~ All Hallows Eve 2011 ~

Posted on November 1, 2011 by karen

Good times were had by all here at House of DK this Halloween.  We got a good amount of trick-or-treaters and Dane only managed to accidentally scare one three year old girl when he didn’t get his werewolf mask off fast enough (she was dressed as a “Cinderelly”).  Her smile quickly returned  when she asked how much candy she could have and Dane told her “a handful.” :)  Here’s the loot.

We had this plastic planter box in the garage that we had meant to turn into an herb garden.  That didn’t quite happen this year, so it became our candy bin.

Moving along, I dressed as a black cat (I scored the costume for under $4 on sale at Jo-Ann in late September), Dane found a creepy werewolf mask in our tub-o-Halloween costumes, and Roman was the same thing he is every year, a jack-o-lantern.  And let me tell you, he LOVES wearing his costume as shown here.

Can’t you see the excitement in his eyes?  lol

Here’s me and my favorite pup.

So proud of him for actually looking at the camera and not melting down into a pile of fur on the floor like he usually does.

Here’s a picture of Dane trying to get a “two dogs hallowing” pic…Roman wasn’t really cooperating.

I had to get a pic of me and my trick-or-treat sign.  You can see the tutorial on how to make your own here.

And here I am looking very frightened by the mean and scary werewolf.

Overall, we had a very good Halloween.  :)

How was your holiday?  Did anyone accidentally frighten any small cute children?

 

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Mom’s Easy Chili Recipe

Posted on November 1, 2011 by karen

When the weather turns a little colder there’s nothing better than a nice warm bowl of chili to warm you up.  This easy chili recipe is straight from the cookbook mind of my mom.  As in, when I need a recipe for something I call her and she tells me from memory.  Yeah, she’s pretty amazing.  :)  I make it the same way she always did and it has never disappointed me.  I like to serve it with a little bit of cheddar cheese on top and a warm piece of cornbread…mmm mmm good.

Ingredients:

  • pound o’ ground meat (I like to use lean ground beef or ground turkey)
  • 1 tablespoon oil (I use extra virgin olive oil)
  • 1 onion diced (I’ve been into the Texas sweet onions lately, but any onion will do)
  • 8 oz can of tomato sauce
  • 16 oz can of ready-cut tomatoes
  • 16 oz can of pinto beans
  • 16 oz can of kidney beans
  • 4 oz can of diced green chilies
  • 2-3 tablespoons chili powder
  • garlic salt
  • pepper
  • large skillet
  • large pot or slow cooker

That’s my shiny new crock-pot in the back.  I just bought it at Costco last week and I am excited about it!  It’s my first slow cooker and I feel like a whole new world of slow cooking is now opened up for me. 😉  Oh, and can you tell we shop at Kroger?  Haha

Speaking of slow cookers, since I never had one before, I usually make this in my enamel cast iron dutch oven on the stove.  You can make it all in one pot and takes only about a half hour of simmering once you have everything in the pot.  So, if you are in a hurry to make dinner, I would go with that and save the slow cooker for another day.

First, brown your meat in the skillet.  If you are using lean meat like I do you might want to add a tablespoon of oil to the pan just so the meat doesn’t stick to the pan too much.  Season the meat with garlic salt and pepper.

While your meat is browning, you can dice the onion.  The way I like to cut an onion is to first cut off each of the ends and then cut it in half.  Like so:

From there it’s super easy to peel back the first layer of onion and remove the peel.  Take note of my a-maze-ing knife.  It’s awesome and huge (but, not too heavy) and wonderful.  It’s Rachel Ray’s Gusto Grip knife and you can get it on Amazon here for under $30.  My only complaint is that it’s hard to find a place to store it.  But, that is a story for another day, my friends.

So, once you have peeled the onion, you’ll want to slice or dice the whole thing.  Another tip I’ll give you about onion cutting is to slice the onion like so,

and then go ahead and slice it the other way until it looks like this

By now, your meat should be browned and look like this

so you can transfer it to the crock-pot.  Turn the crock-pot on now.

Try to leave some of the grease in the skillet so you can saute the onions.  If you can’t, you can always add a little more oil to the pan.  Now, add the onions and saute until translucent, or about 10 minutes.  Just a little note here, you can saute the onions first and then add the meat which I have done before.  My brother recently told me something about how mixing raw meat in with cooked veggies is not so good.  Like I said, I’ve done it both ways and they both turn out great.

While your onions are cooking, it’s time for the fun part…opening up all of the cans and dumping them into the pot!  Just toss them in right on top of the meat.  The order doesn’t matter.  If it’s in a can, it goes in the pot.  I like to drain the juices from the cans of beans before putting them in the pot, but you don’t have to.  Once the onions are cooked, transfer them to the crock-pot as well.

Give everything a good stir.  As you can see, the chili doesn’t have that rich red color just yet, but your kitchen is probably already smelling delicious.

