Greek Fest Recap and Giveaway!

Time for some much needed blog catch up!

Despite how many times I have moved (quite a few!) I always seem to forget just how tiring it is until I do it. We’re a week and a half into our move downtown, and we’ve made awesome progress. Boxes are getting unpacked, pictures are being hung, and we’re absolutely loving our closeness to all our favorite spots.  And now … some much needed time dedicated to the blog to give the recap of this year’s Greek Fest!

2012 Annunciation Greek Fest

The 51st annual Annunciation Greek Fest was held the beginning of this month, September 7th, 8th, and 9th at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church on Wornall Road. We were invited to come out, enjoy the fun, and taste the feast!



And feast it was!

The festival was filled with all kinds of delicious Greek food such as souvlaki (chicken or pork shish kabob), pastitsio (macaroni layered with ground beef topped with cheese bechamel sauce), gryos, dolmathes (stuffed grape leaves), spanakopita, pita breads, salads, desserts and much more.

Being our first time attending the Greek Fest, I was impressed with the vast amount of delicious and authentic food options.  It was evident right away this was definitely a foodie festival, and a lot of time in the kitchen goes in to making it what it is!



Along with all the awesome food items, the festival had a stage with all kinds of Greek dancing and entertainment featuring three children’s groups, two teen groups and an adult group, The Olympians, who are Kansas City’s oldest professional Greek Folk Dance Troupe.



And speaking of Greek food … last but not least, a giveaway!

The Purple Carrot was provided the cookbook “From Yaiyia’s Kitchen: A legacy of Greek Foods and Pastries" to give away on the blog! It was compiled by Ladies Philoptochos Society of the Greek Orthodox Church here in Kansas City.

From Yiayia’s (meaning grandmother) Kitchen is full of recipes from appetizers, soups, and salads to pitas by the pan, pastries, sauces, and even lenten dishes. Yum!



How to enter:

Simply leave a comment on the blog and you will be entered. If you want, comment telling me your favorite Greek food! That’s it. Winner will be announced and notified on Monday, October 1st!

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

And we’re making progress with our move! Slowly but surely our new place is coming together and starting to feel like “home”.  Posts about the Greek Fest and Caffeine Crawl are still coming very soon but while I continue to unpack boxes, I’ll leave you with a recipe from a few weeks ago.

They involve not baking, chocolate, peanut butter, and oatmeal. Yes, please!

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies                                        yield: about 1 1/2 dozen
-- adapted from Food Network.com

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups organic cane sugar
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup coconut oil
• 1/3 cup almond milk
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 cups oatmeal
• Waxed paper 

Directions

^{In a heavy saucepan bring to a boil the sugar, cocoa, coconut oil and milk. Let boil for 1 minute then add peanut butter, vanilla and oatmeal. On a sheet of waxed paper, drop mixture by tablespoons, until cooled and hardened.}

^{Note: I stuck mine in the freezer since I was too impatient to wait for them to cool, and we ended up leaving ours there because we loved them chilled so much! Also, feel free to lesson the sugar if you don’t want them to be too sweet, as they do turn out pretty rich}

Hope everyone has a great week … who’s loving fall as much as me?

October Food Photos

Happy Autumn, everyone!

As the weather begins to change, leaves morph into beautiful colors, apples, pumpkin and squash show up in about every meal, and warm apple cider, tea, and coffee are more irresistible than ever, I thought it was a perfect time to bring back Foodie Photo-a-Day! 

So here it is … for the month of October we bring you October Food Photos, autumn edition.



How it works
 
As always, it’s open to anyone who would like to join, and here’s how it works!

• Beginning October 1st, take a food inspired photo corresponding to the date and cue written next to it. Feel free to interpret the cues however you’d like!
• Once photo is taken, post it to whatever outlet you’d like whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Pinterest, a blog, etc and use the hashtag #OctoberFoodPhotos

That’s it! If you have any more questions, ask away. And feel free to share with anyone who might be interested in joining in on the fun!

Who’s in??

We've moved!

Hey everyone! Who’s enjoying this fall weather as much as me?? Yes!

Wanted to stop in and give an update and say HI. I may have appeared to vanish, but I promise, I’m still around!  Aside from a super busy work week, I’ve been missing because WE JUST MOVED!

