been in school 34 weeks and pregnancy is 40 weeks is absolutely mortifying. That is a very, very long time to have another human being inside my body.... and to give up wine. ***End of Side Note***

***Clarification Side Note*** No we are not starting a family soon. In fact, babymaking has been postponed. We chose a date, I accidentally spilled to several people (thanks, wine), and then we re-evaluated things. So when I say "closer to starting a family," the word "closer" only means one fewer day. You know, in the same way we are "closer" to death every day. Fun thought.***End of Clarification Side Note***

Anywhoo, we completed our eleventh date on Saturday night and it was a fun and relaxing one: a Mexican themed night! 

Of course, that meant dressing up in clothes we might wear in Mexico plus a dinner consisting of tacos and margaritas. 

The finished product

Joe thought it would be fun to put a Mexican blanket on the coffee table to make the room more festive. Buster has never gotten on the coffee table before, but apparently he figured that a table with a blanket on it is fair game to use as a chair:

While we ate, we wanted to watch a movie that takes place in Mexico. All we could think of was Nacho Libre, so we watched that (well, about half of it and I got bored and demanded requested Game of Thrones instead.)

I may not have liked the movie, but I do dig these adorable babies in Nacho Libre costumes :)

It was a fun night, and I am excited for this week's date! We've already drawn it, and it's an easy (but FUN!) one :)

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Disney Night Date

Being a rabid fan of anything Disney, I was SO excited when Joe pulled this week's date. We were to have a "Disney night," which meant watching a Disney movie and making Monte Cristo sandwiches.

Take it from me, Monte Cristo sandwiches are the BEST thing you can eat at Disneyland (find them at the Blue Bayou or cheaper at Cafe Orleans). Here is a picture from our recent trip:

Making our own Monte Cristos was surprisingly easy. We combined ideas from a few recipes online and listened to Disney music on Pandora while cooking :)

The result, of course, was not as good as Disneyland's, but we don't have a deep fryer and that is highly necessary for a true Monte Cristo. Nevertheless, it was yummy. Here's how we made ours:

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Kate & Joe's Monte Cristos (Makes 2 Sandwiches)
Adapted mostly from this recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 4 slices of Texas toast
• 4 ounces of thinly sliced ham
• 4 ounces of thinly sliced roasted turkey breast
• 4 ounces of gruyere cheese
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• Blackberry preserves (to preference)
• Powdered sugar (for dusting)

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Whisk the egg and milk together in a shallow dish and add salt and pepper to taste.

• Place your bread on a work surface and spread blackberry preserves on each piece. We did a light layer on ours, but it could have been thicker. The amount is up to you :)

• Divide the ham, turkey and cheese into piles on two slices of bread. Close the sandwich with the remaining 2 slices of bread and lightly press together to help the sandwich stay together.

• Over medium heat, melt the butter in a large nonstick frying pan until it foams. Watch carefully to make sure it doesn't burn. Lower the heat to medium-low if necessary.

• Once the butter is ready, grab a sandwich and dip each side of it into the egg and milk batter. Then place the sandwich in the frying pan. Repeat.

•  Fry until the bottoms of the sandwich are golden brown (about 6-7 minutes, but watch carefully). Flip the sandwiches and repeat. 

• After making sure the cheese is melted and the sandwich is warm through, transfer to serving plates and top with a healthy dusting of powdered sugar. Serve more blackberry preserves on the side for dipping.

FINAL RESULT:

Ta da! This is what your Monte Cristo should look like:

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Once our sandwiches were ready, we turned on The Lion King.

I was always more of a Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid fan, so I haven't watched The Lion King in YEARS. It was so much fun watching as an adult and realizing all of the famous people who were in the movie. Since I am currently binge-watching The Borgias on Netflix, I was particularly excited to see that Jeremy Irons was Scar.

I always knew that Whoopi Goldberg, Nathan Lane, James Earl Jones and JTT were voices (oh, JTT - how little Katie loved you so...). What I didn't realize is the following:

Matthew Broderick was adult Simba!

