How time flies!

We had a beautiful baby girl at the end of June. The doctors suspicions were correct-she was a big baby weighing in at 9.5 pounds. Luckily, I was still able to have the natural birth I was hoping for. I believe that eating right, prenatal yoga, and lots of walking gave me the strength to tough it out (along with my husband's support of course).

We have settled into family life here in Brooklyn. We enjoyed the bounty of the season's CSA vegetables, fruit, eggs and meat. I have been cooking less, and my husband has been taking the lead in keeping this nursing mama well nourished. I am amazed at how so many of you can prepare beautiful feasts night after night with a houseful of children. The meals I have made have been quick and simple which has not provided much fodder for new blog posts. But I have missed writing and being part of the blogging community, so I am planning on getting back into it.

There is a big change on the horizon for us. We are saying farewell to NYC and heading to Boston for a new exciting job for my husband. Stay tuned to hear more about the upcoming move and our efforts to create healthful meals in the midst of the chaos.

Salmon and Lentil Salad with Lemon Caper Dressing

The doctors have been warning me for a while now that we are going to have a big baby. I don't have gestational diabetes, but I think it's just in my genes that everything I eat goes straight to the baby.(Some people will roll their eyes when I complain about this.) I was almost 10 pounds when I was born, but my mom hadn't gained much weight. Her wedding rings were actually loose when she went into the hospital. Sugar, fruit and refined white stuff especially beef up the baby, so I have been trying to stick with a fairly high fiber and protein diet and to stay active with lots of walking and yoga.



One meal we especially enjoyed was a Salmon and Lentil Salad with Lemon Caper Dressing. It was nice and refreshing on a hot night. We simply layered some salad greens, cold lentils (but they could be served hot too), pan-fried salmon and topped it off with a delicious, tangy lemon caper dressing. It's a great low carb meal - whatever your reason. For an extra short cut, Trader Joes has some tasty pre-cooked lentils that are pre-seasoned. They keep for quite a while in the fridge, and are great to keep on hand for a quick meal. We like the seasoning they use, and used them as our flavor inspiration.

French Lentils
1/2 lb French lentils
1/2 T thyme
1/2 T oregano
1 t garlic powder
1/4 t salt and pepper
2 bay leaves

Spread the lentils out on a cookie sheet to check for pebbles. Place in a strainer and rinse. Place in a stockpot and add water to cover by an inch. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until tender but still firm.

Lemon Caper Dressing
2 T olive oil
1 t spicy brown mustard
dash of salt and pepper
1 T apple cider vinegar
2 T water
1 t capers
1/4 lemon, juiced
Extra capers for garnish

Whisk ingredients together to combine.

We enjoyed some extra capers sprinkled over the top of our salad.

This post is part of Ekat's Kitchen Friday Potluck, Designs by Gollum Foodie Friday, Fat Camp Friday, Susie QT Pies Friday Follow, and Ann Kroeker's Food on Friday.

Delicious Pulled Pork

Well, more time has passed than I intended since my last post. Pregnancy has just been more of a game changer than I expected. Luckily I am healthy and feeling well, but the doctor appointments, childbirth classes, prenatal yoga, etc really eat into blogging time. I know that this is only a taste of what is to come once the baby actually arrives. My due date is a week and a half away, so I thought it was a good time to check back-in with City Share.

Several weeks ago, before the spring vegetables were really showing up at the farmers' market, we had a great dinner that took advantage of some of the vegetables that store well over the winter. We got an acorn squash from the market and some spinach out of our freezer, and made some favorite dishes. We simply baked the squash and served it with some butter, and made some creamed spinach with some leftover cream cheese and half and half. As good as the vegetables were, the piece de resistance was some pulled pork inspired by a recipe in our Dinosaur BBQ cookbook. The meat was melt-in-your mouth tender and the sauce was a great combination of tangy, sweet and spicy. It was a delicious feast.



