I am appalled and horrified to see I haven't done any blogging in almost three years. Oh. My. Goodness. - as my almost 3 year old would say.  I have been busy.  Two children (one almost 3 and one almost 7 months), a huge move from NYC to the country of Massachusetts (hello home ownership -- I'm not sure why everyone doesn't rent -- maintenance is not cool).  And many glasses of wine later -- here I am.  While I have not been documenting my cooking I have been doing it.

I will say not much has changed since 2012. We have made very few changes to our diet since having children.  I will admit when my son started pre-school I felt pressure to send him with the type of food other kids had in their lunch bags (hot dogs (you can get grass fed), mac and cheese (home made), goldfish (child crack) and gogurt (sugar).  I slapped myself in the face and got back to our normal eating habits.  That is not to say I don't have some snacks around that have less than ideal ingredients but for the most part he eats very well.

Since having children we do always having grass fed whole milk and apple cider (my kid is an addict) in the refrigerator.  I have become even more conscious of having as much organic produce and fruit as possible because I don't want to be giving my children or myself GMO products and also because of the connection between pesticides and illness (including the hot topic of Autism). My oldest son went from being vegetarian on his own volition to loving meat.  My husband and I are not big meat eaters but now we try and make sure to have grass-fed beef or lamb once a week as well as pasture raised chicken.  All of it is hopefully is humanely raised and killed (thanks, humane certification). It seems that people get overwhelmed with the labels "organic" "grass-fed" "grass-finished" etc... and that is understandable.  My feeling is: I choose "grass-fed and finished" above organic for meat, dairy and butter. Wallaby makes a delicious greek grass fed yogurt and Whole Foods sells different brands of Grass-Fed Milk and butter. Poultry, I think pasture raised is ideal as well as humanely certified.  The nice thing about Whole Foods is that they visit their farms and rate everything accordingly so you really get a nice sense of the animal product you are eating.  It may seem more expensive (and it can be) but whole foods actually has really lovely sales on meat.  We buy a bunch and throw it in the freezer.  Further if you are buying less pre-made food, then everything is significantly more reasonable.

I spend about $150/week on produce for 3.5 people.  I've found actually menu-planning as I would for a client really keeps costs down.  I purchase organic nuts (Emmett is obsessed) at Trader Joes as well as many of their cheeses (most of their cheese is RbST free) we eat. Other than that we shop at Whole Foods and get our fish at a local fish market (I'm totally unimpressed with Whole Food's Fish). and Costco where we get our toilet paper, etc... actually has a great selection of GMO free Organic Gluten-Free Crackers and Chips. Done.

A general outline of our meals:
For breakfast generally I have an egg omelet with a side salad. Joe and Emmett have Fresh Fruit and grass-fed cow Yogurt.  Joe with a bit of home made granola, Emmett with a piece of rosemary toast. And we have coffee. Lots of delicious Coffee.

For lunch Joe and I both have salad and Emmett usually has leftovers from the day before or a hummus, cheese, cracker and fruit plate.

And dinner is my favorite. I have been less adventurous with my own recipes mostly because I don't have time and have been enjoying going through my cookbooks.  The dinner recipes are what you will find on this blog predominantly.   My current obsession is anything by Ottolenghi.  I have veered from his recipes this week and regret it.

So Enjoy! If you have any questions please email me: purenaturalkitchen@gmail.com.

Happy Reading!

xo Alexis

Cravings: Scones

so, there aren't many things I've craved yet (at 31 weeks).  I drink a lot of milk mostly because of horrible heartburn - something I never did before I was pregnant.  I eat peppermint dark chocolate and am our freezer is stocked with Ciao Bella dark chocolate sorbet and coconut sorbet -- the best with freshly cut up strawberries and coconut flakes.

But the past few weeks I've been wanting a scone, and for some reason in Park Slope they are hard to come by.  I am not a baker - not in the least.  I can throw something together with completely random refrigerator ingredients, but I still get a little anxious baking.  I typically don't really enjoy baked goods - cakes, brownies, cupcakes, muffins, not usually my thing.  But I wanted freshly baked scones

So, I tried a new scone recipe and it is delicious!  I made them gluten free because my husband is gluten intolerant:

• 2 cups Pamela's Pancake Mix
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a food processor pulse the flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Cut up a frozen stick of butter and add to the food processor (mixture should resemble coarse meal), then add in raisins.
4. In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and egg until smooth.
5. Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.)
6. Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Use a  knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper), about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.

