I love to decorate for the holidays, but decorating can get expensive. I love to get inspired by pins on Pinterest or beautiful photos in magazines and then try to find ways to decorate on a dime. I love to shop at thrift stores, garage sales and dollar stores to hunt for decorating treasures. I don't mind being on a budget because it's so much fun to find items here and there and be able to transform these seemingly unrelated items into something that looks like it was planned out from the beginning. So much like last year's tablescapes, this year's place settings were purchased at The 99cents Only Store. The total cost of decorating was $22. It started with these turquoise soup bowls. The trick to shopping at The 99 is to go there often. They get fun unique items all the time but they sell quickly. By the time I saw these beauties, there were only 6 remaining...so I snatched them up. I wasn't sure what I'd do with them, but I just had to have them. (Cost $6) A few months later, they had these gorgeous turquoise plates.(Cost $6) I wasn't even sure the plates would match the soup bowls but when got home and put them together, they were a perfect match! Yay! I pulled out the dark brown woven chargers, I purchased from The 99 last year and that's when my color scheme took shape. And then two months ago, I found these super cute resin owls ($6) at The 99 and knew they would be a part of my fall table because they echoed the bronze of the chargers. Super cute!Add in my existing wine glasses, napkins, silverware, grapevine and ceramic pumpkins, candles, and floral accents...and voila! Fall table on a budget! Only $22.These two little blue birds ($2) and the oval platter ($2) were also from The 99. These bronze ceramic pumpkins were from Tuesday Morning from my years of collecting ceramic pumpkins and I purchased the shapely vase 10+ years ago from Southern Living. :)Below, I added some berries to this rustic blue box for a simple fall floral arrangement. Odds and Ends...I used a bunch of my old silk flowers and pumpkins to make this arrangement for my entryway. And I re-purposed some foam fruit and pumpkins, that used be a part of a cornucopia centerpiece, to make this fall inspired Thanksgiving tree. I think I'll keep it up in my kitchen for Christmas. :) Happy Thanksgiving everyone! More Decorating Ideas:Fall Decorating 2013Fall Decorating 2014Fall Decorating 2015 Southern California fall leaves...
After dropping my oldest son off at Middle school the other day, I noticed the houses that once showcased tired, brown lawns during our three year drought, miraculously had green lawns! Last I heard, we were still on water rationing here in SoCal, but these lawns were gorgeous! Green and landscaped to perfection. When did this happen? At first I thought it was because I was in a better neighborhood with much bigger lawns to notice, but as I turned down my very own block...I saw green lawns everywhere? I couldn't believe my eyes.Unfortunately, I also noticed as I pulled into my driveway, that our house had the only brown lawn or shall I say, grass made of dirt...on the entire block! Hmmm...I don't believe I got the memo that said we can have nice lawns again. I'm embarrassed and determined to not have a yucky lawn anymore. But what do I do? There are those extremely dedicated folks doing their part to conserve, who opted for drought tolerant desert motif and even those who coughed up the mighty sum to get the new Astro-turf lawns, but I not going to do those things. No, I'm simply going to water my dirt again and hope something grows! :)This recipe is a quick and delicious side dish that can be served warm or cold. As a salad, I wanted the carrots to be a little crunchy, so I steamed the carrots briefly, when I added them to the couscous while making the dressing. However, the next time I make it as a warm side dish, I'll coat the carrots with a little of the dressing and roast them in a 400 degree oven for a few minutes to caramelize them a bit for added sweetness. Either way this salad is delicious and decidedly fall-inspired! Enjoy! Spiced Couscous and Carrot Salad
(recipe inspired by Happy Hearted Kitchen) Serves 4-6
1 1/4 cups Trader Joe's® Harvest Grains Blend (substitute with Israeli Couscous)1 3/4 cups chicken broth1/2 t. cumin1/2 t. coriander1/4 t. ginger1/8 t. cinnamon1/2 t. kosher salt 1/4 t. red pepper flakes1 bay leaf3 carrots, peeled into ribbons1/2 cup dried cranberries1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, shelledcilantro, garnish Dressing 3 T canola oil1 T Honeyjuice and zest of one orangeIn a large skillet, add chicken broth and spices and bring to a boil. Add couscous and cook according to package directions. Prepare carrot ribbons and add carrots to the skillet, placing the carrots on top of the cooked couscous. Replace lid and let carrots steam for 5-8 minutes. Prepare dressing. Add pumpkin seeds and cranberries to the couscous and carrots. Toss with dressing, add additional cranberries, pumpkin seeds to taste and garnish with cilantro and enjoy!Other recipes to try:
This year I decided to focus my decorating in the heart of my home, the dining room. Each holiday season, I see beautifully set tables in magazines and all over Pinterest with expensive dishes and glassware and I dream of being able to set tables that gorgeous. But sadly, buying new dishes and glasses for each season is too much of an investment for this stay-at-home mom. Solution...Find a way to do it on a budget. And that I did. I spent all summer, scouring thrift shops and dollar stores to try and find the best pieces for my Halloween and Thanksgiving tables. I found inexpensive dishes and glassware that set the basics for my table and then added some of my old Fall decorations to really make these tables pop. Hope you enjoy them and find some inspiration.Halloween Decorating
