Update on life

Hello, blog world!

I wanted to stop in and give an update on life. I haven’t been around the blog much lately and thought I’d fill you in. Long time blog readers will remember a few years back sometime around 2009 when I had talked about Erik’s dad getting sick. It was a shock to us all, and the starting of some very trying years. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma cancer. Since then, he’s been in and out of the hospital, nursing home, Erik has been his primary caregiver, and for the majority of the time he’s lived with us.

He’s a very strong-willed person and has put up a tremendous fight sticking around longer than expected, but sadly, he’s now ready to go. This past week he’s been in the hospital, has said his good-byes, and is now waiting to be able to end his fight. He’s been in a lot of pain, and is simply tired and ready to be done. 

If you would, please say a prayer for him and our family during this very difficult time. We know it’s for the best and that he will no longer be in pain, but it certainly doesn’t make it any easier to go through. 

I will keep you updated but for now … a few pictures from the past few years …

 

April Food Photos Week 3

Hey all!

It’s been a long week so I haven’t been around as much as planned, but stopping in for …

April Food Photos Week 3

• Day 15: sweetener of choice // Most of the time, organic cane sugar
• Day 16: before & after // Pizza, of course!
• Day 17: favorite knife // Our ceramic Kyocera
• Day 18: raw // Raw broccoli (I know, not too exciting)
• Day 19: sweet tooth // Vanilla chocolate chip cupcakes
• Day 20: favorite cookbook // Basically, Pinterest and blogs!
• Day 21: stovetop // Water boiling for tea

    

happy eating,

Cafe Gratitude KC Opening Celebration

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

My parents came to town this weekend, so we were busy visiting and exploring. One highlight? Hitting up Good Ju Ju’s garage sale on Saturday. Lots of neat things going for great prices. I walked away with a couple purses, but I’m sure I could have found much more. The next weekend highlight was …

Café Gratitude Opening Celebration

Erik and I went to the Café Gratitude opening celebration this past Sunday night (on Earth Day … how fitting). I’ve been really excited for Café Gratitude to be opening and their celebration was definitely a success!

If you haven’t heard of it before, Café Gratitude is a vegan/raw restaurant that has been around for awhile in California. Thanks to Natalie George and her dream of opening one right here in Kansas City, it’s now made it to the wonderful Midwest, and her dreams have come true. They are officially opening to the public on May 1st and are located in the old Lulu’s building at 333 Southwest Boulevard.



There was a line to get in the door …



And inside, it was completely PACKED the whole entire evening!



Throughout the celebration, they were serving hors d'oeuvres, samples and drinks, and The Makepeace Brothers were there playing music.  I wish I could tell you the name of everything they had to sample, but I don’t remember them all! Here’s a selection of what there was to offer, though, in picture format:

   

I’m so excited for Kansas City to have another vegan restaurant, and I’m thrilled to be able to eat there on a regularly opened night so soon!  Check out The Purple Carrot on Facebook for some more photos from the night.

April Food Photos Week 2

Happy [almost] weekend! My parents are in route to KC as I type, so today is pretty much my “Friday”, woo hoo!

Stopping in with a quick April Food Photo recap for Week 2 …

April Food Photos Week 2

• Day 8: family meal // Pasta, Erik and me!
• Day 9: favorite cooking oil // Definitely coconut oil
• Day 10: plates // Love these plates
• Day 11: vegetarian // Pizza, of course!
• Day 12: oldest item in kitchen // Sifter, and ice cream scoop
• Day 13: fast food // Long day + Friday night = Amy’s frozen food, and a cookie
• Day 14: groceries // Thankful for Hyvee’s health food section

   

happy eating,

Coming Up in KC: Cafe Gratitude & Little Freshie

Hey there, blog world!

I feel like a bit of a terrible blogger lately inundated with ONLY March Food Photo and April Food Photo posts with a recipe here and there. In an ideal world, they would be surrounded by lots of recipes and fun Kansas City happenings, but as you may have noticed, it’s not been an ideal world, ha. My internet has been having issues going in and out, so I'm using that as my excuse!