Mulligatawny Soup

Yesterday Joe and I went to Fairway to pick up some weekly groceries.  We (I) decided that this week we'd have a lot of soups.  Entering my third trimester, I've noticed that I don't want a big meal at night because I'm not too hungry and it gives me horrid heartburn.

We tried a Mulligatawny Soup from the More Best Recipes cookbook and it does not disappoint.  I altered the ingredients a wee bit so as to avoid heartburn afterward (I was semi-successful).  We added leg of lamb to the soup to get some extra nutrients.  But the lentils, lamb, home made chicken stock and veggies make this particularly healthy -- you can add some kombu while it's cooking for extra minerals too!

Ingredients:
spices:
2.5 tsp. garam masala
1.5 tsp. ground cumin
1.5 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground turmeric

soup:
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium onions, minced
1/2 cup coconut flakes
4 medium garlic cloves, minced
4 tsp. grated ginger (recommended to use a micro-plane)
1 tsp. tomato paste
1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour (we used gluten free here)
7 cups chicken stock
2 medium carrots (peeled and chopped medium)
2 celery ribs (peeled and chopped medium)
1/2 cup french green lentils (these, unlike the brown lentils), do not fall apart when you cook them
sea salt and blaxk pepper
2 Tablespoons cilantro (minced), more to taste if you'd like
a dollop of Greek Yogurt
1 1/2 lbs. trimmed leg of lamb, cut into 1.5 x 1 inch chunks

1. Melt the butter in a large Dutch Oven (I love the Staub dutch ovens) over medium heat.  Saute the spices until fragrant, about 10 seconds.  Add the onions and coconut and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the garlic, ginger, and tomato paste and cook until fragrant, bout 30 seconds.  Stir in the flour until evenly combined, about 1 minute.  Whisk in the stock.

2. Stir in the carrots and celery, increase the heat and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer until veggies are tender 20-25 minutes.

3.  Puree the soup (I recommend the VitaMix).  Add the lentils and  lamb and simmer for 30 minutes until lentils and lamb are tender.

Season with sea salt and pepper

As Promised some Martha's Vineyard Recipes

Spinach Dip:

spinach dip with chips

1 container fresh baby spinach, steamed until wilted, and chopped
2 cup2 Greek Yogurt
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
1 can of chopped water chestnuts
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
sea salt to taste

mix until dip consistency.  (bowl from Chilmark Pottery on Martha's Vineyard)

Mango Salsa (adapted from Best New Recipes Cookbook - for all beginning chefs, fantastic recipe source)

4 mangos, peeled seeded and cubed
2 limes, juiced
2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons minced fresh cilatrno
sea salt and black pepper
2 ripe tomatoes chopped
1 can of black beans, rinsed over

And lastly:
My parents when to Boston while Joe and I were on Martha's Vineyard, so we had a race against the clock for eating produce... we made a mosh-posh pasta dinner:

4 peppers, sliced thinly and de-veined
2 onions, sliced thinly
1 can of broth
2 garlic cloves
1/2 container of spinach, wilted with the hot pasta
1/2 box of ziti

 (1) sweat onions until very soft - with butter or Extra Virgin Olive Oil; add the peppers and cook until very soft - add some wine or beer or stock here...cook until well done.  Then add garlic.

(2) Toss all ingredients together.  Add some goat cheese if you'd like.  Delicious warm or cold.

Marth's Vineyard!

Dawn and Alexis

As is Joe and my tradition, every year for his birthday, we spend some time on Martha's Vineyard at my parent's summer house.  This year was Joe's 30th birthday and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Edgartown's Harborview hotel.  It was delicious.  My parent's house is almost 100% solar and on a land reservation on Martha's Vineyard Chappaquiddick Island.  It is a retreat like no other.  While there Joe and I kayaked, read, cooked, clammed, fished and generally enjoyed ourselves for one week.

