With My Love, Katie

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Nana's Corned Beef Hash

Corned beef hash and eggs is one of my all time favorite foods! This is an adapted/abbreviated version of my Nana's original recipe, prepared the way I like it. It's absolutely delicious and such a special treat!

Ingredients

1 can Libby's Corned Beef (12oz), or fresh corned beef
4 medium potatoes, peeled
1 onion, finely diced
appox. 5 slices bacon, cooked and eaten, bacon fat reserved (or butter)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper plus more to taste
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
eggs (to serve on side)

Edit 6/8/2020 - Made this with red onions and red potatoes, as well as Goya corned beef instead of Libby's . Very delicious!

Directions

To make the hash:
1.) Peel and chop potatoes in half and add to a pot of boiling water. Boil until completely cooked but not falling apart (potatoes will continue to cook when added to hash).
2.) While the potatoes are cooking, fry up a pan of bacon. You can eat the bacon as a pre-hash snack, but reserve the bacon fat. Add the diced onions to the bacon fat and cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes.
3.) Dice the potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes. Add to the onions and cook for 3-4 minutes further.
4.) Dice the canned corned beef and add it to the potatoes and onions. Add all spices to this mixture (salt through worcestershire sauce) and continue to cook until heated through.

To make the eggs:
Heat 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat in nonstick skillet. Once butter is melted, add eggs to pan and cook until whites are set but yolk is runny. Flip over the eggs and continue to cook for just a few seconds up to 1 minute depending on desired doneness.

Enjoy!

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Homemade Burrata Prosciutto Pizza Recipe

Hello all!

I'm coming to you with one of the top 10 things I've ever cooked in my life. Seriously. If I ordered this at a restaurant I would be obsessed and would tell all my friends and family about it, and I'm not just saying that because it's been over a month since I've had proper pizza because I'm in quarantine.

You have to have some forethought to cook this pizza (just because of how long you'll have to wait to let the dough rise), but there's nothing too tricky or complicated about it. Read on for the recipe to make this delicious pizza at home!

Ingredients:

Pizza Dough

1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (separated)
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 3/4 - 4 cups all purpose flour (or bread flour)

Pizza Sauce

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
28oz can crushed tomatoes
6oz can tomato paste
1/2 Tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Freshly cracked pepper
Pinch of crushed red pepper

Pizza Toppings

Shredded Mozzarella
Burratta Cheese
Thin Sliced Prusciutto

Instructions:

To make the dough:

1.) With a whisk attachment in a stand mixer dissolve the yeast with sugar and 1/2 cup of the warm water (water must not be too hot or it will kill the yeast, or too cool and it will not activate). Let mixture rest for 5 to 10 minutes until the mixture is frothy and bubbling.
2.) Add the remaining 1 cup of warm water, olive oil and salt.
3.) With a hook attachment in a stand mixer on low speed gradually add the flour and let the dough knead for about 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. The dough should be slightly sticky, but it should not stick to your fingertips when touched.
4.) Take the dough out of the bowl and lightly oil all sides of the bowl with olive oil. Place the dough back in the bowl and cover the bowl with a dry towel. Allow the dough to rise for 1 1/2 hours. My house is cold, so I put it in a turned off oven to rise, with the oven light on and a bowl full of recently boiled water next to or beneath my bread bowl to gently heat the oven. The dough should double in size during this time. After 1 hour and 15 minutes, I felt my oven might not be hot enough so I placed my dough bowl on top of a bowl of tap hot water for the last 15 minutes of rising time to help it along.
5.) Gently punch the dough down and place on a silpat on a baking sheet or a pizza stone. Divide the dough into two pieces and stretch dough to desired size and thickness. Fold over edges of the dough to create a crust.
6.) Brush dough with olive oil and lightly prick it all over with a fork. Pre-bake the dough at 450 degrees F. for 6 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven before adding any toppings.
7.) After a 6 minute pre-bake, top the dough with sauce and both shredded mozzarella and crumbled burrata cheese. Bake for 6 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbling.
8.) Take the pizza out of the oven and top with the sliced srosciutto. Place the pizza back into the oven and bake for an additional 5-7 minutes until prosciutto is slightly crispy and crust is golden brown.