But don’t worry, not away from Kansas City

We’ve been north of the river for about two years now and beings how we’re pretty much always downtown, our goal has been to end up there. Well … everything finally fell into place, and here we are … by day and by night:

 

Yes, we are so happy to now have the Kauffman as our new view, and good friends right across the hall, with more just down the street! It’s still a bit surreal. We went to dinner at Blue Bird with our new neighbors and for lunch today Erik and I went to Westside Local … okay, nothing out of the ordinary for us except WE WALKED.

I could get used to this.

Lots of things coming up including a recap of the Greek Festival (with giveaway!) and all about Day 1 of this past weekend’s Caffeine Crawl!

Homemade Kettle Potato Chips

We decided the other day to try the homemade version of a classic; the potato chip!  I rarely even eat potato chips, but sometimes it’s just fun to do a little experimenting in the kitchen. And though it took some trial and error, potato chips we made. They’re easy to spruce up by adding herbs and flavorings of your choice, and they’re crunchy as can be!  Here’s the how-to …

 

Homemade Kettle Potato Chips
** Inspired by The Food Lab and Food Network **

Ingredients:

• 6 large potatoes
• Extra virgin olive oil (enough to fill up to about two inches in large stock pot) or if you have a fryer, use it!
• Sea salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Herbs and seasonings of choice (we used some fresh ginger and freshly chopped garlic cloves)

Instructions:

• Wash potatoes in cold water, and thinly slice with a mandolin (or by hand if you do not have one).
• Place sliced potatoes into a bowl full of ice to prevent them from browning and also to remove excess starch.
• Pour olive oil into your stock pot, along with herbs and/or seasonings of choice and on your stovetop, heat to about 325 degrees at medium low heat.
• While oil is heating up, pat dry your sliced potatoes using a kitchen towel or paper towels.
• Fry in small batches until chips are golden and crispy. Drain the chips, dry on a paper towel, and season with salt and pepper. 
   

The chips got great reviews from some taste tester friends, and it was fun to make something out of the ordinary that didn’t involve the usual dinner item or baked good. Yum, yum!

Port Fonda

Time for some Port Fonda!

We had a great weekend enjoying this fabulous almost-fall weather, and part of that weekend including a stop for dinner at Port Fonda, the restaurant.

Port Fonda

In case you’re not familiar, Port Fonda started out as a very popular Mexican food truck housed in an awesome Airstream trailer. As of this summer, it now has a permanent home in Westport at 4141 Pennsylvania Ave (where KC Juice used to be). They even include many local and natural ingredients in their delicious Mexican fare.

This new Westport addition is owned by chef Patrick Ryan and partner Jamie Davila and is open Tuesday through Friday, 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. and Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.



We made the mistake (though we didn’t mind) of going on a Saturday evening during the Westport Air Fair which made them extra packed. We still got a spot outside pretty quickly, which ended up being perfect because of the beautiful weather.

Dinner started with some chips and salsa: "two housemade salsas, fresh, fried, corn tortilla chips".

 

Followed by Queso Fundido Especial for Erik "Green Dirt Farm bossa cheese, chorizo verde, poblana rajas, oregano, corn tortillas"



And Tacos de Calabaza for me "grilled zucchini, squash, sweet potato, salsa roja, queso fresco, cilantro, onion, lime".



Our absolute favorite part of Port Fonda is their décor and overall ambiance. One con to their Saturday night busyness and our sitting outside was that I wasn't able to get interior photos to show you all. We will certainly be back to eat inside another day, and I'm looking forward to trying some other menu items!



Excellent addition to Westport -- an awesome place to check out if you haven't been yet!

Creamy Sweet Potato Soup

As hot summer days begin turning into cooler, cloudier days my thoughts cannot help but turn to fall! It’s the time of year I begin dreaming of all things cool and comfort; sweaters, hot apple cider, crisp dewy mornings, and creamy warm soup.  So even though it’s still not exactly cool here in Kansas City, fall soup just sounded way too good to resist.

(And it was way too good to resist!)

This soup is very simple. Not many ingredients but packed of flavor, and surprisingly filling.  The star of the show is one of my favorites … sweet potatoes.