Ernie Sabella (a.k.a. Mr. Carosi from the beach episodes of Saved by the Bell) was Pumba!

Rowan Atkinson (a.k.a. MR. FREAKIN' BEAN) was Zazu!

Cheech Marin (of Cheech & Chong fame) was one of the hyenas!

This was a seriously star-studded flick. And a fun fact I recently learned is that prior to Robin Williams being cast as the Genie in Aladdin, Disney didn't really cast famous people as its voice actors. Obviously that approach changed, which is readily apparent in The Lion King.

I have to admit, that there have been times when I didn't really get why people were so into The Lion King. It was a good movie, of course, but as I said I was always more of a Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin fan.

Watching The Lion King as an adult, though, I got a lot more out of it. There were some pretty heavy themes and I loved how it was clearly inspired by Hamlet:

It was also interesting because Mufasa's death took on a different meaning. As a kid, you are sad thinking about your father dying. As an adult, you think of how tragic it is to leave your child and your spouse fatherless / widowed. It really hit Joe (probably because we've been talking about babies a lot lately).

Despite the requisite sadness over Mufasa dying, this was a really fun and relaxing date night! I'm excited to see what our next date will be...

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Thanksgiving 2013

Two weeks without a peep, ya'll must have thought I died.

Nope, alive and well. I've just been busy entertaining for Thanksgiving and working. But after going to Catching Fire (again) last night and realizing my last post was after I saw Catching Fire for the first time, I knew I needed to get back to the ole bloggity blog.

Thanksgiving was really fun this year, Joe's brother Eric and sister-in-law Shannon visited for a low-key holiday (my cousin joined us for Thanksgiving dinner since he goes to school in Philly). They were here from Wednesday night through Sunday morning - and it was a BLAST to spend so much time with them.

Before they got here, I decorated our table area to get things festive-looking:

That pumpkin is like 2 months old. I don't want to know what it's insides look like...

I went to Paper Source a week before to check out decoration ideas, and copied the sign from one they had and figured out how to make the felt leaf streamer thingy by myself. Those leaves were super easy, actually, and it forced me to learn how to use my sewing machine :)

After picking them up at the airport Wednesday night, we drank way too much wine and probably earned some time in Purgatory after a few hours of Cards Against Humanity.

Thursday morning (after sleeping off our hangovers until 10 or 11) we had to promptly prep the Turkey - which we allowed Joe to do.

 We planned to let the turkey cook several hours and then to start the sides about an hour before eating time (all our sides were quick ones to prep). But then this happened:

Yup, the oven started smoking and quick thinking was necessary to save us all from smoke inhalation.

We feared for the turkey, but luckily the smoke was just caused by some juices leaking over the roasting pan and burning off on the bottom of the oven. However, this turned out to be divine intervention, because we realized the turkey was done... 2 hours early.

Shannon and I jumped up and started rushing to prep the sides.

We still had fun, though :)

Until the last 5 minutes or so when it all went crazy.

But before we knew it, Joe was cutting the turkey...

And our Thanksgiving spread was ready to be dug into:

It was DELICIOUS

Buster even got a plate - er - bowl ;)

The rest of the weekend was spent shopping, eating, drinking, and earning more Purgatory time with hours and hours of Cards Against Humanity.

It was awesome.

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Repli-Kate - Pumpkin "Muffins"

I'm typically a very smart shopper. I print out coupons at home, head straight to sale racks at the store, and you are 99% more likely to find me at Nordstrom Rack over regular ole' Nordies.

But there must be some pleasure center in my brain that lights up when I am in a Costco because I WANT IT ALL. 

***Side Note*** I won't even get started on what an infomerical or issue of Skymall magazine does to me ***End of Side Note***

Whatever this spell is that Costco has me under, I see something I could conceivably need and find a way to justify it into my cart.