EDIT April 2020: When we choose different toppings for this pizza that all went on at the beginning of the second baking time, we found a total baking time of 9 minutes after the toppings were added to work for a completely cooked but less crispy pizza bottom. Cam preferred it this way, Katie preferred it crispier with the complete 13 minute baking time. Bake to your preference!

To make the sauce:

1.)Add olive oil and garlic to a sauce pot over meadium heat. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until the garlic is fragrant.
2.) Add all other ingreditents and stir to combine.
3.) Cover the pot and simmer on low heat for 15-30 minutes

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Ombre Nordic Triangles Quilt

Hello All!

Since we've last talked, I've picked up a new hobby - quilting! I got my first sewing machine for Christmas and have been loving learning the process ever since. Today I'm sharing the second quilt I've made, the first one I free motion quilted, and possibly my favorite quilt to date (out of three), the Nordic Triangles quilt by Suzy Quilts!

I used a "Peanut Butter and Jelly" fabric bundle from Cottoneer to create the "ombre" effect on this quilt. I'm completely obsessed with this colorway of browns, peaches and wines!

Keep scrolling to see the details of this quilt! Bonus puppy at the very bottom :)

With my love, Katie

Sunday, December 22, 2019

DIY Beer Advent Calendar

Hello All!

Today I'm sharing the DIY beer advent calendar I made for my husband this year! It took a village to put this one together, but I think it turned out so good!

I shared the idea with my parents and we originally thought we would arrange the beers in a vintage soda crate. When my parents went antique hunting for me, they found this AMAZING vintage beer carton instead!

To put together the calendar, I went to a local beer distributor and picked out 24 different beers. They were each packaged by wrapping them in Christmas themed tissue paper, sliding the beer tissue paper inside a cellophane bag, then tying the whole thing up with a piece of string and a gift tag with the number for the day on it.

My husband absolutely loved it! I think this will become a yearly tradition in my house.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Halloween Tree and Bar Cart 2019

Hello all!

This year I was inspired by one of my favorite instagrammers, @ohyeahem, to create a Halloween tree! Instead of black I chose a silver tinsel tree so it could be re-purposed for Christmas.

I found four boxes of gorgeous reproduction Halloween Shiny Brites at HomeGoods, and that was the moment I knew I needed the tree! Other than those new boxes, I decked out the tree with Halloween items I already owned, such as wire spiders and rats, German glitter pumpkins, and handmade Halloween mice found years ago at an arts festival.

I wrapped a Halloween blanket around the base and tucked witch boots safely under. A sill sitter black cat and a spooky sign completed the scene!

I also really loved my Halloween bar cart this year! I bought this bar cart when we were still living in our apartment, and didn't quite have the right space to truly deck this out for holidays and make it more than a utilitarian piece of furniture. I love that in the new house my bar cart has space to shine!

I hope you love this Halloween tree and bar cart as much as I do! Both are currently being decked out for Christmas! Stay tuned!

With all my love, Katie

Halloween Party 2019

Hello All!

I'm coming at you with a bit of a late post, but I couldn't keep these photos to myself! It's always been a dream of mine to host a Halloween party, and this year we did! Our new open concept house is a truly excellent space for hosting.

What I'm sharing here is photos of my Halloween party food spread. These pictures were taken with lots of light, but my party's lighting was dark and moody! We lit the room with lots of candles, and quite a few rotating bulbs projecting bats and spiders all over our party! We served spooky food, had a costume contest, and created a custom Halloween themed deck of Monikers, our favorite party game!

Scroll on for scenes of my Halloween party spread!

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Trip Report - Halloween at Disney World (October 2018)

Hello All!