HALLOWEEN TABLEThis tablescape was almost entirely from the 99cents Only Store (My friend, Gina calls it "The 99"), Dollar Tree and AMVETS Thrift Stores for only about $65. This is proof that you can design an elegant and festive table for very little money!Here's the breakdown of my Halloween Table. The six silver chargers, six dinner plates, and six green wine glasses cost me $18 from The 99. The small cream colored salad plates I got on clearance at Target for $1.30 each. The table cover is a canvas drop cloth from Home Depot, left over from another project(Free). The green satin remnant runner covering the drop cloth is from the Thrift Store and cost me about $1.50. The most expensive item was the silverware (I just had to have them!) from Cost Plus World Market. I bought them with a coupon. They cost me about $25 for 4 sets. If you look carefully, I had to take strategic pictures and crop my pics because there were only 4 sets of silverware at a table set for six. I moved a fork here and a knife there when I had to squeeze in the look of another silverware setting. 
I try to make a new wreath each year and this year I found inspiration from a pin from Pinterest. This is my version of this creepy and elegant Halloween wreath made with feather boas, creepy cloth and light up skulls from The 99 and The Dollar Tree.
Fall Decorating
I wanted muted colors of brown, green and white for my Thanksgiving table this year. The flower arrangement below was made up of grab bag flowers from Michael's that cost $2. Basically, I bought a bag of silk flowers, sight unseen, for two bucks and it was a jackpot of perfect fall flowers! It contained a green sunflower, a dahlia, and a hydrangea. Along with 5 huge sunflowers which I used in the door hanging photos at the end of this blog. I filled in around these with the Eucalytus stems from Tuesday Morning, The light green lantern flowers from The 99, and the brown berry clusters from The Dollar Tree. I think it turned out really pretty! Don't you? THANKSGIVING TABLEThis table starts with my old cream tablecloth and an amazing Pottery Barn Jute table runner that I picked up from the Thrift Store along with these 4 embroidered leaf napkins for $5 total. All 5 items for $5. A total steal! Again, I had to be creative with my shots and edits to use the 4 napkins at a table set for 6. Mostly I just shot it two different ways (see below) Most of the place setting pieces were from "The 99". The dark brown chargers, tan dinner plates, small acorn and pumpkin appetizer plates, the bubble glass stemless wine glasses and the green votive candle holders were all from The 99 for $26. The wine glasses being 2 for a $1. The taller wine glasses and the silverware are my everyday stuff. I got the small leaf table scatter from The Dollar Tree.Total Cost of Thanksgiving Table: less than $40. In this picture below, the two leaf serving dishes to the left were also from The 99. I bought each of them a few years ago. I used to use the large leaf plate at a soap dish in my bathroom for fall. :) Instead of making a wreath for my front door, this year, I decided to hang a bucket of fall flowers and foliage. The sunflowers were from my Michael's grab bag and the rest of the flowers were re-purposed from prior years. I used bright oranges, yellows and browns on the outside to go with my porch full of pumpkins. :)I wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!
More Fall Decorating Ideas:Halloween Decorating and EntertainingHalloween Decorating 2014Fall Decorating Fall Decorating 2014
With so much hot weather in Southern California these first three weeks of autumn, I'm feeling frustrated that it's too hot to curl up with a good book and blanket and sip on pumpkin spice lattes. What's this fall-loving girl supposed to do when I have to endure the opposite of fall weather every day...Well here it is! The perfect compromise of warm weather relief with fall flavor. Pumpkin Spice Latte Ice Cream! This has got to be the best find of the year. I saw this recipe for three-ingredient ice cream on Facebook and it inspired me to try it at home with one of my favorite seasonal instant coffees, Maxwell House's Pumpkin Spice Latte. I know it may not be a Starbucks Latte but for this girl on a budget and no time to wait for thirty minutes for a fancy coffee...this is the next best thing! This is an insanely easy and delicious Pumpkin Spiced Latte Ice Cream! It contains no eggs, so it's lighter tasting. Which I find refreshing, especially with all this hot weather. Just to put it in prespective how hot it got in the Los Angeles area yesterday, it was 102 degrees in my neck of the woods. We were hotter than Las Vegas and Dallas! It was ridiculous! Anyway, back to the ice cream...It's delicious all by itself or topped with your favorite sauce. I drizzled mine with caramel but you can skip the caramel sauce and serve it a la mode with pumpkin pie. Can you imagine...pumpkin pie with pumpkin spice latte ice cream? Yummy. Another great thing about this recipe is that it's versatile. You can use just about any flavored coffee...mocha latte, vanilla, peppermint spice and even hazelnut coffee. The combinations are endless. Stay cool and enjoy!
