Showing posts with label pepper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pepper. Show all posts

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Home Therapy // Breakfast Room

One thing I really want to do is show off my husband's and my first home together. 

It's nothing impressive; it's a small one-bedroom apartment comprised of furniture that was either given to us, built by hubby, found in a dumpster (no joke - Restoration Hardware is the prime spot for dumpster diving), or purchased from an antique store to be spruced up. I find it so interesting and wonderful to see how his and my tastes came together to make a home that is so uniquely us. We customized a few small details like the wall paint and cabinet knobs to make it look nicer. 

Also, each room sort of has it's own flavor, which you will see later on. For example, our living room has dark grey walls and lots of leather, tarnished metal, and dark woods. Our kitchen, on the other hand, has light mint walls and white cabinets. It's accented by turquoise and citrus colors. But they both were created by equal parts effort from Joseph and myself. I'll always remember this sweet first residence together :)

Today I want to share photos from our dining room area, which I think of more as a breakfast room / sun room for our many plants. My favorite thing about it is the pleasant light that flows through the window all day long. I usually do all my school work and computering in here. It has a very peaceful feel. 


Right now we have too many plants for the small space. We are waiting for it to get just a little bit warmer outside to put these babies on the balcony. As a side note, that little creamer and sugar bowl came from our honeymoon in Ireland, and the copper plate they are sitting on was part of our wedding decor.


Joseph and I really wanted a home with hardwood floors. Unfortunately, we could not find anything in our price range that wasn't, well, sketchy. We settled on this apartment because of it's great floor plan and the "hardwood" linoleum in the kitchen and dining area. It's not the greatest, but it's better than carpet or tiles.

The table and chairs came from one of my favorite antique stores in Toccoa, GA. I think it's called the Cornerstone? It is HUGE, and they price their furniture very reasonably compared to all those glitsy places that want to sell you a ten year old (hardly antique), beat up dresser for $80000000. This table and four chairs were only around $200 bucks. They were in great condition. All we had to do was clean it off a little bit and re-upholster the chairs. They had an absolutely....fabulous?....leopard print cover that needed some updating. Hehe. 




Three of these beautiful greens were from my bridesmaid's luncheon. My aunt and cousin went all out that day. It was gorgeous. The others are succulents and a little evergreen tree I bought around Christmas time. The only guy I'm having issues with is the mint on the far right. I have the worst luck with mint plants. He's struggling, bless his heart. 


Some day I plan to write a DIY post on these succulent book planters. My mom and I made about 30 of them for our wedding. They were part of the center pieces. We ended up saving a lot of money doing it that way, and they were so so pretty. I have a few sitting around the apartment. I'm still afraid someone is going to get upset about all the books we cut up....they were almost all readers digest (back when that company put together books), and they were fairly torn up. Please don't get mad. They've been put to good use! I'm a book lover too.


Thanks for reading,
Madi

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Sweet Potato Chipotle Chili


Tonight we were craving something with a bit of burn to it. Something smoky and spicy. We didn't have much in the fridge, so I had to get creative with the goods in our pantry. I found a few different recipes online for sweet potato chili and just mixed and matched ingredients based on what we had available at home.




The finished product turned out pretty darn good. The flavor was amazing. If anything, it might have been a teensy bit too hot. Hubby and I have an extremely high heat tolerance (thank you, Indian dining!), so I've adjusted the below ingredients to make it a bit more palatable. You can always add coconut milk or cream to tone it down, as well. 



Sweet Potato Chipotle Chili

[Serves 6
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 45-60 minutes]




Ingredients:

- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, diced
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1-2 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce (These come in a can. Definitely start with just one, and then add the second later if you need to.)
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes, drained
- 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- 2 cups cubed sweet potatoes 
- 2 cans beans (whatever you have - I used black and cannellini) 
- 2 cups shredded or chopped kale
- 1/2 cup corn
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup coconut milk (optional)

Directions:

- Heat oil in large pot. Add chopped onion and garlic. Sizzle until the onions turn translucent. 
- Add cayenne pepper and one chopped chipotle pepper with a little bit of the adobo sauce. Add to pot and let it cook until fragrant (30 seconds to a minute). 
- Add vinegar and tomatoes. Stir, then add the broth, cubed sweet potatoes, and beans. Simmer for approximately 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft. 
- Add the kale and the corn. Simmer another 10 minutes. 
- Taste your chili. Add salt and pepper if needed. If it's too spicy for your taste, add coconut milk or heavy cream. This gives it great taste either way. 
- Serve topped with avocado, sour cream, cheddar cheese, or tortilla chips. Give it a good squeeze of lime! 



You better finish this off with tequila and lime. Or at least a cold brew. Yum!


Enjoy dinner,
Madi