Repli-Kate: Easy-to-Make Fall Garland

Thanksgiving is just a few days away, and as I prepare for two of our favorite people to visit again for the holiday, I'm dusting off some of the decorations I made for last year's festivities. My favorite is my leaf garland, so I figured I would share how you can make your own!

Last year, in anticipation of hosting my first Thanksgiving dinner, I went to Paper Source to check out their decorations and to stock up on some craft stuff (I.love.that.store.). While there, I saw this adorable garland of felt leaves. Thinking it would make an adorable addition to my decor, I checked the price tag and winced... it was much more than I wanted to spend. My disappointment quickly disappeared when I realized that this would be an easy thing to replicate - all I would need is felt, some brown thread, and a sewing machine. Easy peasy!

While I don't have step-by-step photos, I don't think you need them to be able to replicate this yourself. It's incredibly easy - even if you don't know how to sew (I had to look up how to thread my machine, that's how knowledgable I am). Here's what you do:

1.) Decide on one leaf design for each color of felt that you have and make a stencil out of something like a manila folder. On the folder, you'll either want to draw leaves yourself or you can use images from the internet. I went the internet route, since my drawing skills aren't fantastic. I searched "leaf coloring pictures" and had several simple designs to choose from. I printed them out on regular computer paper, cut them out, put them on the manila folder, and traced around the edges. Then I cut out the leaves from the manila folder and had my stencils :) It's possible you could skip the folder and just make a stencil out of computer paper, but I thought the thickness of the folder made it easier to trace onto the felt.

2.) Use your leaf stencils and a sharpie to draw the outline of leaves on your felt

3.) Cut the leaves out

4.) Thread your sewing machine with brown thread and pull out several inches of thread before you start sewing on the first leaf (so you have an end to use for hanging). Then, put down your first leaf and sew straight down the middle and off the leaf. Continue sewing for a couple of inches to provide some space and then put another leaf down and sew in a straight line over that leaf. Repeat over and over again until you get through your leaves and have a large garland.

That's it! That's all you do :)

Last year's Thanksgiving table

If you have leftover leaves, you can sprinkle them on your tabletop like I did above :) 

In case I don't blog before Thursday, have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

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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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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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Repli-Kate: Date Jars

Date jars having been popping up A LOT on Pinterest, and I've always thought it would be fun to make one for Joe and me. We make a point to have a special date night every month, and usually it winds up being dinner and a movie because we are too tired or rushed to come up with something more unique.

Since I want to add some variety to our dates, and because I want guaranteed time with Joe every week when he is in dental school, I decided to make date jars as a gift for Joe before school starts. The idea is that he'll pull a date every Sunday night and, based on what it is and his schedule, we'll figure out when we want to do it that week. That also gives me time to make the necessary reservations or buy the necessary ingredients/supplies/etc.

In total, there are 104 dates so we can do one a week for his first 2 years of dental school (the first 2 years are the busiest by far).

With most of the jars on Pinterest, colored sticks or papers are used to indicate how expensive a date is. While money is something we are definitely careful with, I knew that while Joe is in dental school it's more important for us to choose a date based on how much time it would take. Those weeks where he has three tests? Maybe he only has an hour to spare for an activity. Those weeks where he miraculously has some extra time? Great! A several hour date it can be.

I used green, yellow, and red to indicate how much time I expect the specific activity to take. Green is 90 minutes or less, yellow is 2-4 hours, and red is 4+ hours. Obviously, there are many more green and yellow dates than red, I'm realistic ;)

Most of the dates are pretty inexpensive, but I did throw in a few higher-cost ideas. Because of the time and money restraints, and the fact that I wanted a lot of them to be things we can do at home, many involve cooking special dinners and watching movies. Though not THE MOST creative ideas ;) given how busy Joe will be, eating dinner together and watching a movie will feel special.

One thing that really annoyed me about seeing these date jars on Pinterest is that few (if any, honestly) had a full list of the activities they included. This meant spending hours trolling blogs online trying to find lists of date ideas to get inspiration and ideas for my own. So, because I'd hate anyone to ever spend that much time coming up with ideas ever again, I'll include my list of dates here :)

All 104 of them :)

***Side Note*** You'll notice I'll use any excuse to make us put on costumes. Joe should be trilled haha ***End of Side Note***

Green Dates (90 minutes or less)