Case in point? I have never made anything out of pumpkin before. But the last time Joe and I were at Costco I saw a three pack of giant cans of Libby's pumpkin and decided I NEEDED it. I spewed out something about there being two whole months ahead of us where serving pumpkin is acceptable, we are having guests for Thanksgiving, I am cooking more, Joe said himself he wants pumpkin foods... etc, etc, etc.

Joe shook his head in a resigned acceptance that we weren't leaving without three giant cans of America's Favorite Pumpkin. I took that as my cue, and I happily skipped over to the display, plucked up my pumpkin, and distractedly dropped it in our cart as I caught a delicious looking sample out of the corner of my eye and, having won this battle, had already lost interest.

"America's Favorite Pumpkin" is not just me exaggerating about America's fondness for Libby's. It says so on the can.

This was a month ago, with 60 whole days of acceptable pumpkin-eating ahead of us. According to my spiel, by this time I should have easily used at least 1.5 cans making a variety of pumpkin goodies.

So have I? Of course not.

And with Halloween tomorrow (yay!) I knew I had to take a can opener to at least one of these bad boys or I might lose some of my Costco credibility with Joe (and that would be tragic).

So I scoured Pinterest for pumpkin muffin recipes and found the easiest recipe I have ever seen. SCORE!

Seriously - easiest recipe ever. All you need is a box of yellow cake mix and a regular can of Libby's (or half of one of my monsters). THAT'S IT.

***Side Note*** You can add spices if you want - I chose to add two teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice and highly recommend that you do the same. Then again, I like things really flavorful, so maybe you'd prefer 1 1/2 tsp. ***End of Side Note***

INSTRUCTIONS

Pre-heat oven to 350

Stir together one box of yellow cake mix and one 15 oz. can of Libby's pumpkin

If you'd like, add 2ish tsp. of pumpkin pie spice

Fill a muffin tin - each 3/4 full (recipe will make 12)***

Cook for 20-25 minutes (I checked mine at 18 minutes and they were done, but my oven's nickname is Hades)

Enjoy!

*** The recipe I followed recommended piping the batter into the muffin tin (you can make a piping bag out of a ziploc with a cut off corner). I did this and am SO glad I did. The mixture is really sticky - and a spoon would have lead to frustration and cursing

When you finish, you can fill a cute little bowl like I did. I put them in a bowl solely because they were cute that way - in no way was it done to disguise the fact that I was snacking on tasting the goods ;)

The 80+ 3x5 cards that you spent 8 hours making for your husband aren't required... unless you are a dental (or medical, law, etc.) school wife. If so, you have probably felt my pain.

And, let's be real. These aren't pumpkin muffins - they are pumpkin cupcakes. That is, until breakfast tomorrow. Then they will certainly be referred to as muffins ;)

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Random Recipe Date

Another week, another date. This week our date was to cook a 4 course dinner together. The catch is that we didn't get to choose what dish we had for each course. Instead, we randomly selected recipes from a cookbook and HAD to make and eat whatever we landed on.

We specifically selected dishes from their sections of our giant America's Test Kitchen cookbook (e.g. our appetizer was selected from the section on appetizers, dessert from the section on desserts, etc). That way we wouldn't have ribs or something for dessert. Besides that, it was fate as to what we'd be making and eating. Yikes!

Given that Joe and I are picky eaters, this felt like a really scary game of Russian Roulette for our taste buds. Thankfully, our random number selection and die rolls gave us a meal that was full of yummy foods!

***Side Note*** We decided to roll a die for the main course since the section was split up into chicken, pork, beef, fish, etc. and we didn't want to knowingly pick a number from a preferred section. That would have been more control over our dinner fate than we wanted. In retrospect, using a die would have been the best way to pick the whole meal - it felt a lot more out of our control and, therefore, more exciting. ***End of Side Note***

Since Joe loves cooking but doesn't get to much anymore (thanks dental school), he was really happy for this date. I've actually really started to enjoy cooking myself, so I was happy too.

I love to cook with wine... sometimes I even use it in my food.

So now to answer the big question: what did we eat?

