In the Kitchen - Sweet Potato Apple Salad

This healthy salad is from the South Beach Diet Cookbook, page 135. It's yummy! It definitely needs to be served cold and could stand for a little chiffonade of mint.

1.5 lb sweet potatoes, scrubbed
1 large apple, peeled, cored and cubed
1 large rib celery chopped
1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar substitute
Pinch of salt

Place the sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook for 30 minutes, or until tender. Drain and cool. Peel and cut into cubes.

In a large bowl, combine the sweet potatoes, apple and celery

In a small bowl whisk together the orange juice, oil, vinegar, sugar substitute and salt.

Pour the mixture over the potato mixture and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes 4 Servings
280 calories, 4 g fat, 3 g protein, 51 g carbohydrate, 7 g fiber, 0 cholesterol, 35 mg sodium.

 I thought the orange juice, oil and vinegar mixture was too oily so I increased the orange juice by 1 tablespoon and the vinegar by one teaspoon. I don't use artificial sweetener and used regular granulated sugar.

Jonathan Adler Toliet Paper Roll Cover

Have you seen these Jonathan Adler designed Cottonelle toilet paper holders?

I thought they were totally adorable so I ordered one of each from Cottonelle.  Go here to order. They are $3.99 each including shipping and handling, although there are specially marked packages of TP have have a coupon code and you only pay the $1.99 shipping and handling fee. They are made out of a heavy plastic and have a raised Cottonelle logo on the top (which isn't very noticeable since its the same color as the lid).

Now I think having to have a roll of toilet paper out and in a covered box is kind of silly. I won't use them for that. However, these are really pretty little boxes. How perfect are they for office supplies or trinkets? I'm using one in my bathroom for my hair barrettes and bobby pins.

 Look how pretty they were when they arrived. The box has the colored designs on 3 sides. I cut them out because you never know when something like that will come in handy. You could frame the cardboard pieces and use them as art!

All in all a nice pop of color and fab design for a little price. I'm very happy.

In the Kitchen - Ginger Chicken Soup

I've been feeling under the weather for the last 10 days or so. I start to feel better then the coughing and overwhelming tiredness starts again. Darn you flu! I decided to make some soup because homemade soup always tastes great when you are sick. When I make chicken noodle soup I don't use a recipe and just wing it. But today I wanted to try a soup out of the January issue of Bon Appetit - Cleansing Ginger Chicken Soup on page 44. Check out my review below the recipe.

Funny thing, I had to go to 3 grocery stores to find ginger. The first two were out of stock. A change I made to the recipe is that I used only about 4 quarts of water instead of the 6 required because my pot isn't big enough for all the ingredients and 6 quarts of water. Add bigger pot to the shopping list!

Cleansing Ginger-Chicken Soup
8 servings.

1 onion sliced
2 celery stalks chopped
8 oz unpeeled scrubbed ginger cut into 1/2" slices
2 garlic cloves crushed
10 whole black peppercorns
1 3lb. whole organic chicken cut into 7 pieces (2 breasts, 2 legs with thighs, 2 wings, 1 back)
Kosher salt
Cilantro Leaves (optional)

Combine first 5 ingredients in heavy pot. Add chicken, placing breasts on top. Add 6 quarts of water, bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover with lid slightly ajar. Reduce heat to low, simmer until chicken breasts are just cooked 30 minutes. Transfer chicken breasts to plate let cool then cover and chill. Continue to simmer soup uncovered until broth is fully flavored about 2.5 hours longer.

Remove chicken from broth. Separate skin from bones. Coarsely shred meat. Place a fine mesh sieve over another large pot and strain broth discarding solids in strainer. You should have about 8 cups of broth. Season with salt. Rewarm soup. Dividing chicken among bowls. Pour hot broth over chicken dividing equally. Garnish soup with cilantro leaves if desired.

So I spent a good portion of a day on this soup. Granted most was just watching it simmer away on the stove. But still. It's not a 30 minute meal and eat. The house smelled marvelous while it cooked! Once it was done I let it cool and then put it into the refrigerator. The next day I skimmed off the chicken fat and had a bowl. How disappointing! I made a big pot of vaguely chicken flavored water.  I didn't taste the ginger at all. Even the chicken flavor was subtle. I guess I wasn't expecting such a light flavored broth although it's called a cleansing soup so maybe I should have. I had a bowl and got rid of the rest. If I had room in my freezer I would have frozen it to use as stock for the next time I make chicken soup. I'm looking for something more substantial when I eat. I did make a nice chicken salad out of the rest of the meat so all was not lost. I followed the recipe exactly except that I used less water - which should have resulted in a more flavorful soup. I would not recommend this recipe. FAIL!