Puzzle	Let's put on some music and put a puzzle together
YouTube Video Session	Let's get our laughs on with a marathon of funny YouTube videos
Write Bucket Lists	Let's plan the rest of our lives together
Paper Mache Masks	Let's cover our faces with paper mache and make some wicked cool masks
Thrifting	Let's go thrifting! We each get $5 to spend on the other person
Breakfast for Dinner - In PJs	Let's get our PJs on and have breakfast for dinner - complete with cartoons
Picnic in Clark Park	Let's pack a picnic basket and head to Clark Park (if the weather doesn't permit, we'll picnic on our living room floor)
Dance Party	Let's party like it's 1999!
Video Game Marathon	Let's hook up the Playstation and you can teach me some Madden
Game Night	Let's play some board games and pig out on pizza
Cookbook Dinner	Let's grab a cookbook and randomly select courses for a 4 course meal - then we gotta get busy cooking!
YouTube Dance Lessons	Let's prove we don't have four left feet between us. Swing? Tango? The Macarena?
Formal Night	Let's dress up in our finest attire and eat by candlelight - at home
Indoor Camping	Let's build a tent, make s'mores, and tell ghost stories
Photoshoot	Let's grab the camera and get some fun shots of each other
Tennis Match	Let's grab the rackets and hit the court
Wine Tasting	Let's pair wine with cheese and chocolate - yum
Personality Tests	Let's take some online personality tests and see how compatible we are on paper
Pudding Pictionary	Let's use our fingers to draw in pudding - whoever said you can't play with your food
Basketball	Let's play a game of HORSE and/or shoot some hoops
Coffee Date	Let's head to a local coffee shop for some caffeine and conversation
Dream Home Blueprint	Let's map out our dream house
Paint Portraits	Let's each try to paint a portrait of the other
Ice Cream Sundae Night	Let's forget dieting and make decadent ice cream sundaes
Beer Pong	Let's practice our pong skills - you are a college student again
Minute to Win It	Let's look up some Minute to Win It games and try our luck at them
Restaurant Replicate	Let's replicate a meal from a restaurant we like - but try to do it better
Record a Music Video	Let's bust out the camera and record a music video
Record an Infomercial	Let's pretend we're on HSN and record an infomercial for a product we own
Record a Cooking Show	Let's pretend we are on The Next Food Network Star and record a cooking segment
Would You Rather?	Let's get to know each other a bit better...
Paint Coffee Mugs	Let's draw/paint on a coffee mug for the other person
Rap Contest	Let's channel our inner Snoop Dog and see who can come up with the best rap
Play MadLibs	Let's lie in bed and play MadLibs
Paint By Numbers	Let's try to stay in the lines...
Joe's Choice	Let's see what Joe wants to do in 90 minutes or less
Cookie Cook-Off	Let's see who can make the tastiest cookie
Play at the Playground	Let's channel our inner child and swing, slide, and monkey around
Make T-Shirts	Let's decorate T-Shirts for each other
Dollar Store Hunt	Let's go to the dollar store with $4 each, 15 minutes, and a mission: (1) Find the worst gift (2) Find the best gift (3) Find the ugliest item (4) Find the best value
Make a Buster Calendar	Let's grab our cute little pup and take photos of him for a Buster calendar
Flip a Coin	Let's let fate determine where we eat tonight. We'll get in the car and flip a coin every 30 seconds. Heads we turn right, tails we turn left. After 15 minutes we eat at the closest restaurant
Needlepoint	Let's make some inappropriate needlepoint
Kate's Choice	Let's see what Kate wants to do for 90 minutes or less
Card Night	Let's play some card games

Yellow Dates (2-4 hours)