Appetizer: Quesadillas

The cookbook gave advice on cooking a basic quesadilla, but didn't have any special recipes. Since I wanted something more snazzy than just cheese and a tortilla, I decided to make our quesadillas with cheddar and mozzarella cheese, thick cut bacon, caramelized onions, and cilantro. OMG it was insanely delicious. I'll be making it again for sure. Since we didn't want to get too full, we only had two slices(?) parts(?) sections(?) each.

Salad: Roasted pear and walnut arugula salad

I overdressed the salad horribly, so it was the worst dish of the night, but all of the components were great. We'll try it again and I'll be much less heavy handed with the dressing.

Entree: Coq a Vin with mashed potatoes

Okay, I've never heard of coq a vin before, so when we first landed on it I was afraid. When I found out it was a chicken dish, I breathed a sigh of relief since I can do chicken, but I was still scared because it calls for chicken thighs. Fun fact about me - I can't eat meat on the bone unless it's a rib. It creeps me out (why ribs are okay baffles me too - probably because they are covered in BBQ sauce) and I don't know how to cut meat off of a bone. Yes, I am 27 and I don't know how to cut meat off of a bone. You can shake your head in shame at me, I deserve it.

Anyways, Joe insisted that if we used chicken breasts they would probably dry out and the point of this meal was to try new things. I agreed to use thighs as long as he cut my chicken and we didn't have to use mushrooms (even though they are a big part of the recipe). He agreed.

Aside from the thighs and mushrooms, coq a vin sounds like the most amazing chicken dish ever. The recipe uses an ENTIRE bottle of wine, a ton of onions, garlic, and other flavors I love. Plus, the traditional side is either noodles or mashed potatoes.

Joe pretty much took charge on this part of the meal, which I am glad of because it seems pretty difficult to make. There are a ton of steps. But oh boy was it INSANELY DELICIOUS. This is going to be my pick for my birthday dinner in December.

Dessert: Fallen chocolate cake

I was thrilled we got a chocolate dessert, I was definitely craving it. Unfortunately, our oven is super aggressive and these got a bit overcooked, but they were still delicious. They were also super easy to make, so we'll be able to try again.

Even though the food was delicious, I did make a huge mistake with this date. I put it as a 90 minute date and it ended up taking 4+ hours. Note to self: cooking ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS takes longer than you expect. Also, what moron thinks it only takes 90 minutes to make a 4 course meal? This girl right here.

The good news is that Joe had more time than he expected to this weekend, so it didn't get in the way of his studying.

All in all, this was probably our favorite date so far. It was so much fun to hang out in the kitchen and cook together. We didn't have the TV or any music on when we were cooking, we just chatted. There were lots of Walking Dead predictions made since last night was the season premiere, and we got to be at home together for the longest stretch of time for a while. It was a great night :)

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Repli-Kate: Tamale Pie!

It's been a while since I've done a Repli-Kate post (previous ones here and here). For those of you new to the blog or who have a memory like mine, Repli-Kate posts are where I try to replicate something from Pinterest or another source of inspiration.

This week, that inspiration comes not from Pinterest, but from my two favorite Joes: Joe (my hubby) and Trader Joe's.

A few months ago, Joe tried a free sample at Trader Joe's where they used their polenta and pre-cooked carnitas to make a tamale bite. He loved the idea, and bought ingredients to make something similar at home: a tamale pie! He's made this dish a few times since, and I wanted to try my hand at it myself.

So here you go - the recipe for tamale pie!

***Side Note*** As friends, family, and long-time readers probably know - cooking is not my forte. I am trying and actually improving... but if you expect proper cooking lingo in this recipe, you've come to the wrong place ;) ***End of Side Note***

Tamale Pie - 4 Servings

Ingredients:
2 medium onions
1 package of Trader Joe's pre-cooked carnitas (12 oz.)
1 package of polenta (18 oz.)
1 can of black beans (15 oz.)
1 can of red enchilada sauce (10 oz.)
shredded cheese (optional)

Step One: The Stove

(Oh, you may want to pre-heat your oven to 350 at this point. I always forget.)