Living in New York City, sometimes it is a

Victor and Alexis

challenge to remember that we need our own time outside of the City enjoying all that nature has to offer.  Once again, this is more of a photo entry than a recipe entry, but there are some recipes from our vacation coming up in the next post.  For those of you who feel like you should work, work, work and save later - let's not forget that family and friends are the most important thing out there and that when we look back at our memories those are the ones that will stand out the most.

quick rinse off

Joe and Aquinnah fetched, swam, and generally goofed around together and hearing Joe's laughter echo around the bay made me feel happy and content.  It's so very easy to get wrapped up in our everyday stresses and forget how lucky we are and how short life is, cue sentimental music now.

cozy post dinner swaddle.

Whether it be a small dinner out (last night we went for burgers with our lovely neighbor and my college friend Adam Castaldo) or finally purchasing a plane ticket to Chicago to visit my amazing friends (Catherine and Ian Merritt) and meet their child Teddy, our memories are of experiences and our friends shape those; it's important to me for those experiences not to fall to the sidelines.

Anyway,  I will post some delicious recipes that Joe and I tried out while trying to use up all the fresh produce that would otherwise have spoiled... including: spinach dip; mango salsa; and a delicious pasta salad!

The Nourse Farm

The Nourse Farm in Westboro, Massachusetts holds loads of memories for me.  I grew up eating their berries and running in their fields encompassed by the beautiful farm land that is The Nourse Farm.  The Nourse family and the Colantonio family have had many adventure filled vacations - typically involving a well-loved farmhouse in New Hampshire and a week filled with blazing our own cross country ski trails, having water fights in the kitchen, building snow forts and going on horse drawn carriage rides after nights of ice skating.  But most of all my memories are filled with loads and loads of laughter.  Side splitting laughter and amazing support and love.  The Nourses are family to me and I love them all dearly, so when Joe and I were trying to find a place that was meaningful to us to take our engagement photos, the Nourse Farm seemed like the most natural place in the world for it.

Aquinnah and Lucy playing in the pond

Marsha's sesame chicken with dipping sauce

We had a delicious lunch that Marsha and Samantha planned at their house.  Before lunch, however, we walked a few steps out of the house and picked some black raspberries and red raspberries for the champagne that Joe and I brought... not only were we scouting out places for our engagement shots, but Marsha is our officiant and we went over our bare bones ceremony write-up.  Marsha took us on a walking tour of the farm - Joe had never been on an active working farm so he got to pick berries off bushes for the first time! A very exciting day.

Nourse Farm Black-Bottom Raspberry Pies

We took a leisurely walk around the farm stumbling on everything from fresh asparagus stalks, the most delicious strawberries, blueberries & raspberries (they have pick your own berries!!), horses, cows and a moment of sheer delight for both Aquinnah and Lucy when they got to go swimming in a pond shared by the farm's resident horses.   Pictured are the famous Black-Bottomed Raspberry Pies (homemade pies are sold at the store!) with some fresh whipped cream.  Delicious.

Joe's first time in a cow pasture!

I wanted to share with you some beautiful photos of landscape as well as food.  If you live in the area - I cannot recommend their berry picking more (also, they have fresh produce, local dairy and eggs, and the most AMAZING ice cream (also local) - I had two cones of the black raspberry.

Chicago Visit & Merritt Family Clam Bake

Mr. Theodore Whelan Wallace Merritt

What better way to kick off a blogging hiatus then with a summer clam bake blog entry.  I went to Chicago to visit some amazing friends (and meet for the first time Mr. Teddy Merritt - who I have fallen head over heals for) and to partake in the Merritt Family Clam Bake activities.  The potluck style clam bake was perfection in everything from the company to the newly planted flowers to the table cloths to the amazingly prepared food.

Catherine and Ian could teach Ina Garten a little something about entertaining.  Beautiful hanging paper lanterns, brightly colored umbrellas, April Cornell table cloths and napkins - mismatching in the most perfect way, candles, flowers, etc...

Dark and Stormy

Guests were greeted with the house drink, a dark and stormy (recipe: approximately 2 ounces of Gosling's or other dark rum, approximately 5 ounces of ginger beer, a shake of bitters, and a squeeze of lime) - which of course was approximated by the size of the mason jars that Catherine found in the basement adding a perfect touch to the rustic and relaxing dinner feel.  I personally think the straws add a little something to the Dark and Stormy experience.

Cheese Plate (always a good idea)

There was an assortment of delicious cheeses from a local Lincoln Square wine / cheese store, including a smokey blue cheese that was dreamy.  There were some delicious starters brought by guests including various takes on the devil egg.

