Dining with the Mouse

Liberty Tree Tavern - New England Pot Roast

2012-01-19T11:12:00.000-08:00

The Liberty Tree Tavern is a wonderful restaurant in the Liberty Square "land" of the Magic Kingdom. I really like the colonial atmosphere and I have always had a good meal there. The Liberty Tree Tavern serves a la carte lunch options and a "family style" turkey meal at dinner. I prefer the options at lunch and I enjoyed the pot roast lunch entree a few years back.

Here is the menu description of the pot roast:

New England Pot Roast... Our Tavern Keeper's Favorite - Braised beef in a Cabernet wine and mushroom sauce served with mashed potatoes and garden vegetables - $17.99

Sound like a good choice for dinner on a cold Michigan winter night, right? There are a few different recipes for the Liberty Tree Pot Roast floating around on the web and in the Disney cookbooks... and I chose to follow the New England Pot Roast recipe in the Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs because I only had about 2 1/2 pounds of meat (some recipes called for 6 pounds). I did tweak the recipe a bit, but I will explain that as I go.

Here is a picture of all the ingredients needed:

First of all, I heated 1/4 cup of vegetable oil in my pot. Then I seared the meat on all sides. I used about 2 1/2 pounds of chuck roast. The recipe calls for 3 pounds boneless beef shoulder roast.

Then I took the meat out of the pot and set it aside. I added 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter to the pan and let it melt. Make sure you keep all of those brown bits in the pot... it gives the sauce great flavor.

Next, I added 2 cups large diced carrots, 2 cups large diced celery and 2 cups large diced onions.

Then I added 1/4 cup chopped garlic. Normally I would recommend chopping it fresh, but someone had brought this jarred garlic over to my house the other day, so I used it.

Now, this is one place where I ventured away from the printed recipe. The entree description mentions a mushroom sauce and there are no mushrooms to be found in this recipe (although they are in some of the other versions of this recipe). Since I had mushrooms on hand, I added them. Just one package of sliced white mushrooms. I actually wish I had added more because they were very good in the sauce.

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme went in next.

Saute until the veggies are tender and then stir in one cup of flour.

Cook the flour a bit so that your dish doesn't taste like paste. Add 1 cup wine (the entree description mentions a Cabernet sauce, so I used a Cabernet). Don't worry about the funny purple color the dish has... it comes out fine :)

Stir in 6 cups of beef broth.

At this point you can add the beef back into the pot and cover it.

Do you like my Le Creuset dutch oven? It was very favorite wedding present last year (I shouldn't play favorites but I put it on my registry as a "dream" present and I couldn't believe someone actually got it for me.... I mean... us). I call it "my precious." Unfortunately, "my precious" is really, really heavy... especially when filled with pot roast and gravy. I didn't want to deal with hoisting it in and out of my small oven, so I cooked the pot roast on the stove top (low flame). If you want to put in the oven, the recipe calls for 350 degrees.

The recipe says to cook the roast for 45-60 minutes, which is crazy-talk! There is no way pot roast can get tender in 45 minutes. I cooked mine for almost 3 hours and it could have gone longer.

Here is the finished pot roast...

I sliced the meat and served it on top of mashed potatoes.

The verdict? It was really good and my husband approved. The meat was tender and the gravy was full of flavor. The recipe made an enormous amount of gravy (even if I had doubled the amount of meat), but don't throw it away after eating the pot roast. I saved the gravy and used it to make a shepherd's pie the next night. I browned up some ground turkey (you can use beef if you like), then I mixed in the pot roast gravy and vegetables. I put it in a casserole dish, covered it with some mashed sweet potatoes and some cheddar cheese. I popped it in the over to brown the potatoes a bit and melt the cheese. It was yummy way to use the leftovers.

The pot roast was a success.. the recipe was easy and the results were close to what the Liberty Tree Tavern served. It is just too bad that I wasn't able to go for a ride on the Haunted Mansion after this meal!

Is the Liberty Tree Tavern New England Pot Roast a go-to of yours or do you choose a different menu item when visiting the restaurant? I like several items on the menu so I will be cooking some of the other Liberty Tree Tavern dishes for this blog in the future. What's your favorite?