Cut the onions into rings and saute them to your heart's taste-buds' desire (Joe hates onions unless they are super tender, so ours were pretty soft).

Next, pull the carnitas apart and add the shreds to another pan. You'll likely find a lot of disgusting fat clusters. We always throw those away (we are healthy like that haha). I promise this part will make you want to hit the gym ASAP.

You don't need to cook the carnitas long. Since they are pre-cooked, the point is to get them lightly browned and slightly crispy. Once again, the amount you cook them is up to you and your preferences.

Step 2: Assembly

Now that all of our ingredients are prepped, it's time to assemble the pie in a 8X8 inch baking dish.

First, pat down the polenta to make the crust:

Next, add canned black beans that have been drained (I don't like that icky bean water that's in the can and we don't want the tamale pie too wet!):

The carnitas are next:

Followed by the onions:

And, finally, the whole can of enchilada sauce:

You can add cheese to the top if you'd like. However, when Joe and I did this in the past we felt that all of the other ingredients were so flavorful we couldn't taste the cheese. Unless you dump buckets on top, you'll probably agree.

Though buckets of cheese does sound delicious...

Step 3: Oven Time!

Now that the pie is assembled, pop it in the oven (which should be at 350 since you remembered to pre-heat it. Oh, wait, you are like me and forgot? Curse loudly quietly and pop it in anyways but add some extra time to account for the cold oven.)

Cook the pie for 30 minutes if you are putting it in the oven immediately after assembly. If you assembled the pie in the morning so you could have dinner almost ready when you get home (like I did) add a good 15 minutes since it'll be cold from the fridge.

Everything is already cooked, so the point is to get it hot all the way through. It takes longer than you'd expect. I cooked this pie for 30 minutes after it was in the fridge all day and it was barely warm with just a couple of hot pockets. (MMMM... Hot Pockets).

Step 4: Enjoy!

The pie won't look any different when you pull it out of the oven unless you added cheese to the top. In which case, the cheese will hopefully be melty and brown. If not, broil that S!

Dishing up tamale pie is quite the feat. It will likely fall apart and make a big mess on your plate. Luckily, you are no longer 5 and you understand that just because your piece isn't as pretty as another person's piece, it'll taste JUST AS GOOD!

And I promise... it WILL be good :)

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Christmas Date

Another week, another date from our date jars!

This week we figured we had time for a yellow date. Joe reached in and pulled out another one I was excited about: Christmas night! The idea was that we'd take some of our favorite parts of Christmas and enjoy them - the music, cookies, food, movies, etc. I wanted to buy ugly sweaters from a thrift store, but I worked 50+ hours this week and didn't have the time to shop (let alone wash them). Instead, we settled on wearing red and green.

***Side Note*** After last week's Scattergories date and this week's Christmas date, I hope Joe doesn't get a dud next week. We are definitely starting off with some of the really fun ones. ***End of Side Note***

We started our date by grocery and Christmas present shopping. This ended up taking FOR-EV-ER, but Joe made the point that it was fitting since shopping around Christmastime is always a headache. That's my cup-half-full hubby for ya :)

I didn't originally plan that we'd exchange gifts, but COME ON - it wouldn't have felt like Christmas without presents. Since we are being careful with money, we decided to go to Dollar Tree and buy 3 or 4 things for the other person. It was a blast hunting through the store trying to avoid each other. Honestly, I'd consider doing something similar for our real Christmas gifts this year.

When we got home, I immediately turned on a Pandora Christmas station and started baking. Growing up, spritz cookies were a staple in our house around the holidays, so they were the obvious choice:

Please excuse the filthy kitchen. I am a messy cook.

While I was baking, Joe wrapped his presents for me and surprised me by creating a "fire" out of tissue paper and a fan. (We have Vornado fans which are designed to work sitting on their backs or upright.) I absolutely loved it! We don't have a fireplace, and celebrating by a fire feels so Christmassy to me.