Pulled Pork inspired by Dinosaur BBQ

4.5 lb pork shoulder
1/2 can of tomato paste
10 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 C apple cider vinegar
1/4 C balsamic vinegar
1/4 C water
2 T ketchup
1 T spicy brown mustard
4 T maple syrup
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 t cayenne
1/4 t allspice
1/2 t salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Sear pork shoulder in a Dutch oven over high heat on each side. Remove the meat from the pan, and combine the rest of the ingredients in the pan. Add the meat back in and spoon the sauce over the pork shoulder. Place in the oven and cook for 2.5 to 3 hours. Flip over every hour or so. The meat is done when it is falling off the bone.

This post is part of Miz Helen's Full Plate Thursday, Turning the Table Thursday, Jenny's Alphabe-Thursdays, Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life As Mom, Frugal Food Thursday, Recipe Swap Thursday at Prairie Story, and Simple Lives Thursday.

Update

Here's an update from us here at City Share:

I came down with a horrible cold and cough accompanied by a fever the day before my birthday. Not only was I sick for five days and feeling miserable, but we had company for three days in the middle of it. Nothing like plodding around in my giant grey sweatpants and fleece with uncombed hair to get to know someone better. Being pregnant and sick is the worst combination.



Luckily, I recuperated in time for our babymoon to Baltimore. I wasn't up to full speed, but good enough to be able to walk around and enjoy some good food. I highly recommend Baltimore for a weekend getaway. Don't let The Wire scare you off. There are some lovely historic neighborhoods. We had fun taking the water taxi around the harbor, visiting the American Visionary Art Museum, visiting The Walters Art Museum and just walking around checking out the different neighborhoods. Of course we had to eat while we were there too. My husband has a friend from high school who lives in Baltimore, and he was kind enough to come up with a whole list of restaurants in a variety of neighborhoods for us to try. I'm allergic to shellfish, but my husband indulged in the requisite crab cakes (he actually thinks they are kind of boring, but the raw oysters were right up his alley). We sampled some delicious Afghan food in the Mount Vernon neighborhood at The Helmand, and some solid pub fare at Alexander's Tavern in Fells Point. It was a great getaway and only a 2.5 hour train ride from New York City.

We will be away this weekend for Easter, but then we will be settling in for the duration until the baby comes. Our new addition is due to arrive at the end of June. I'm looking forward to being home after a couple of weekends with guests and a couple of weekends away. We hope to be preparing lots of healthy treats, and maybe even putting some up for when the baby comes.

This post is part of Alphabe-thursdays.

The Chip Shop

My dad was in town for a visit this last weekend. This was his first time visiting us since we moved to Brooklyn, and we had a great time walking around exploring our new surrounds and eating lots of delicious food. On Saturday he requested fish and chips for lunch. We knew that The Chip Shop would be a good spot to satisfy his craving and it was right on the way for our walk to Prospect Park. His visit conveniently coincided with restaurant week here in Brooklyn, and once we arrived at the Chip Shop we learned that they were participating in Dine In Brooklyn. The special at The Chip Shop was for 2 three course lunches for $20.11. Dad and I ordered twin lunches. We each got the salad, fish and chips and the rhubarb crumble with custard sauce. My husband ordered the deep fried haggis with salad.



Dad and I were very pleased with our lunches. The salad was simple with nicely dressed greens; the fish had a crispy shell of batter with tender, flaky cod; and the chips were full of potato flavor. The portion was quite large and I couldn't finish mine. I think they could make it smaller for the three course special. Because we were already so full, we decided to ask to take one dessert to go. The rhubarb crumble was good. I could have gone for even more custard sauce and less crumble, but that's just my personal preference.

My husband was a bit disappointed with his lunch. We had visited The Chip Shop once before about a year ago and he ordered the haggis that time too. He thought it wasn't as good this time around. Last time we visited their Atlantic Avenue location. Maybe the haggis is just better there, but he decided he would order something different next time.

Dine In Brooklyn continues until March 31st. It's a great opportunity to try some local restaurants.

This post is part of Works-for-me-Wednesday, Let's Do Brunch, and Welcome Wednesday.