Crystal Palace - Puffed French Toast

2012-01-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

This is one of my all-time favorite foods... the Puffed French Toast from the Crystal Palace restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. I remember going to the restaurant as a child when it was a cafeteria-style establishment. You would take a tray and pick up what ever you wanted along the line and pay at the end. The Puffed French Toast was entree-sized and absolutely delicious. There were no characters to entertain us while dining back then, just the beautiful interior and the small birds that would fly around inside.

These days the Crystal Palace is a character meal which features Winnie the Pooh and "friends." I still enjoy the restaurant and it probably is my favorite character meal (although it does get LOUD in there!). It is a lot of fun and the food is good. They still serve the Puffed French Toast, but it has been miniaturized and you can find it at the "children's buffet" (a shorter buffet table set up for the little ones to serve themselves). I feel no guilt or embarrassment as I take food from the kids' table each time I visit!

A good tip for having breakfast at the Crystal Palace is to make your reservation for the earliest opening of the day, before the park opens to the public. This way, you can get some great family photos in front of the castle with almost no one else on Main Street. Also, you will have had a great breakfast and already be in the park when the "rope drops" at the Magic Kingdom.

Ok... on to the food! I made this as a special treat for New Year's Day. Here is a pic of the ingredients...

Yes, that is an episode of Friends on my tv in the background. I can't resist a good Friends repeat!

First, I cut the bread into thick slices. The recipe calls for Texas Toast, but my grocery store didn't have any (or even any bakery white bread that I could cut into think slices), so I bought a loaf of Italian bread. I knew I was using it for french toast, so I bought it from the day-old bread section since I was going to want it a bit stale anyway. Stale bread soaks in the custard much better and won't fall apart like fresh bread in the egg mixture. I didn't cut the crusts off, but it might be a good idea if your bread has a tough, crispy crust.

In a large bowl, I mixed together 2 eggs, 2 1/2 Tbs sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

Then I added 2 cups milk. Next, I gradually whisked in 1 cup of flour and 2 1/2 tsp baking powder. Mix until it is smooth.

In a shallow dish, combine 4 tsp cinnamon with 3/4 cup sugar and set aside.

Place a few slices of bread in the custard and let it sit a few minutes to soak up some creamy goodness. Meanwhile, heat up about 1 inch of vegetable oil in a pan (I used my cast iron skillet).

When you think that your oil is hot enough, take your soaked bread pieces (let any excess batter drip off) and carefully place them in the hot oil. I used tongs to make sure didn't splatter any oil and they made it easy to carefully flip them over. Only cook a few pieces at a time... if you crowd the pan the oil will drop in temperature.

After a few minutes the bottoms should be golden brown and you can flip them over to cook on the other side.

When they are golden brown on both sides, place them on a plate covered in paper towels (which will soak up some of the excess oil).

While they are still warm, coat them in the cinnamon sugar topping. Really press them into the sugar and get a nice coating... this is the good stuff! Get the sides too. I did this with my hands, but since they are pretty warm you may want to use forks or spoons to coat them.

And that's pretty much it! If you are feeding a crowd and want to serve all the pieces at once you may want to keep the french toast warm in a low oven while you continue cooking.

Here is the final result!

Let's just go crazy and add butter and maple syrup.

This certainly doesn't need syrup, but I love the thick, super-sweet magic that happens when that cinnamon coating mixes with the maple syrup. I guess it brings back those childhood Disney memories. My husband prefers it without butter and syrup and says it tastes like a yummy churro.

I think Piglet (with my Mickey doll) would approve!

Hollywood & Vine - Root Beer Bourbon Sweet Potatoes

2011-12-29T07:05:00.000-08:00

I am so glad to be back to blogging after a loooong hiatus. The day after my last blog post I took a home pregnancy test and got a big positive! That was great, but it wasn't long before any mention of food made me ill, and I certainly wasn't able to cook. Honestly, food lost all appeal for the majority of my pregnancy and then I was too tired to cook after having the baby. Now my daughter is almost 6 months old and I feel like life is returning to normal... kind of!

