Allie Coyle Photography Blog- Kansas City Urban Photographer

Saturday, June 25, 2011

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

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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

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Moving to Kansas City!

It's hard to believe that my time in Chicago is coming to a close... The past two years have been amazing with making new friends, being part of an amazing church, getting married to my best friend and enjoying the first year of marriage!

Gabe and I are excited to begin this next chapter in our lives and all that awaits us in Kansas City! After years of being in school, Gabe is finishing up seminary and will finally be doing what he's been training to do as a full time pastor. I'm very excited to be able to work from home with the company I've been working for, doing blogging- which I love. But, I'm also looking forward to pursuing my photography even further and will now have the time to devote more time and energy to this passion!

Photography is something I've enjoyed since my first disposable camera back in middle school. Being able to capture great memories and people in life has been my driving force behind the camera, and I'm looking forward to finally have the time to allow this to be a big part of my daily life!

In visiting Kansas City, I've already had my eye on a few things that I'm ready to go out and shoot. The City Market in the River Market area is a huge farmer's market that features everything from cute bake shops, fresh produce and exotic spices to hand made items from local artisans and live music! I know this will easily become one of my favorite spots to photograph and to spend time this summer!

Kansas City also is know for their fountains. I came to find out, they take second place in the world for cities with the most fountains.... second to Rome! Who knew?! I think doing a series on the fountains would be a fun to do. And I'm sure I'll discover tons of new things that will draw me in! It will be great to meet new people to do family sessions, senior pictures, engagement sessions and whatever else comes my way.

I guess overall I'm just really excited for this new chapter in life and appreciate you taking the time to join me on this journey!

Allie Coyle

Kansas City Photographer