Big Mama Thornton Hound Dog

I like blues/R&B but mostly the older stuff. I'm not sure how I've never heard of Big Mama Thornton before. I just ran across her and had to go to YouTube to listen to more of her stuff. She recorded Hound Dog in 1952 and it hit #1 on the charts. Elvis recorded it in 1956 and it went to #3 on the charts. Her version is great! I like it better than Elvis's. The video is fun, watching her rock out. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Z Gallerie - The Look For Less

I was browsing the new arrivals on Z Gallerie's website and saw a couple of familiar things. Check these out.

Z Gallerie Natural History Birds for  $59.95 framed is the exact same as Paper Source Cavallini Natural History Birds Wrapping Paper for $3.95. Add in a frame from Michaels using your 40% off coupon for around $9 and you save $47! $14 (plus shipping of course - although I'm within walking distance of the Paper Source Evanston IL store) is a great price for a framed 20"x28" print.

 Z Gallerie Butterflies $59.95. Paper Source Cavallini Butterflies Wrapping Paper $3.95

Z Gallerie Skeltal System $59.95  Paper Source Cavallini Skeleton Wrapping Paper $3.95

Vintage Elephant Lamps

As seen on Craig's List Chicago. Look at these adorable vintage elephant lamps. I love the red trim on the lamp shades. I'd pair them with turquoise walls and a black and white chevron rug.

They'd be so cute in a nursery or little boy's room. At $50 for the pair they are a steal. Find them here http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwi/clt/2800306385.html

Updates to the Living Room

Here are some pictures of a recent update to my living room. This is where I started from back in April 2010.

With the first picture this wall was an accent wall and was painted a rich fudge brown. I started with bright fabric squares and some smaller painted canvases. This was before I had nailed down a color scheme. Well actually I thought I'd go with these bright colors but it never worked. During 2011 I decided to move away from the bright colors and stick with turquoise, green and brown with orange accents. I had rotating artwork on the wall. Nothing ever felt right. A lot of the time it was just blank with nail holes while I waited for inspiration. The orange accents were short lived. I don't even have pictures of this wall with them. The brown started to feel overpowering. All my furniture is brown and it was just too much with the brown accent wall and brown patterned carpeting.

Now the accent wall is turquoise like the rest of the living room. My son helped me paint it when he was home for winter break from college. I framed the Audubon prints I got for free from a friend in thin black frames and hung them in a grid pattern. I changed out the lamp with another one I already had. The vintage lamp with the vintage furniture started to just feel old. I wanted something more colorful and modern. The originally wood and cheap gold metal colored lamp was first painted orange. Now it's a bright blue. The blue might look jarring right now but picks up on the bright blue in the drapes to be hung soon hopefully. The lamp shade was a $7 find at Goodwill still in the wrapper. I like how the black frames and lamp shade work in this part of the room.

I swapped out the chair for the larger one in my bedroom. The scale feels better in the living room. The chair has the fabric I'm going to upholster it in draped over it. Saying I'm going to upholster might be misleading. I'm going to price out having the covers done. I'm not sure my sewing machine will sew the heavy fabric. And I want them to look good! I need to refinish the oak frame and fix one support strap. Stay tuned for that project soon.

Anyway I'm really pleased with how this part of the living room is shaping up. These last updates only cost me around $110 for the 9 frames and new lamp shade. The turquoise paint was left over from the rest of the room. I already owned the lamp. The bright blue paint was a small tube of artist paint I already had. The chair I already owned. I purchased the green fabric years ago on eBay and finally have a project for it.

I've only lived here 4.5 years and I think I've finally got it. I've also finally nailed down a color scheme. (And this time I think I'm going to be able to stick with it!). Remember I started with the bright colors (and was once told it looked too circus like). Then I went to orange accents (even though I really wanted pink/fuchsia). Now I'm at peacock colors: turquoise, bright blue, shades of green, gold, accents of purple and black.

Life would have been much easier if I had an inspiration piece when I started in the condo. I just picked paint colors I liked and tried to decorate from there. It never worked. Pick an inspiration piece and draw from there for a cohesive look. Even though I have no peacocks in my design I can pull inspiration from the colors for a pulled together look.