I decided to make these Root Beer Bourbon Sweet Potatoes because I had a ton of sweet potatoes left over from holiday cooking. Actually, I had all the ingredients on hand except for the bourbon. These sweet potatoes hail from the Hollywood & Vine restaurant in Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park. I have only gone to the character breakfast at Hollywood & Vine, so I have not tried the "real deal" version of the sweet potatoes in the park. I wonder how these measure up?

This recipe was fairly easy. Here are the ingredients:

The most time-consuming part of the recipe is peeling the sweet potatoes. I peeled them and cut them into 1/2" rounds (approximately). I then put them into a 9x11 inch baking dish and put them into a 350 degree oven.

Next, I put all of the sauce ingredients into a pan. 4 cups of root beer, 2 Tbs lemon juice, 1 cup bourbon, a pinch of ground cloves, 3/4 cup brown sugar, and a stick of butter (1/4 pound).

I brought this mixture to a boil and then turned the heat down to a simmer. The sauce simmered for about 20 minutes.

In a small bowl I mixed 6 Tbs of cornstarch into 3/4 cup water. Be sure to whisk this so there are no lumps. Whisk this mixture into the root beer sauce and stir until it thickens.

Once the sweet potatoes were tender (took about an hour in my oven), I tossed them in some of the sauce. This recipe made a TON of sauce... way too much for my 3 pounds of sweet potatoes... so just add the amount that looks good to you.

The verdict: These potatoes were ok. I think that I personally didn't like the round cuts of potato. They took a long time to cook and were still kind of tough around the edges. I think cubes of potato would work better, or just mash them and add some of the sauce. The sauce was very mild.... not bad, but I don't know if it added enough flavor to make it worth the effort.

As far as price goes, the ingredients I used probably came to about $10... $5 going towards the bourbon. Not too bad considering it would feed at least 6 people with a ton of sauce to spare (I froze the extra in some ziploc baggies). The dinner buffet at Hollywood & Vine is $35/adult so it makes sense to make these at home if you are only craving sweet potatoes!

I am so glad to be back to cooking and blogging. I think the next blog will be one of my all-time favorite Disney foods... the Crystal Palace Puffed French Toast. I don't know how I will ever lose all my pregnancy weight but the French Toast is definitely worth the splurge!

Boardwalk Brownies

2010-10-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

Wow... this year has been crazy and it has made it hard to keep up with my adventures in cooking. First of all, I moved into a place that has a teeny, tiny kitchen... so it is hard to keep organized and find counter space to actually cook. Also, I got married in late August (yay!), so I was dieting most of the summer. It is hard to lose weight for your wedding and also make Disney treats!

But now that things have settled down, it is time to dive into the thousands of recipes (literally) I have on my "have to try" wish list. The hard thing is choosing what delectable treat to do next.

Well, I had a little bit of help from my in-laws, since they requested brownies for their birthdays. The first birthday was my Step-Father-In-Law's, and he wanted chocolate brownies with frosting. After perusing my recipes, I found the Boardwalk Brownie recipe (from Disney's Boardwalk Bakery) and then I added a frosting that I got from the Pioneer Woman (she has a great cookbook and website).

Here are the ingredients for the brownies...

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. The original recipe states 330 degrees, which seems weird... so we are going with 350!

Start with 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed, 1 1/8 cups cocoa powder and 1 cup light corn syrup (yep, there's a *little* bit of sugar in this recipe!)

Cream the ingredients together. I used my handy-dandy Kitchen Aid Mixer.

Then add 6 eggs, one at a time...

You can see what the dough looked like before the eggs, on the top of the mixing paddle...and the creamy goodness that appeared when I mixed in the eggs on the bottom of the paddle.

Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl and add 6 Tablespoons canola oil. Mix.

Next, add 2 cups all-purpose flour. Mix until it is all incorporated.

Then line a 9x13 inch baking pan with parchment. This is something I have never done before and it made life so much easier! It was so easy to life the brownies out of the pan after they had cooled. Make sure that you leave yourself extra parchment on two sides, to use as handles when you need to pull the brownies out.

Pour in the chocolate-y goodness...

Spread it out as evenly as you can...

Then put the brownies in the oven for at least 35-40 minutes. Since everyone's oven is different, keep checking them every 5 minutes at the 35 minute mark. The original recipe says to bake for 15 minutes and that is just crazy talk. It must be a typo and they probably meant 45 minutes.

