It’s been decided. Brooklyn is where I want to live.
Of course, I also want to live in Costa Rica, Tuscany and New Zealand. Well, then there’s Hawaii, Sardinia and Austin. Okay, so maybe I’m a little fickle when it comes to places I have visited or wish to visit. But seriously, Brooklyn does have its charms. Having lived in the New York City area for many years it is a bit of a travesty we had never visited Brooklyn. So one Saturday in August we ventured to Brooklyn to take in a few sites and enjoy some tasty (hopefully paleo-friendly food). We tackled the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and a couple of establishments serving cutting edge, high-quality eats: Fatty ‘Cue and OddFellows Ice Cream Co.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
The gardens were recommended by an artist friend, Graydon Parrish, who lived in Brooklyn during his early art-school days. He knows I like flowers and did not steer me wrong because the gardens are absolutely stunning.
The BBG has a lot of educational sections for kids. I love how it provides an area for city kids to learn a lot about gardening and just have plain old fun interacting with nature.
The flowers in the garden are amazing, astounding, astonishing!
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden left us spellbound with all the natural beauty from the ponds with lilies to the Shakespeare Garden, Japanese garden, Gingko Tree Alley and more.
Fatty ‘Cue Restaurant
After our visit to the gardens we ventured to the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn for dinner at Fatty ‘Cue.
Spring has finally sprung around here and it feels like time to celebrate. This Paleo Key Lime Pie was inspired by the beautiful green hues that emerge as spring arrives. Far from the hearty stews, braised meats, roasted veggies and even rich dark chocolates featured in our kitchens and dotting the food blog landscape in winter, this key lime pie feels a world apart and just right for spring!
The other inspiration for the pie came about after an email from a woman desperately hunting for a birthday dessert recipe for her friend. The trouble, you see, is her friend is Paleo AND vegan. And if that wasn’t challenge enough, the friend is also allergic to nuts. Impossible, you say? Well, at first I thought it was but keep reading and you will see the ingredients that make this dream come true.
The day after I made the pie we had a scary experience with our youngest son. We thought Nathaniel had managed to dodge the allergy bullet. We found out the hard way that is not the case when he ingested a bit of walnut and ended up needing an Epi-Pen injection to stop his throat closing up. Thank God he is fine now and I will write more about what happened in a future post. But it seemed all the more fitting that we have a paleo dessert recipe that is safe for almost anyone.
The Paleo Key Lime pie has no dairy, no nuts, no eggs, no soy, no grains and free of refined sugars. The taste is tart and refreshing and you will never detect the main, and surprising, ingredient – avocados.
Few things are as beautiful as a field or forest with freshly fallen snow. Wintertime in our neck of the woods is sometimes a Currier and Ives painting come to life. It is a time for Holidays, for celebrations with family and friends, for warm blankets, cozy fireplaces and of course, for feasts. Put simply, wintertime is the comfy season. So why not spend the comfy season with some delicious, comfort-foods? Meatloaf is the ultimate comfort food in my opinion. It’s not fancy but it warms you up and makes you feel satisfied.
I’m always on the lookout for a good meatloaf recipe. But the trouble is most of them contain bread crumbs, powdered soup mixes or prepared sauce ingredients that I do not want to eat. The alternative was to come up with my own recipe containing only healthful ingredients. I had some trouble making full-sized meatloaves because they never seemed to hold their shape. The solution was to make meatloaf in muffin tins.
The recipe I bring you today is for paleo mini meatloaves. You could call them paleo meatloaf cupcakes if you prefer. Whatever you call them, these little meaty muffins are sure to be a hit with your family – including finicky children.
I performed the solemn duty of meatloaf tester. It was a tough job but someone had to do it.
The little morsels definitely passed muster. They reheat well which makes them great to take to work for lunch. These paleo meatloaves are so chock full of vegetables they make a meal in and of themselves. If you have picky children this might be a mechanism for getting some veggies into them without hearing objections.
“If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it.”
~Lucy Larcom (1824-1893), American poet
This past week was a rough one. Our family got some bad news and it has caused us to re-evaluate a few things in our lives. I have faith everything will turn out fine. But it does take some effort to see the bright side right now. One thing I have learned over the years is that happiness is mostly a result of our attitude. Being grateful for the good things in our lives is a powerful tool to combat the negative and the depression that often follows. To that end I am making it a habit to notice the good things in my life and acknowledge them specifically. I thank God for blessings each day even when I don’t feel like it.
The other major change in my life that has helped me cope with stressful circumstances is cleaning up my diet and getting my vitamin D levels into the normal range. These things have done wonders for my mood. I do not need medication for depression. The winter months used to leave me feeling blue but now I find even the gray days of the season calming and pleasant in their own way.
This recipe for slow-cooker beef brisket was inspired by a dish served in my office cafeteria recently. After going back to work full-time a few months ago I have had to contend with the decision to eat the food there or not. The cafeteria is beautiful and has a lot of variety. Some of the dishes, like their beef brisket with peppers, are delicious. But I have taken to referring to the cafeteria as “Gluten City”. There is bread or wheat flour or soy in some form or other in just about everything. I usually opt for the salad bar but even the grilled chicken there is suspect because it has a coating on it. There are many days when I have a reaction to something eaten in the cafeteria even when it is a rather plain salad from the salad bar!