Chopped Challenge	Let's see who can find the most oddball mystery ingredients
Iron Chef	Let's see which of us will be the next Iron Chef of Spruce St.
Mob Night	Let's dress up like mobsters and enjoy some pizza, gelato, and chianti as we watch The Godfather
Mini-Golf	Let's hit the links... well, the little links
Bowling	Let's strike!
Dave & Busters or Chuck-E-Cheese	Let's try to win enough tickets for something better than a temporary tattoo..
Ice Skating	Let's FINALLY go ice skating
Go to the Zoo	Let's visit the animals at the Zoo
Blast From the Past - Kid	Let's pretend we are kids again - we'll eat kid foods and watch kid movies / TV shows
Blast From the Past - Teen	Let's pretend we are teenagers again - we'll eat pizza and watch our favorite movies / TV shows from when we were in junior high and high school
Sports Movie & Food	Let's watch a sports movie and eat foods you'd find at a concession stand
Restaurant Hop	Let's go to three restaurants tonight: one for an appetizer, one for an entree, and one for dessert
Theme Night - Italian	Let's go to Italy! We'll eat Italian food and watch a movie that reminds us of Italy
Theme Night - Western	Let's go partner! We'll eat like cowboys and watch a Western
Theme Night - French	Let's go to Paris! We'll eat French food and watch a movie that reminds us of France
Theme Night - Mexican	Let's go to Mexico! We'll eat Mexican food and watch a movie that reminds us of Mexico
Theme Night - 1950's	Let's pretend it's the 50's! Get in costume while we watch a 50's movie, eat 50's diner food, and maybe even have living room sock hop
Theme Night - 1980's	Let's pretend it's the 80's! Get in costume while we watch a Brat Pack movie
Theme Night - Halloween	Let's get our spooky on! Regardless of the time of year, let's put on a costume, watch a Halloween movie, and carve a pumpkin (or watermelon if pumpkin is out of season)
Theme Night - Christmas	Let's do Christmas in July...or March...or whenever you pull this. Christmas movies, ugly sweaters from the thrift store, and Christmas cookies
Theme Night - Disney	Let's watch a Disney movie and eat Monte Cristos
Theme Night - Hawaiian	Let's go back to the setting of our honeymoon - we'll eat some Hawaiian cuisine, watch a movie / TV show that takes place in Hawaii, and wear our swimsuits
Mystery Science Theater	Let's find a dumb movie and Mystery Science Theater the crap out of it
Penn Museum	Let's visit the Penn Museum and learn something
Driving Range	Let's see how far we can hit a golf ball
Cake Decorating	Let's make a couple of cakes and decorate them Ace of Cakes style
Mad Scientists	Let's look up a science experiment online and try to replicate it
Dueling Piano Bar	Let's have a jolly ole time at Jolly's Dueling Piano bar
Food Network Copycat	Let's watch a random episode of a Food Network show and make a dish that was featured
Italian Market - Buy Dinner Fixings	Let's go to the Philly Italian market and find the makings for dinner tonight
Comedy Night	Let's belly laugh tonight watching some stand-up
Invent a Board Game	Let's get creative and invent a board game that can be played by two people
Joe's Choice	Let's see what Joe wants to do for 2-4 hours
Shakespeare Night	Let's watch two Shakespeare movies: a classic version and a modern re-telling (eg: Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You, Othello and O, Romeo and Juliet and Romeo + Juliet, etc.)
Dive Bar	Let's go to a dive bar and play billiards and/or darts. Oh, and drink cheap beer.
Rocky Horror Picture Show Night	Let's do audience participation at home - bring on the toast, newspapers, and water guns. And Time-Warping is mandatory
Batting Cages	Let's hit a home-run
Scattergories Date	Let's roll a Scattergories die and then everything we do must start with that letter.
Double Feature	Let's see two movies in a row at the theater
Pat's vs. Geno's	Let's decide who makes the better cheesesteak
Kate's Choice	Let's see what Kate wants to do for 2-4 hours
Nickelodeon Night	Let's watch shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark, Rugrats, and Doug. Might we find some Legend of the Hidden Temple?

Red Dates (4+ hours)

TV Marathon	Let's get in our PJs, order delivery, and watch at least 5 episodes of a TV show we've been wanting to try
Movie Marathon	Let's get in our PJs, order delivery, and watch a trilogy. Star Wars? Back to the Future? Hangover? Toy Story? There's a lot of options...
Shooting Range	Let's see whose the better shot
Paintball	Let's get out some aggression
Philadelphia Museum of Art	Let's add some culture to our lives and go to an art museum... or two
Theater Night	Let's test the theory that "All the World's a Stage." If it's true, we shouldn't have trouble finding a play to attend...
Historic Walking Tour	Let's learn more about our new city!
Mini-Road Trip	Let's figure out a place within 2 hours of Philly that we want to visit for the day
Casino Night	Let's try our luck at SugarHouse
Join the Circus	Let's learn how to fly through the air with the greatest of ease in a trapeze class
Go Rock-climbing	Let's go climb a mountain - a faux mountain, that is
Joe's Choice	Let's see what activity Joe wants to do that will last over 4 hours
Comedy Club	Let's get our laugh on and go to a comedy club
Improv - ComedySportz	Let's see whose line it will be...
Brewery Tour	Let's learn how beer is made... and then drink some
Kate's Choice	Let's see what Kate wants to do for 4+ hours
Whitewater Rafting	Let's get an adrenaline rush (weather permitting)

Any other ideas for dates out there? Leave me a comment. I can always add more for years 3 & 4 :)