Creamy Sweet Potato Soup                                                                              Yield: about 6 servings
Ingredients:

• 6 small sweet potatoes
• 2 onions
• 1 stalk celery
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1/3 cup, then 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (alternatively, I’m pretty sure coconut oil would be fabulous too!)
• Water
• Pinch of nutmeg
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

• In a small saucepan, let about 1/3 cup oil come to medium heat.
• Finely chop 2 onions, 2 cloves of garlic and a stalk of celery. Add to hot oil. Reduce heat to medium low and caramelize for about 25 minutes, salting lightly.
• Peel and chop sweet potatoes into cube sizes. Bring large pot of water to boil. Add salt and 2 tablespoons of oil into water along with sweet potatoes. Boil until cubes are tender.
• Strain the sweet potatoes and put into high powered blender or food processor along with 4 cups water and rest of oil.  Once finely blended, pour back into pot and add  3 more cups of water or to desired thickness.
• Mix in caramelized onions, garlic and celery. Whisk together for a few minutes until soup begins to coagulate. Add pinch of nutmeg, and salt and pepper, to taste.

Have a great weekend!

51st Annual Greek Festival

Just stopping in to tell all you Kansas City folks about an event coming up THIS weekend, The Greek Fest!

51st Annual Greek Fest

The information is as follows:

Date: September 7, 8, and 9th
Time: Friday 6-10, Saturday Noon-10, Sunday Noon-6  
Location: The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church at 12001 Wornall Rd.

Entertainment and parking is FREE.




For more information, check out their website!

Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies

A recipe?

What?

Yes. A recipe. It’s been awhile, I know. But finally, I had time to get some baking done. 

We’ve been on a serious chocolate and banana kick lately. It all started with chocolate covered banana pops. And then some more. And then some more. We literally haven’t gone more than a few days without some in the freezer the past few months.  I’m not complaining. (Unless Erik eats the last one. Then I might complain).

Sometimes there’s just nothing better than the wonderful combination of chocolate and bananas. Add some flour, sugar, and a mixer and you’ve got some delicious cookies! So here we go.

Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies

* Makes about a dozen medium-sized cookies 
Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter (To make them vegan, I used Earth Balance organic soy free coconut spread)
• 1 cup organic cane sugar
• 1 large ripe banana
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons almond milk (or any other milk)
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:

• Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
• Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
• In a mixer (or using hand mixer) cream together the butter and sugar. Then add your ripe banana, vanilla, milk, and beat.
• Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet, continuing to beat until just mixed.
• Fold in chocolate chips.
• Place on a cookie sheet (I cover my cookie sheet with parchment paper to make for easier clean-up), press down, and bake for about 10 minutes or until golden.

Pizzeria Locale

And finally, the last installment of  The Great Neapolitan Pizza Quest (at least for now)! This last stop wasn’t originally planned but on our trek back to KC, we happened to be in Boulder and we couldn’t pass up one more pizza stop. So without further ado …



Pizzeria Locale

Pizzeria Locale is located downtown Boulder at 1730 Pearl Street. The first thing we immediately loved when walking into Pizzeria Locale was their décor.  (Due to my lack of energy and motivation from so much time on the road, unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures besides oven and pizza).  But some things we really liked were the subway tiling behind the oven, the large area of bar seating in view of the pizza making, the simple clean color scheme, and the great attention to detail.

They were really busy upon arriving and thankfully, we got the last two seats right in front of the oven – our favorite place to be!

 

As if you haven’t guessed it by now … we got a marinara and margherita pizza. Cook time at Pizzeria Locale was approximately 87 seconds.



The Quick Stats (Erik’s notes)

Oven: Stefano Ferrera

Cook Time: Approximately 87 seconds.

Dough: This dough had a high hydration accompanied by a cold rise method; looked cold and a bit stiff to the touch.

Taste: We found that the crust at Pizzeria Locale was just slightly underdone compared to the other Neapolitan pizzerias we visited on our trip, and would have preferred a bit more char. (I must add, though, we’re likely the only ones who have ever asked for more char, ha). The ingredients were still all delicious!



We’re happy we were able to make Pizzeria Locale our last stop on The Great Neapolitan Pizza Quest!

Thanks for following along, and hopefully you will be seeing more Neapolitan pizza very soon one way or another