Dinner included a
gazpacho (serves 8-10)
recipe:
5 medium ripe beefsteak tomatoes (cored and cut into into small dice),
3 medium red bell peppers (cored, seeded and cut into a small dice)
3 large cucumbers one peeled and the others with skin seeded and cut into small dice)
1 sweet vidalia onion, cut into small dice
4 cloves of garlic, minced
sea salt to talste
1/3 cup cherry (or to taste)
ground black pepper
7 cups of tomato juice
1 tsp. hot pepper sauce (or to taste)

Combine all ingredients (except tomato juice) in a food processor  and pulse to allow flavors to mesh until diced and juicy.  Stir in tomato juice and let sit for 4 hours or up to 24 hours - the longer the soup sits the more flavorful it becomes... Serve cold - with a single ice cup in each serving ... even my lovely non-gazpacho loving friend, ate all his soup- success!

Impromptu Tree Purchase

mozzarella and tomato salad: (very simple and delicious salad - esp. when the summer tomatoes are available).  Serves 4-6
4 medium, very ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into slices 1/4 inch thick
1 lb. fresh mozarella cheese, cut into slices 1/4 in thick
2 Tablespoons roughly chopped basil leaves
1/4 tsp. sea salt
a few grinds from your pepper mill
1/4 cup extra virgil olive oil

Layer tomatoes & mozzarella alternately and in concentric circles on a platter.  Sprinkle with basil, salt and pepper and drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  Allow flavors to marinate for 5-10 minutes.   Serve room temperature.

Clambake:
2 lbs. little necks or cherrystones
2 lbs. mussels, scrubbed and debeared
1 lb. kielbasa (sliced into 1/3 inch rounds)
1 lb. new or red potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 medium ears of corn, sil and all but the last layer of husks removed
2 live lobsters
1 stick of butter
4 leeks, sliced thinly only white parts
2 onions, small diced
1/2 a bottle of white wine

Place the clams and mussels on a large piece of cheesecloth and tie the ends together to secure.  In a 12-quart heavy bottomed stockpot, melt the butter, and cook the onion, leeks and potatoes until onion and leeks are softened.  layer the kiebasa, clams and mussels, potatoes, corn and lobsters one on top of the other.  Add the wine.  Cover with the lid and and place over high heat.  Cook until the potatoes are tender and be easily pierced with a fork and lobsters are bright red (17-20 minutes).  Place on a platter and serve!

 The food was amazing as was the wine selection but even more impressive was the group of people.  Catherine and Ian brought together a group of 15 or so people, most of whom didn't know each other well, but who meshed easily.  It was a memorable evening to say the least.  

The last time I visited Chicago, plans of Millennium Park were underway, so this visit (years later) I enjoyed the amazing park that Chicago now has to offer.

I was equally impressed with all of the food I ate in Lincoln Square - from a breakfast quiche and ice coffee at The Grind to wine and cheese at Fork to one of the most delicious dinners I have had at Due Lire.  At Due Lire, Catherine and I indulged in deliciousness - the type of meal that you look at the person across from you to make certain that they are enjoying everything as much as you are.  Due Lire boasts, "fresh, simple flavors, and quality ingredients" and they follow through.

We started with a lightly fried calamari, lemon slices, capers & sage leaves with a chili aoili dipping sauce - amazing - the fried lemons, capers and sage made this a completely unique take on the traditional fried calamari. We then feasted a salad of beets, frisee, almonds and manchego cheese - equally delicious.  The real show stoppers in my mind were the gnocchi with bolognese (which may seem overly simple, but burst with amazing flavor) and the crescenza cheese fritters set atop an AMAZING duck ragu - this is the first time I loved duck - the gooey fried cheese with the slowly cooked tender duck, forced me to close my eyes to appreciate every bit of flavor that danced on my tongue.  We had some lemoncello  (compliments of the owner) and a tiramisu.  Catherine and I walked home with our bellies perfectly full of delicious wine and food.  I cannot speak more highly of this restaurant (or the dinner companion)- if you are in Chicago, head over to Lincoln Square and try out this restaurant.

Chicago is one of my favorite cities to visit, the type of place where when I'm sitting in the airport heading back to Brooklyn, I wonder why I haven't lived there yet.