A Versatile Mustard Sauce

We have fallen into a dinner rut since we moved to Brooklyn last October. I think there are a few factors that have contributed. Our move coincided with the time our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm share came to an end. The CSA delivery each week forced us to get creative to find new and delicious ways to eat up all of the vegetables. We also found out right before we moved that we were expecting our first child. Soon after, the fatigue and nausea of the first trimester set in and ruined most plans for dinner preparation. Finally, our commutes both got a little longer. It's amazing how getting home 30 minutes later can make such a difference. We arrive home tired and starving and it's hard to get motivated to make anything exciting for dinner. I keep telling myself that a meal plan and some slow cooker dinners will help, but I haven't been very good about following through on either front.

What to do? Well, we do have a very easy sauce that helps dress up our standard meat, vegetable and starch dinner. It's a delicious mustard sauce with only two ingredients. We tend to serve it over pork, but it would be great on chicken too.


We cooked our pork chops with some onions in a cast iron pan. Once they were done, we removed them from the pan and prepared the sauce in the same pan with the pork juices. We served it over some orzo with a side of broccoli and salad.

Mustard Sauce
2 T butter
1 T Dijon mustard
1/4 C white wine (optional - we left this out)

Melt the butter over medium low heat and stir in the mustard (and wine if using it). Whisk until combined and then serve.

This post is part of Miz Helen's Full Plate Thursday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, Alphabe-Thursday, Tip Day Thursday Carnival, Frugal Fridays, Creative Girls Blog Hop, Foodie Friday, and I'm Lovin' It.

Tandoori Chicken with Lemon Rice

My husband and I both really enjoy Indian food. Our old apartment was within walking distance of curry row, and we loved walking over to try all of the different regional specialties. Those dining experiences inspired us to try many of the dishes at home including Tandoori Chicken. It requires just a bit of hands-on time and planning ahead, and the results are full of flavor and spice. It does require quite a few spices. I recommend looking for them at an ethnic market where spices tend to be more affordable than at the grocery store and you can often purchase smaller quantities.


We served the chicken with some lemon rice. The the tartness of the lemon in the rice is balanced by the cashews, and it's always a big hit. Marinating the chicken in the yogurt and lemon spice mixture keeps it nice and moist and tender. We served this to company so we adjusted the quantities to make sure there would be enough for our guest and some leftovers. Both recipes can easily be adjusted up or down to accommodate your numbers.

Tandoori Chicken
serves 6

2 lbs cut up chicken (we just used chicken legs)
2 T garlic, roughly chopped
2 T ginger, peeled and chopped
2 T cumin seeds, or ground cumin
2 t ground coriander
1 t cayenne
1/2 t ground cardamom
1/2 t ground cloves
1/2 t pepper
2 t salt
1 C yogurt
4 T lemon juice (juice of one lemon)
2 T coconut oil
1-2 onions, cut into thick slices
cilantro, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Remove the skin from the chicken, rinse and place in a bowl. Combine the garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, cayenne, cardamom, cloves and pepper in a food processor or blender. Pulse the spice mixture until the garlic and ginger are integrated. Add the yogurt and lemon, and pulse to combine. Pour the yogurt spice mixture over the chicken. Cover and place in the refrigerator to marinate for at least an hour, but up to 24 hours. Coat the bottom of a casserole pan with the oil, and place the sliced onions and chicken in a single layer. Bake the chicken for 30 minutes. Garnish with cilantro.

Lemon Rice
inspired by The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Yamuna Devi

1 1/2 C rice
3 C water
1 t salt
3 T butter
1/2 C raw cashews
1 T mustard seeds
1/3 t turmeric
1/3 C lemon (juice of 2 lemons)
3 T cilantro

Add the rice, water, salt and 1 T butter to a sauce pot and bring to a boil. Follow the cooking directions for your rice. While the rice is cooking, melt the remaining butter in a small skillet and add the cashews. Cook until they are starting to turn golden. Add the mustard seeds and cook 2 more minutes. Once the rice is finished cooking, add the mustard seed, cashew and butter combination plus the lemon juice, turmeric and cilantro and fold together. Garnish with some extra cilantro.

This post is part of Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays, Delectable Tuesday Blog Hop, Hearth and Soul Blog Hop, Tuesdays at the Table, Tuesday Night Supper Club, Tasty Tuesdays, Works-for-me Wednesday, Gluten Free Wednesdays, Let's Do Brunch, Welcomne Wednesday, and Real Food Wednesdays.