And now for the not so secret ingredient…chili powder!  And a lot of it.  I always put three full tablespoons.  I like my food flavorful, but not too spicy and this comes out perfect.    (Speaking of which, if you like your chili spicy like Dane does, you can always add your favorite hot sauce to your bowl.)  Go ahead and take that shaker top right off and dig in with a measuring spoon.  It should also be noted that I don’t buy any special kind of chili powder, store brand works just fine.  And, yes, those are Mickey Mouse measuring spoons that we got as a gift a couple Christmases ago from some dear friends that know how much we I love Disney. :)

Once the chili powder is added, give everything a good stir and that red color will really come out.  Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.  If you are making it on the stove, bring it up to a boil and then turn it down to a simmer for at least 30 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Everything in the pot is cooked at this point, so just make sure it’s all hot.

Now serve into bowls and add some shredded cheddar to the top! (Note: I use reduced-fat when I’m watching my calories).

Deliciousness and pretty healthy if you use lean meat!  This makes a good amount.  I’d say at least 6-8 healthy sized servings.  The best thing about chili is that it gets better the longer all the flavors have time to meld.  In other words, it makes great leftovers!

This is one of those meals where substitutions can definitely be made.  Have black beans but not kidney?  that’s fine.  Have a can of Rotel, but no green chilies?  you’re all good!

What is your favorite cold weather dinner?

 

Posted in Food, Tutorials | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

~ Holiday Bunting Tutorial ~

Posted on October 31, 2011 by karen

I’ve been in a crafty mood lately as seen in my other post about making a Trick-Or-Treat sign for the front of our house.  I felt like our fireplace needed a little sprucing up for the holidays and I had been seeing all kinds of cute bunting ideas on Pinterest some of which you can find here and here.  Since my mom gave me a sewing machine this last Spring (that Dane so graciously smuggled home for me in a suitcase all the way from California) I have been wanting to get some use out of it, so I decided to sew my bunting.  Now, knowing this was not going to be a quick and easy project (with my novice sewing skillz), I figured I would get my use out of this bunting and decided to make it reversible; one side Halloween and the other a more generic Fall/Thanksgiving theme.  Although my bunting it very holiday specific, this tutorial can be used to make any bunting…birthday banners, Christmas, baby’s room…the options are endless!

Supplies you will need for this project:

  • various fabric of your choosing
  • coordinating thread
  • ribbon or bias tape (this will be the string part of the bunting so make sure you have a piece long enough for wherever you will be hanging it)
  • scissors
  • pins
  • sewing machine
  • iron and board

Before heading out to Jo-Ann’s to get the fabric for this project, I first tried to figure out how much I would need.  I already had some white ribbon on hand, so I strung it across the mantel to get a feel for how long my bunting needed to be.  Then I cut out a triangle using a piece of printer paper to get an idea of what size I wanted each of the flags to be.  To give you an idea, my mantel is 6 feet long and I bought a total of a yard and a quarter of fabric.  I ended up buying 5 different patterns of fabric (3 for Halloween and 2 for Thanksgiving) and bought a quarter yard of each.  This was plenty of fabric and I’m sure I could have gotten away with only using 4 different patterns.  I got lucky and the holiday cotton prints were 40% off plus I had a 20% off coupon…score!  All my fabric came in at just under 5 smackaroos.  I already had my white ribbon that I scored on sale at Michael’s during the summertime for about a buck.  You can also find ribbon at the dollar store, so there’s no need to spend a ton of moola.  (Note: If you are making yours reversible, make sure you choose a ribbon color that goes with both holidays!)

Here’s the fabrics that I chose:

The next thing I did was to start cutting.  I figured out how many flags I would need of each and was able to cut two at a time for most of the fabric.  I used a few pins to attach my template to the fabric and cut around all the edges.  My template wasn’t exactly equilateral, so I cut a small notch at the top of the triangle, so it was easy to line up later.

The cutting is a little monotonous.  Let’s just say I was glad it was over.

Once I had all my triangles cut out, I laid them on my couch to decide the sequencing of the patterns for each side.  Next I made sure that each Halloween triangle was matched up with its corresponding Thanksgiving buddy.  (Note: I made this waaay harder for myself by using three prints on one side and two on the other…especially when the order got messed up later on…oops.)

Next, pin right sides together on all of your triangles.  Make sure your notches match up (I just cut a very small slit in the center at the top).  I like to pin everything while watching TV and then carry it all in to my sewing machine to get all the sewing done at once.  I may have gotten a little overzealous on the pins with this one…a few on each of the sides you’ll be sewing is fine.  You probably wouldn’t want me as your acupuncturist. 😉

Next, sew the two sides of each triangle.  Don’t sew the top because you need it open to flip them right-side-out.  I happened to have white thread already in my machine, so that’s what I used.  You won’t see this thread anyway, so the color is irrelevant.  You really want the seam allowance to be as small as possible to reduce bulkiness when you turn your flags right-side-out, so I just used the edge of my presser foot as a guide to keep my lines straight.  Be sure to back stitch as the start and end of each triangle.  When I got to the point of each triangle, I made sure my needle was in the down position, lifted my presser foot, and rotated the triangle until it was lined up going the other direction.  Then I put my presser foot down and started sewing again.