So today, I bring you a little bit more in form of two upcoming Kansas City additions I’m really excited for. First up … Café Gratitude!

Café Gratitude

There’s long been rumors of a Kansas City Café Gratitude and I’m so happy that these rumors are finally a reality! They're having an opening celebration THIS Sunday, on Earth Day. Taken from their official announcement here, these are the details:


"WHO: Friends, Family and Fans of Cafe Gratitude.  If you're excited about CG coming to KC, please join us and bring a friend.
WHEN: Sunday, April 22nd, 2012
TIME: 6:00 pm to 10:00ish pm
WHERE: Cafe Gratitude, 333 Southwest Blvd, KCMO 64108
ATTIRE: Whatever makes you feel happy
WHAT: It's a celebration of a dream come true!
As part of our celebration, the MAKEPEACE BROTHERS will have us dancing, singing and feeling the celebration through their music.  They've toured with Jason Mraz and if you've watched the movie, May I Be Frank, you'll recognize one of the members of the Makepeace Brothers - Conor Gaffney.
Your tastebuds will be happy as you will have a chance to sample some variations of Cafe Gratitude treats.
And of course, we'll have organic wine, beer and lemonade so we can raise our glasses and "CHEERS" to our new beginning!"


Be sure to check out their Facebook page for updates. You better believe that we will be there Sunday night, and I will be reporting back with a blog post!


Who else is going??



Little Freshie

And Little Freshie!

I’m very excited for this one, I anticipate Little Freshie is going to be an awesome addition to the Westside Neighborhood, and housed right next door to Fud, and near other great places such as Westside Local, Blue Bird, and Chez Elle.

I don't have any idea when the official open date it, but I'm hoping it's not too far down the road. If anyone does know, you must fill us all in! 

That's in for now ... until later ...

Vanilla chocolate chip cupcakes

Hello,everyone!

 

Hope you all had a great weekend. I’ve been a complete slacker in the baking world lately, and finally got a chance to make some cupcakes this Sunday. This food blogger needs to get with it!

 

Anyways,I decided on a simple vanilla cake and added some chocolate chips at the end,because chocolate makes everything better. Yes, it does.

 

Now onward …

 

Vanilla chocolate chip cupcakes
** makes 12 cupcakes,adapted from food.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons arrowroot (or cornstarch)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 3/4 cup organic cane sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• Chocolate chips, as desired

 

Instructions:

• Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
• Mix together milk and apple cider vinegar inlarge bowl.
• Beat the milk mixture with coconut oil, sugar,vanilla extract and almond extract until smooth
• Sift in your flour, arrowroot, baking power and baking soda, and salt then mix ‘til smooth.
• Mix in desired amount of chocolate chips (I used about 1/2 cup in mine), and place evenly into lined cupcake pan.
• Bake 25-27 minutes.

Note: I topped my cupcakes with simple icing and some shaved chocolate. Not the prettiest topping, but as delicious as ever!

 

They turned out really moist and delicious!

 

More blog posts coming soon!

 

April Food Photos Week 1

Happy Monday!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Easter weekend! We spent our morning in church, come home and made lunch, relaxed a little bit and cleaned the house.

So to kick off the week, here’s recap of this week’s April Food Photos. In case you’re just tuning in, check out this post for all the details and we’re only a week in, so if you feel so inclined … join us!!

April Food Photos Week 1

• Day 1: morning fuel // toasted rice tea
• Day 2: childhood favorite //  besides sweet potatoes, lemon iced tea from a can
• Day 3: unused appliance // yogurt maker that has never been used
• Day 4: homemade // spicy chickpea burgers with sweet potato fries
• Day 5: kitchen light // my favorite light above our table
• Day 6: local food // excited for the impending summer filled with Fresher Than Fresh snow cones
• Day 7: who’s cooking // Erik balling some pizza dough

    

Have a great week!!

happy eating,