Dinner was absolutely delicious. In my family, we celebrate Christmas with risotto (we're Italian). Since Joe was disappointed we did ribs instead of risotto for our "R" Scattergories date last week, it was the perfect main course.

Joe made the risotto, and I made the green beans. Being the disaster in the kitchen that I am, I royally screwed up and they turned out looking more like over-cooked asparagus. (The recipe called for simmering the green beans for 25 minutes after having cooked them for a short time on medium heat. I never turned the heat down. Oops.)

Nevertheless, the green beans were DELICIOUS and I can't wait to try them again so I can see what they taste like when not cooked to mush. Here's the recipe in case you are interested. Oh - and now that I am looking at it again I realized I never added the herbs or the pepper. I really need cooking lessons haha.

After dinner, it was time for presents!

The first present Joe opened were these toothbrushes that don't need toothpaste or water. Perfect for his backpack or glove compartment.

My first present was a pack of hair ties. I am always running out even though I've probably bought a million.

Buster even liked them. (Actually, he likes anything from Dollar Tree. Must be the smell. Weird dog haha).

Joe's next gift was a head massager. I knew he'd like it, but he pretty much lost his S.

I even got an, "I've always wanted one of these!" and "Dollar for dollar this might be the best gift I've ever gotten!" out of him. For $1, not too shabby ;)

He was doing this the rest of the night. Seriously.

My next gift was a sweet snapband kit. You can see that I am pretty pumped. We had just talked about liking snapbands as kids (those bands you hit against your wrist that close into a bracelet) and this kit came with some fun sequins. I'm totes going to bling this thing out!

And do you see the blur from Buster's tail wagging? He was also very excited.

Next, Joe opened a flick football set. I figured he could have it on his desk and play with it when he was studying. He was excited, and said he'll flick a field goal when he makes a breakthrough.

My final present was a movie with John Stamos in it. Haven't heard of it before, but I'll watch anything with Mr. Stamos. Anything. If he was paint drying on a wall, I'd watch and proclaim, "Have mercy!"
 

I wondered how they could sell DVDs for $1, and then noticed this sticker on the back:

Is there a ghost in this picture? WTH is that green orb???

Gotta love the phrasing ;) I'd say they were being pretty assumptive with the "enjoyed" part, but let's be real. It has John Stamos in it. I am sure it was thoroughly enjoyed.

Joe's final gift was a puzzle. I am always looking for puzzles that look fun, and so many are of stupid things and are really terrible pictures. Example: chances are I probably don't want to do a puzzle of a lighthouse. But if said lighthouse was a particularly awesome image (or had John Stamos peeking out of the window), then it would be worth buying. But no. It's a totally amateur shot of a particularly boring lighthouse on a hill with dead grass and no water visible.

***Side Note*** Disney puzzles are the exception. There's no such thing as a bad Disney puzzle. But unfortunately those usually have about 50 pieces. ***End of Side Note***

So when I found a football stadium puzzle, I felt like I hit the jackpot. Joe loves football and it should be pretty tough to do with the crowd and sky.

After presents, we watched Jingle All The Way and then three Christmas episodes of Full House. I was always under the impression that sitcoms ALWAYS have a holiday episode every year, but when trying to find Christmas episodes of shows we like, I realized that they rarely do more than a couple. During the 8 seasons of Full House, for example, they only had 3 Christmas shows. There was such a large break between the first and the second that Becky and Jesse had their first kiss in the first. By the second? Nicky and Alex were about 2.

Also, DJ was dating Steve. Ahhh, Steve. I had such a crush on him.

***Side Note*** On the topic of Steve, I told the girls I nanny that Steve is the same person who voiced Aladdin and it blew their minds. Then I told them that the actresses who play Michelle are 6 months younger than me and their minds were further blown. See parents? That's the type of education I can provide for your children ;) ***End of Side Note***

We never got to the egg nog we planned to make from scratch, because we both passed out fell asleep on the couch. Maybe we can do our make-up rummy game from last week's date while drinking egg nog.

I guess making it through 100% of our date next week is a good goal ;) Can't wait to see what we will be doing!