Pumpkin Spice Latte Ice Cream
Adapted recipe from Tip Hero via FacebookServes 4-6
2 1/2 cups Whipping Cream
1 can of Sweetened Condensed Milk5-6 t. Maxwell House International Pumpkin Spice Latte Instant Coffee/Creamer, dissolved in 1/2 cup of regular coffee and then cooled to room temperature.
Mix 5-6 heaping teaspoons of Maxwell House International Pumpkin Spice Latte instant coffee into 1/2 cup regular hot coffee. Stir until fully dissolved. Place coffee in refrigerator to cool about 20 minutes. (I made my instant coffee mixture the night before so it would be ready in the morning.)
In a large bowl add condensed milk and coffee and whipping cream. Using a hand mixer, whip ice cream mixture until fluffy peaks are stiff. ~5 minutes.
Pour mixture into a freezer safe dish and cover with plastic wrap and freeze 8 hours or overnight. Scoop, top with your favorite sauce, and Enjoy!Other desserts to try: Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes Cinnamon Cheesecake Cookies
If you don't already know...I adore Halloween! It's my favorite holiday and I plan all year for it;dreaming up fun food and decorating ideas. It's trial and error really. Not all my ideas are good ones. In fact, this week I had to concede defeat to Candy Melts and Chocolate. I spent the whole day in the kitchen wrestling with chocolate that wouldn't melt properly and those dreadful candy melts. I told my husband if I ever attempt a recipe that calls for Candy Melts, just remind me of this day AND the last time I used candy melts for a Halloween blog. *Sigh*Castellon's Kitchen-0 Candy Melts-2 
Anyway, there's no need to dwell on the past, let's look at this gorgeous salad. I was inspired to make this Autumn Rainbow Salad when I saw this salad on Pinterest. I loved that the carrots were carved into little jack-o-lanterns along with the potatoes that looked like little ghosts. Super cute idea! Admittedly, I tried to cut my carrots into the cute little jack-o-lanterns...see? But I wasn't too happy with the way they came out. This one here is the best one. Anyway, I scrapped the idea to make jack-o-lanterns out of them and opted to just keep them as pumpkins. Still cute, but much more versatile. My salad could now be made for Halloween, Thanksgiving or just a simple fall meal with a cute little detail to keep it festive. I topped this salad with Green Goddess Dressing because I like the creaminess with all these crunchy veggies, but feel free to use your favorite dressing. In fact, I used a vinaigrette with leftover salad and it was super yummy too! Enjoy!
Autumn Rainbow Salad (Serves 8)3 cups of mixed red/green lettuces1 1/2 cups red cabbage, thinly sliced1 1/2 cups savoy cabbage, thinly sliced1 large carrot, sliced1 cups orange cauliflower, cut into small florets 1 cup blueberries1 cup golden raisins1 cup pumpkin seeds 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled Prepare all veggies. Layer serving platter with red/green lettuces. Top lettuces with vegetables in a rainbow pattern finishing each end with crumbled feta cheese. Top with your favorite dressing! Green Goddess Dressing
2 cups mayonnaise
1/2 ripe avocado, mashed
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
3 T white wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
2 t. fresh tarragon, chopped (1 t dried tarragon)
salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients in a blender. Store in air tight container and refrigerate until use. Shake well before serving.
How to: Pumpkin shaped carrotsFirst, cut about a two inch slice off your carrot. I worked in small increments because it was easier to work with smaller sections of carrot when you cut out the stem portion. Cut along the length of the carrot only cutting about a quarter inch deep. Then, cut 45 degrees from the first cut to notch out a quarter round piece of carrot. Make another cut about 1/4 inch from the first cut and opposite the notched out side. This will be the stem of the pumpkin. Repeat the notching on the other side of your latest cut.After notching out both sides of your first cut it should look like this. A roughly shaped pumpkin.Use a paring knife to trim away the sharp corners and round out the pumpkin shape. Ta-Da! Pumpkins. Now cut the carrots into many pumpkins. 
Other Halloween recipes to try:Ghoulish Goat Cheese Torte Midnight Sushi w/Wasabi Skulls Pickled Shrunken Heads