Ok, when the brownies are almost done, start preparing the frosting. Now, the Disney recipe didn't include a frosting, but frosting had been requested, so I wasn't going to disappoint! This is a recipe for an icing that went on a chocolate sheet cake, so I thought it would work.

First, melt 1 3/4 sticks of butter in a pan.

Then add 4 Tablespoons cocoa powder.

Stir and simmer, and then turn off the heat.

Add 6 Tablespoons milk (I used skim since that is what I had in the house) and 1 tsp vanilla.

Stir and then add just about 1 pound of powdered sugar.

Stir...

I decided to switch over to a whisk to take care of any lumps...

Then admire your baked brownies...

...and smooth the frosting over the warm brownies.

Add decorations (candies, nuts) if you like. I put some little Mickey Mouse sprinkles on top.

The frosting did wrinkle a bit as it cooled, but it didn't make it taste bad :)

Side view... after pulling the brownies out of the pan with the parchment (this helped sooo much!)

I should have let them cool some more before cutting them, but I was in a rush to bring them to the birthday party, so they don't look as pretty as they might have.

A piece of frosted Boardwalk Brownie...

As you can see, the texture of these brownies were very, very fudge-y and dense. In a good way.

So, that is my experience making the Boardwalk Brownies. They were delicious and were a hit at the birthday party. The great thing about both of these recipes, but especially the brownies, is that it really only requires pantry items. I always have cocoa in the house, and this is a great way to turn it into a decadant treat, when you absolutely have to have something chocolate-y!

When I visit Walt Disney World in November, I will have to buy one of the brownies from the Boardwalk Bakery and see how close my brownies are to the original.

Disney's California Food & Wine Festival

2010-06-20T17:54:00.000-07:00

Here is my "better late than never" blog post on the day I spent at Disney's California Food & Wine Festival way back April. I had a great time attending a few of the culinary and wine demonstrations.

I was a bit concerned that the demonstration area looked a little small... and I wondered how long I would have to wait in line if I wanted to make sure I got a seat. But a kind Cast Member said that if I got in line about 45 minutes early, I would be okay. That didn't seem too bad to me.

The first demonstration of the day was by Bret Thompson, of MILK cafe/bakeshop in Los Angeles. I hadn't heard of him or his shop at the time, but oddly enough I just saw him on the Food Network today competing on "Cupcake Wars". So, maybe he is a culinary star in the making.

Along with his Executive Pastry Chef, David Baker (yes, that's his real name), he proceded to make Banana Dulce de Leche Ice Cream with Almonds and a topping of Banana's Foster.

His easy receipe for making Dulce de Leche is to just take a can of condensed milk and slowly simmer the unopened can in water for 2 - 2 1/2 hours. Cool the can completely and then when you open it you will have a lovely caramel. I remember a friend's mother doing this when I was a kid, and I couldn't believe that the condensed milk could transform into something so delicious. I haven't done it myself, but I have to say I am going to have to give it a try.

Along with the ice cream, the duo also made Anzac cookies, which originate from Austrailia. They are basically an oatmeal and coconut cookie with macadamia nuts.

I was pleasantly surprised by the generous size of the food sample (and the bottle of water Disney provided each audience member). The quality of the food was very good, although I am not a huge fan of banana or coconut. So, neither the ice cream, nor the cookie would be something I would make myself. The ice cream was very, very banana-y.. so, not a winner for me. However, the cookie was delicious. I couldn't really taste the coconut (a plus to me) and it was crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Yum!

Unfortunately, Bret did not have printed recipes to give out to the audience. Instead, he directed everyone to his cafe's website. However when I went to the the site, I could not find the recipes for these particular treats. There is a recipe for a delicious-sounding double chocolate cookie... which I think I might like better, so I will not complain too much. The website is http://www.themilkshop.com/ and the recipe is under the Press section.

Overall, the presentation was entertaining, but since it was hard to follow the actual cooking... and there was no recipe to take home, it wasn't as informative as I was hoping.

The second presentation of the day was by Greg Stillman, who is Executive Chef of Naples Restaurant in Downtown Disney and previously was the chef at Catal (also in Downtown Disney). I had been hoping for some Italian cooking, but instead Greg decided to present a Spanish dish... Gazpacho.