In addition to not grasping the importance of labeling foods for people with sensitivities, this particular office cafeteria has fallen victim to the notion that “fat free” or “low fat” is always optimal. Other than olive oil at the salad bar, there is not a lot of healthy fat to be found – not even nuts or yogurt with more than 0% fat content. I have recently noticed the “light cream” option with the coffee has changed to Half-and-Half. They think they are doing everyone a favor with these low-fat, high carb offerings.
Taking my lunch to work has become a new priority for me. I need things that can be cooked in advance in larger quantities and packed up for lunch the following day. This slow-cooker beef brisket recipe fits that bill. It’s really easy and can be thrown together in the morning before work.
Do you like my sign?
We found this in a store recently and it took about two seconds to realize we had to have it. I bet you could find it online if you wanted it in your kitchen. It sort of sets a tone for our family, if you know what I mean.
When my neighbor Tony gifted me with some very fresh venison steaks recently I was excited and a bit apprehensive. Where we live the deer are plentiful and I have long viewed them as pests. Prior to the installation of a high fence for my back yard, our garden was the scene of daily deer … Read more
Well, today a new chapter in my life begins. I’m starting a new job after being home full-time with my boys for almost two and a half years. It’s a big day for me and I’m excited and a little nervous. Being home has been wonderful and I have enjoyed every second of the time … Read more
My husband G works in New York City. He had to work late on Friday night and all day Saturday so his company put him up in a hotel. The boys and I tagged along for moral support. The fact that we could enjoy some of the greatness that NYC has to offer had NOTHING to do with it. Nope. Nothing. It was purely sacrificial on our part. 😉
Since we were there early Saturday morning, the boys and I made our way to The Breslin which is a restaurant in the Ace Hotel. We ordered the “Full English Breakfast” – one for me and one for the boys to split (plus an extra side of sausage, of course!)
The breakfast came with blood pudding, also known as black pudding or blood sausage. It is a popular dish in many parts of the world but not something Americans tend to eat. No matter how paleo-esque it might be, the thought of eating blood pudding did not fill me with glee. The restaurant would not allow for substitutions so I did try the pudding. But while it essentially tasted like breakfast sausage, I could not get past the IDEA of eating blood.
Here’s a photo of the pudding – it’s a terrible shot but you get the idea.
Not appetizing. Sorry all you blood pudding fans…
Everything else was delicious but I made the mistake of letting the boys sit next to each other so it ended up being one of the most expensive and frustrating breakfasts I have ever had. My intention of taking lots of photos did not pan out partly because it was very dark in the restaurant but mostly because I was just so aggravated. The boys were far more manageable after they stuffed themselves with lots of pork products and eggs. Whew! (For more info and photos of The Breslin you can check out Nom Nom Paleo’s recent post.)
The High Line Park
After breakfast we headed to The High Line which is a public park built on an historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side. It was opened in 2009 and is owned by the City of New York. It was saved from demolition by the community and is an amazing example of how to use a historic site as public space.
Here’s our view of the Empire State Building.
And some of the interesting architecture visible from The High Line.
Nathaniel enjoyed pretending to be a giant standing in the middle of the street grabbing (literally) a cab.
Moving along The High Line trail we happened upon a dashing cellist.
Then Benjamin bounded down some of the seats lining a street overlook when disaster struck. This shot was taken about ten seconds before he fell and broke (we suspect) his arm. (And just by the way, I HATE that sign in the background.)
So that was the end of our walk. We headed back to the hotel to decide what to do with the poor little guy. Before driving back home we made a final stop at Grom for some gelato. For some reason this made Ben feel much better. Hmm.
One of our other fun experiences in New York, albeit Long Island, was referenced in my last post. For brunch in the village of Southampton I experienced duck confit sweet potato hash. It made enough of an impression that I determined to make a version of it at home. The hash uses sweet potatoes instead of the standard white potatoes which are generally eschewed on the paleo diet. But aside from that, the taste of sweet potatoes with the fatty, rich duck meat is exquisite and it’s far more beautiful than white potatoes anyway.
Duck confit is prepared by salt curing a piece of meat (generally goose, duck, or pork) and then poaching it in its own fat. The meat is rubbed with salt, garlic, and herbs then covered and refrigerated for up to 36 hours. Duck confit is often sold in cans but I was only able to find the individual legs in a local grocery store.
Once you have some duck confit you can begin the process of making the duck confit sweet potato hash.
First you will need to find some sweet potatoes.
Then peel them.
Then dice them.
Grab a red onion, dice it up, chop some fresh parsley and congratulate yourself on being an ace sous chef.
Now it’s time to get serious about cooking the duck confit sweet potato hash.
As the summer wanes we have been trying to cram as many good things into the remaining days as possible. To this end, the boys and I have spent some blissful afternoons at a nearby arboretum. The weekends bring the crowds of wedding parties so we journey there on weekdays. The peace of the gardens … Read more
Image from Google Today, August 15, 2012, would be Julia Child‘s 100th birthday. Julia is a bit of a hero to me. She taught Americans to cook and paved the way for all celebrity chefs. But Julia is inspirational to me for other, more personal, reasons. Julia Child started her career as an advertising copywriter in … Read more