Once the triangles were stitched, I turned them inside out.  I used my seam ripper with the cap on to try and push out the points as much as possible.  Another good tool to try would be a chopstick, but be careful because I’ve torn a hole before by pushing too hard using one of those.  If you think that your points aren’t sharp enough, you can try de-bulking the tip by snipping some of the seam allowance away.  I didn’t do this because I was fine with slightly dull tips.  It’s a personal choice…I won’t judge you either way. 😉

Next, you will want to iron your triangles.  This is a little tricky if you are making your bunting reversible like I did since you can slightly see the fabric from the other side.  I first just used my fingers to slightly press the seams.  Just rub the fabric between your fingers and the friction and heat of your hands will slightly press it.

Next, I used the tip of a hot iron and moved slowly along the edge.

I also tried this method with a chopstick.  This allowed for less inadvertent steam burns (ouch!).  Let’s be honest, I’m no ironing expert…I tried a lil’ of this and a lil’ of that until I was happy with the result.

I then ironed my ribbon in half to make it easier to pin.  IMPORTANT: Check to see that the material of your ribbon is allowed to be ironed.  My ribbon was 100% polyester, so I was good to go.

Before pinning your triangles, snip any extra fabric that might make it bulky.

I left about a foot of excess ribbon at the beginning so I would be able to tie it to something and then I began pinning my triangles.  I found that three pins per triangle was sufficient.  If you pin them the way I did (perpendicular to the edge) it will make it easier to remove them as you sew later on.

I left about 2 inches between each flag.  I wasn’t measuring, I just eyeballed it.  Once I got to the end, I left another foot or so of slack and cut the ribbon.  Then I took my bunting to the sewing machine.  We’re at the home stretch!

I used white thread to match my ribbon, but it would also be cute to use a contrasting color as well.  I am not the best at sewing quite yet, so I’m sure my contrasting thread would come out looking a little wonky.  You know your own skill, go with your gut. 😉  I wanted to make sure that my stitching on the other side stayed on the white ribbon, so I chose to sew about 3/4 of the way from the fold; not too close to the bottom of the ribbon where my stitching could have gone astray.  Remember to back stitch at the beginning and end as well!  (Tip: If you’re the risky type, you can sew over the pins and you will probably be fine, but you can also break your needle!  I took the pins out as I went mainly because I have yet to change a needle and don’t know how to do it 😉 ).

And that’s it!  Time to hang it and admire your work.  I’m excited about my bunting and very glad I made it reversible since I am just now finishing this the night before Halloween!

Here’s the final product.  (Excuse the terrible lighting…this is what happens when I finish a product after dark).

In case you’re wondering, the grape vine pumpkin and sparkly orange pumpkin were both in the dollar two fifty section at Target.  I bought the fake vine of leaves at Michael’s when it was on sale a couple weeks ago and used a coupon (got it for under 5 buckaroos!).

Roman did not seem very impressed by my bunting. : /  Maybe if I made him wear his jack-o-lantern costume he would have been more into the holiday spirit. 😉

I thought it came out looking pretty darn cute!  And Here’s a close up.

I love that it has some polka dots mixed in with some more traditional Halloween prints. And, I’m excited to flip it around after Halloween and enjoy it for at least another month before the Christmas decorating begins!

Whatcha think of my bunting?  Has anyone else been doing a little sewing to decorate for Halloween?  Maybe created bunting with craft paper and bypassed all the silly sewing, turning, and ironing?

Oh, and Happy Halloween!  Looks like we’re lucking out here in Ohio and it’s going to be nice and dry (albeit cold!) for trick-or-treaters this year.  I’ll be dressing up and handing out candy.  What are your plans?  Did you know that Ohio usually does their “beggars’ night” on the weekend before Halloween?  That’s very strange to me since Halloween was always just on Halloween in California!  I’m happy it’s actually going to be on Halloween this year here!


Posted in Arts n' Crafts, Decor, Holidays, Tutorials | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

~ Pumpkin carving isn’t only for the kiddos ~

Posted on October 30, 2011 by karen

Dane and I had another couple, Josh & Crystal, over last night to carve pumpkins and let me tell you, it was a wild party…ok, it was less “wild” and more just good times.  😉

Dane and I decided to only carve one pumpkin this year and we went with Horton, the slightly goofy, slightly scary stepchild of jack-o-lanterns.  In case you weren’t sure which one was ours after that description, it’s the handsome fellow on the right.

My personal favorite of the night was Crystal’s pumpkin, the Dia de los Muertos style skull…very cool.  Josh’s sombrero wearing gentleman will look very appropriate on their porch next to the skull.

For the astute observer, you may have noticed that there are a couple non-pumpkin imposters in the photo.  On either end of the three amigos, I placed my Halloween tins that I found at Target in the dollar section (actually, they were $2.50 each…sneaky Target).  I also grabbed some of those flickering battery powered tea lights at the dollar store (they were in a 3 pack).  The tins appear to be painted inside and out, so since I always put safety first, I decided an open flame could turn disastrous and went with the battery tea lights.  I was pleasantly surprised by how natural the battery powered jobbies (that’s a technical term) actually looked!

Anyone else have a fun mini pumpkin carving party?  What do you think of Horton?  Find any awesome and inexpensive Halloween decor in the dollar/two fifty section at Target?

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