Greg suggested using a Vita-Prep blender, as he says it is THE BEST. Well, I hope it is, because I researched it and they run $500 and up. Yikes! I think I will stick with my food processor.

For the Gazpacho, he rough chopped in the blender:

1/2 red onion

a cucumber (the regular skin kind, not the english kind... he feels there is more flavor)

2 plum tomatoes

extra virgin olive oil

2 red bell peppers

a serrano pepper (remove the ribs and seeds for less heat)

smoked paprika

apple cider vinegar

salt and pepper

He combined all of the ingredients into the blender and then chilled the gazpacho... but he did not strain it. He really likes to have the texture of some of the vegetable pieces and not have it completely smooth. His recipe is also different from a lot of gazpachos because it is more vegetable (red peppers, cucumbers, etc.) and less tomato.

Chef Stillman also added a shrimp sauted with harissa as a lovely accent to the soup. The whole dish was beautiful and delicious.

I really enjoyed the smokey flavor of the gazpacho and the fact that I could really taste the red bell pepper and cucumber. It was refreshing and had a bit of a kick to it. The shrimp didn't have a pronounced flavor from the harissa, but it was cooked nicely and went well with the soup. Chef Stillman suggested that a nice dab of avocado would be great on top as well ... and I agree. That would put it over-the-top.

Well, since this is getting long, I will end this post here. I will continue with my "coverage" of the food & wine festival (including a wine seminar) in my next post.

Chilled Strawberry Soup from 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian Resort

2010-03-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

I must disclose that I don't remember ever eating the Strawberry Soup from the buffets at 1900 Park Fare, but when flipping through my Disney recipes I thought that it sounded interesting. Some people might think it sounds weird... like my sweet fiance who didn't complain when he thought that the soup was what we were having for dinner... not dessert. He also thought it was going to be warm... ewww. He was very relieved to learn that it would be cold and sweet... and we would have something more substantial for our entree.

Another reason I decided to make this soup is that I bought a HUGE bag of frozen strawberries from Costco, with the best intention of making heathy smoothies for breakfast every day. Well, that didn't happen. So these strawberries had been taking up half of my freezer for a long time. Time to use them up!

The recipe is so very easy. I defrosted 2 1/2 pounds of frozen strawberries and placed them in a large bowl. In the bowl I added 2 cups of heavy cream... this is not a light recipe :)

Next, add in 1/4 cup sour cream...

... and a 1/3 cup plain yogurt (I used greek yogurt)

Then, 1 Tablespoon of sugar, if your strawberries need it.

As you can see, this is super simple. Just adding ingredients to one bowl. Next, take a hand blender (or put all of this into a regular blender) and blend to a smooth consistency.

Isn't it a pretty pink?

After chilling for an hour or so, I served it in bowls with a dollop of yogurt. Those more talented than me might be able to dollop the yogurt in the form of a mickey head :)

So that's it! My review of the soup is that it was good, but not great. The creaminess was delicious, but it wasn't sweet enough for me (and I added extra sugar). I think that it might have been better if I had used strawberries that were frozen in syrup and then used that syrup in the soup. My Costco strawberries did not have any added sugar.

This made such a large vat of soup that I ended up making strawberry ice cream the next day... by using the soup as my ice cream base in my ice cream maker. That turned out well, although even with more sugar added, just not sweet enough.

Nevertheless, this recipe was very simple and can be easily adapted for different tastes. I bet it would still be good if someone wanted to make a lighter version with half and half and reduced fat sour cream and yogurt. I am eager to try this soup at 1900 Park Fare the next time I visit WDW, and see if I came close to the original.

Disneyland food pics and reviews...

2010-02-22T18:28:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone...

It has been awhile since I have posted, the holidays got the best of me... but that doesn't mean I haven't been visiting Disneyland (and eating!).

I am going to post a few pics of items I ate at the Disneyland Resort over the past few months and I am going to try to be better about keep it up-to-date.

