The team at Martha Stewart Living sent me a little care package this month with a challenge! The December issue features some amazing pasta dishes with just 5 ingredients, making them perfect weeknight meals (which is so crucial during this busy time of year!). Armed with a box of Barilla® Rigatoni, their new issue for inspiration, and a cute new serving bowl from the Martha Stewart Whim Collection, I was challenged to create my own 5-ingredient pasta dish. Loving the fall flavors of a brown butter sauce and sweet seasonal squash, I narrowed down my five ingredients to butter, Parmesan cheese, sage, walnuts and butternut squash (plus some salt and pepper!). The result was a hearty autumn meal with a balance of sweet and nutty flavors (and it’s so easy too!). Full recipe below:
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When Martha Stewart says it’s time to make something better, you listen up! The team at Martha Stewart Living sent me a little care package this month with a challenge to add a few new tricks and treats to my week, and I’ve been digging in to try them all out! The project at hand was a DIY chalkboard menu, and oddly enough, for a girl that has packed decoupage and glitter in her overnight bag before, I’ve never used chalkboard paint! It’s a DIY mystery how I’ve made it this far without chalkboard-ing something in my home so I was eager to try out these Martha Stewart Crafts products. 
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I volunteered to make a pasta salad for a friend’s Memorial Day BBQ and decided to dig for inspiration to mix up my stand-by recipe. I found an old Martha Stewart antipasti pasta salad recipe and gave it my own spin with a few different ingredients. It wasn’t an exact science — I tossed radiatore pasta with balsamic vinegarette and lots of salt and pepper. Then I folded in a handful of chopped tomatoes, capers, provolone cubes, a jar of green olives, diced salami, finely minced red onions and lots of torn fresh basil leaves and chopped chives. It was a hit and will likely be the new ‘stand-by’ pasta salad for BBQs this summer!
I needed a sweet treat to snack on during the Oscars and thought I’d have a little fun updating a classic: the chocolate chip cookie. Martha Stewart’s soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe is just about the most perfect cookie specimen there is, but I couldn’t help but mix it up for the biggest movie night of the year with some movie theater candy. I followed the original recipe, and then swapped out the chocolate chips for a mixture of M&Ms, Reese’s Pieces, and Raisnets. Spoiler alert: they were crazy tasty. I’m thinking these will be an annual Oscars night staple!
The summer is halfway over and I have a major item to tackle on my “Kate’s Summer of Fun” bucket list (why yes, I have come up with a theme name for this summer). That item? See an outdoor movie and throw a fabulous picnic while I’m at it. Luckily my neighborhood has a whole movies-in-the-park series this year, I just need to get myself into gear and make it to one. I clipped this great cheese pairings piece from a recent Martha Stewart magazine to use as inspiration for some picnic treats — don’t you just want to try them all?
You know how brides start to get nervous and crazy as their wedding gets closer from all of the stress? See, I’m pretty relaxed about the wedding, but what I am stressed about is that with the big day just 3 months away, that’s only a few more issues of my favorite bridal magazines showing up in my mailbox! I might not be able to give up my Martha Stewart Weddings after the vows are said and done — especially after this gorgeous race-track inspired wedding in the most recent issue. Black and white stripes are playing a big part in our wedding decor, so these ideas are getting bookmarked! See the rest of the wedding here.
I’m off to New York today to wrap up the year and head home for the holidays, so I have a festive little guest post to share with you from Navya of The Little Flower Cottage:
When Kate mentioned that she wanted to do a guest post on gift wrap styling, I jumped at the chance to share what I’ve been whipping up in my own little workshop this season! I don’t know about you, but for me, receiving a beautifully wrapped package is almost as exciting as what’s inside. This year I went with some simple polka dot kraft wrapping paper (a TJMaxx score!) that I embellished with sprigs of pine, cinnamon sticks and gold glitter. I didn’t feel like the white dots were festive enough so I brushed on a thin layer of glue and dusted away with some Martha Stewart glitter. Presto! An instant touch of glam to otherwise rustic packaging. I can’t wait to hand them off to friends and family next week!
In the next few weeks there are office gatherings, cookie swaps, white elephant parties, cocktail hours, and of course, Christmas day celebrations. So I’m sharing a handful of entertaining tips over on the Wayfair blog to get you through the holiday entertaining season that will make you look like a pro; check them out here!
Photo Credit: House and Home, Lonny, Martha Stewart Living.
Ready for the last installment of Handmade Holidays? There is no sweeter gift than homemade treats!
Remember when I said this was the easiest DIY holiday present? I lied — it gets easier! Grab a package of Tollhouse chocolate chips from the grocery store and using the recipe on the back measure out all of the dry ingredients, layering them one by one in a mason jar. Next, write the recipe out on a pretty piece of paper and stick it on top of the jar, and finally, adorn the front with a personalized message and some ribbon (I printed my message out on Martha Stewart Avery Labels). How easy was that? 
Don’t forget to check out the rest of the Handmade Holidays Gift ideas here, here, here, and here!
Miss me? I was off a few days having “pinch me, is this for real?” moments at Alt Summit NYC. There were several times during the event that I geeked-out over the fact that I was hearing Martha Stewart speak just ten feet away from me; that I was rubbing shoulders with Kevin Sharkey on the roof of the Martha Stewart headquarters, and peaking into the offices of Darcy Miller to snag a view of her floor to ceiling inspiration boards — not to mention meeting so many of my favorite blogger friends in real life!
By far though, the highlight for me was hearing Tina Roth Eisenberg of Swiss Miss talk about the importance of side projects (ahem, like this little ol’ blog here) and her steps towards living a creative life (Check out Sarah’s great recap of these steps). Her speech and many others throughout the day had a common theme — take the risk to do what you love, and things will work out — advice I need to take to heart!
Want to see some more of my trip to Alt Summit? Follow me on Instagram!
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