Saturday, June 25, 2011

Going Green

This past week's recipe highlighted the vibrantly green vegetable broccoli.  I headed to The City Market and searched for the best looking broccoli since it was going to be the star of the dish.  Of course, I found this recently picked from the farm, beautiful bundle of joy that still had its leaves.  I thought this added a nice touch and I picked up three.

For those of you who are not meat eaters, I'm sorry, you may need to skip this week's post.  But this recipe called for a thinly sliced flank steak; which really made me happy since I am, admittedly, a fan of red meat.  I served this mixture of broccoli, flank steak, crisped garlic and red pepper flakes over brown rice, and it was so good!

Beef, Broccoli & Crisp Garlic Saute








As always, a huge thank you to The City Market for providing the inspiration to cook using these amazingly fresh ingredients!

Allie Coyle
Kansas City Photographer

Saturday, June 18, 2011

A Taste of The City Market in Kansas City!

One of the things Gabe and I love about living in Kansas City is going to The City Market each Saturday.  Okay, so it's only been a few weeks, but already it's a much looked forward to tradition!  We have a Cooking from the Farmer's Market cookbook that I look at before we go and I pick out a recipe or two to make in an effort for a more farm to table lifestyle.  Here are a few that I've tackled so far... let me know if you want the recipe!

Fresh Blueberry Scones
Okay, so I swapped out the cranberries that the recipe called for and added fresh from The City Market blueberries instead, since they're Gabe's favorite.  I also have been only cooking with whole wheat flour, which adds to the distinctive flavor of these scones.  A splash of fresh squeezed orange juice, with oranges, of course, from The City Market and these scones are ready to be devoured!





Baked Zucchini & Tomato Tian
I tend to look first at the recipes in the cookbook that have the pictures beside them.  Yes, I still like books with pictures in them.  I get excited about how the recipes look and wonder if I can make them as delicious as they appear.  When flipping through the cookbook, I stopped short at the picture of the Baked Zucchini and Tomato Tian.  

Honestly, I've never really like zucchini (I'm trying to learn to like more vegetables) and I have no clue what a Tian is, but I decided this recipe looked too good to pass up!  The tomatoes and zucchini are baked over a bed of sauteed onions (I added garlic and sauteed them as well, because I'll look for any excuse to add garlic to a recipe!)  It was, by the way, very good... even the zucchini!  I may be growing up after all!




Rustic Tomato & Mozzarella Tart
The picture on this recipe looked alot like a pizza, but since it was in the cookbook (Cooking from the Farmer's Market), I thought it had to be slightly more healthy than regular pizza.  Plus, they called it a tart, so not quite so fattening, right?  Well, this recipe is delicious!  It called for a puff pastry, so off to the store I went and, like a naive, trying-to-learn-to-cook-well newlywed, I bought puff pastry dough from the section where you find things like ready made cinnamon rolls and larger than your head dinner biscuits.  

Ahh... well, the dish turned out slightly sweeter than it was probably originally intended.  Hhhmmm... but it called for a puff pastry... I was confused.  I soon discovered that in this cookbook, in the very back, there's a recipe for a puff pastry.  So I have to make it from scratch, apparently, which I'm sure would make this dish less sweet and more of a main course or a great appetizer for guests.  Either way, The City Market fresh tomatoes made it very good and worth having again... maybe next time I'll make my own puff pastry!





A special thanks to The City Market for providing great fresh produce straight from the farm!  Gabe and I went this morning and stocked up on some of our must-haves (apples, bananas, green and red peppers) and also some broccoli and garlic for this coming week's recipe:  Beef, Broccoli and Crisp Garlic Saute!  It looked amazing, so I'm excited to see how it tastes! 


Allie Coyle
Kansas City Photographer

Monday, June 6, 2011

When in Rome!

Italy.... what an amazing place!  From breathtaking scenery, endless cafe's, historic sites, tons of amazing food (and gelato!), it's hard to put our trip into words.  Here are a few quick photos....





... many more to come!




Allie Coyle
Kansas City Photographer