In honor of Disney World putting up their Halloween decorations for this year, I'm recapping our trip to Disney World last Halloween season! It was always a dream of mine to go to Disney for the Halloween season, to revel in the decorations on main street and to attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. Let me tell you, the party was so much fun, but such a blur! I checked it off my bucket list but added a second trip to the party right back on :)

I'm a bit behind on editing and uploading trip photos (there are loooots of photos from our Honeymoon still to come!) so I'm going to consolidate all of our photos from this trip into one post. It was a super fast trip, only 3 full days plus 2 travel days, so I'm going to recap what we did step by step throughout our 3 day trip.

We flew in to Orlando around 4 in the afternoon. The day we landed we opted to spend the evening in Disney Springs! We visited with the lego loch ness monster (a favorite of mine since childhood), had a tasty snack at the Daily Poutine stand (the Oktoberfest Poutine), and shopped around a bit. Not pictured was a SUPER fun dinner at Raglan Road (we were hungry, so I forgot to document! But this restaurant was a highlight for sure! We also loved the Irish entertainment!). After dinner we stopped at Indiana Jones thmed Jock Lindey's Hangar Bar. There were no seats inside so we sat outside on the water instead. This was a really calm spot, even on a busy day at Disney Springs. The perfect way to end the night!

The following day, we didn't have park tickets until our evening Not So Scary Halloween Party tickets. So to start the day, we headed over to winter summerland miniature golf course! We opened up the place so we had it practically to ourselves. While we were having a Halloween trip, it was fun to see so much Christmas and look forward to the season to come!

After we finished miniature golf, we popped over to the Polynesian resort, just to spook around. Here I had my first Dole Whip! It really is amazing! Next time I will for sure try the Dole Whip with rum!

After our quick dole whip snack at the Polynesian we hopped on the monorail and head to the Grand Floridian where we experienced the Garden View Tea Room! This tea was one of the highlights of the trip! The tea sandwiches were absolutely delicious and our waiter treat us to every desert on the menu, rather than having us pick! The tea itself was also sublime, and the tea pot was covered in a Grand Floridian branded tea cozy. So fun! After tea, we spent a few quiet moment on the dock at the Grand Floridian before taking the boat to the magic kingdom in time for the party!

Our first night we spent at the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! It was an incredible amount of fun. Our first stop was to grab our party merch. Afterwards we rode all our favorite rides, The Jungle Cruise and the Haunted Mansion. We had dinner at Colombia Harbor House (our favorite food spot at the Magic Kingdom) and rode splash mountain at sunset! We were able to nab an incredible spot for the special party fireworks, then squeeze our way to the front row for the Villain's stage show! It was incredible! Finally after dark, we hit a ton of trick or treat spots and nabbed ourselves a boatload of candy! We caught the Boo To You parade, and speed walked after to ride Pirates of the Caribbean just before the park closed. We just made it! Overall, it was an incredibly successful night at the Magic Kingdom. I want to do the Halloween party again!!

We spend the second day of our Disney vacation at Epcot! They were having their food and wine festival at the time. We spend the day eating and drinking around the world, and enjoying some of our favorite Epcot rides, including the New Frozen ride! We cut out just before the nighttime show and head over to Trader Sam's Grog Grotto at the Polynesian resort. We were seated right away and enjoyed the show with our drinks! We finished up at Trader Sam's around 1 in the morning, and stumbled our way back to our hotel :)

Our last day at the parks was spent at Animal Kingdom! This is definitely my favorite park. We started the day on the Safari, and were lucky to see all of the animals out an about! We enjoyed the lion king stage show as well as all of the nature and animal walks around the parks. I scored a fastpass for the Avatar Flight of Passage ride, and absolutely loved it! We ate lunch in Pandora, and it was a delicious chicken bowl and interesting cheesecake that I could eat again and again. For an evening snack we sat and had bread service and cocktails at Nomad Lounge, the atmosphere and the nosh were amazing! We ate dinner at Tusker House buffet, that was definitely a highlight! I also loved the new Animal Kingdom night show, as well as the "awakenings" light show that took place on the tree of life. Overall, such a fun day!