October 23, 2009... I told you I have to go back a ways :)

I decided to have lunch at one of my favorite sitdown spots in Disneyland, Cafe Orleans. I love sitting outside and watching the world go by. Also, I always have received excellent service. I tend to judge good service in a restaurant based on how many times I get my Diet Coke refilled and let's just say I almost float away when I leave this restaurant!

I really wanted the Pommes Frites (French fries covered in garlic and parmesan cheese) even though I was eating alone and I wouldn't be able to finish them... they are soooooo good.

And because I felt odd just eating fries for lunch, I also ordered a cup of the New Orleans Gumbo.

This was very good as well. Thick and hearty, with a little bit of a kick to it. A winner.

Being right before Halloween, I also took a few shots of the cute holiday food items.

I think there was some sort of chocolate mousse inside the Mickey mug, but I did not purchase it. Looking at how cute that mug is, now I wish I had! There are Nutty Caramel Apple Cupcakes on the left.

November 6, 2009:

This was a decidedly non-gourmet day in the park. In a rush to find get something for lunch, I popped into Redd Rockett's Pizza Port. In the past I have purchased the spaghetti with ginormous meatballs or a pizza slice, but they have changed over to mini meatballs... and they didn't look good to me. I ordered something different and got the Chicken Fusilli in a cream sauce. Pardon the bad picture taken with my cell phone:

The flavor was alright... cheesy and a nice garlic taste, but the texture was a little goopy for me. It filled me up, it fact it was way too much food for one person, but I wasn't really satisfied.

November 13, 2009

This week I was in the mood to try the Plaza Inn for lunch. I had taken my nephew to the Minnie & Friends character breakfast a few times (which is GREAT), but hadn't tried lunch or dinner here in quite a while. I couldn't resist the fried chicken platter and am so glad I ordered it.

The chicken was delicously crispy and a huge portion. Easily splitable. The biscuit and mashed potatoes were also good, but the green beans were a little soggy. Oh well, who wants to eat grean beans when you have all that chicken? Another good thing about this restaurant is that it feels like a table service restaurant... nice decor and they clear your trays for you...but it is cafeteria style. They also allow you to refill your soda at the soda fountains, which I consider a "table service" benefit.

At the end of the day I also bought a really, really cute caramel apple at the Candy Palace on Main Streeet.

This is my snowman caramel apple :)

It was covered in caramel and then white chocolate. With candy Mickey ears, chocolate chip eyes, candy nose, m&m buttons and a sour candy strip for the scarf. It was also beautifully dusted with some sparkle-y sugar. Almost too pretty to cut... almost...

Awww.... he was delicious!

Ok.... lets move on to November 19, 2009:
It was blissfully uncrowded this day and on a whim I approached the podium at the Blue Bayou to see if they were taking walk-ups. They were! I hadn't been to this restaurant in a while because it is on the pricey side, even for Disney, and the last time I went I wasn't impressed. But, I was in the mood to give it another shot.

The interior of this restaurant is dark and romantic with the lanterns strung across the room. It is really nice to get a table next to the "water" (the Pirates of the Caribbean ride), however, I didn't ask for... or get one of these prized tables. When I first arrived, there was a guitarist performing, which was lovely, but he stopped playing soon after I sat down and he didn't come back (he is up on the balcony in this photo).

Here is the menu...

Originally, I had wanted to order the crab cakes, but I asked the waiter if the restaurant just ordered frozen crab cakes... and... they do. This was disappointing because for $31.00 (for lunch!), I think that they should be making fresh crab cakes. Moving on... I have had the monte cristo sandwich both here and at Cafe Orleans before, so it wasn't a bold move, but I figured I couldn't go wrong with that choice.

They started me out with some delicious bread. I knew I was going to be too full for my entree, but I couldn't resist.

And the cutest butter (Hidden Mickey!)...

Each meal includes a cup of gumbo or salad, and I chose the gumbo. It was very good.

Then my monte cristo sandwich arrive, with a side of scalloped potatoes and some side vegetables.

This monte cristo was nicely crispy on the outside, yet tender on the inside. I recently had the monte cristo at Cafe Orleans, and this one was much better. The Cafe Orleans version was more doughy. The potatoes were decadent... buttery and cheesy. And the veggies weren't bad either. Good thing that is is so dark inside the restaurant... If you can't see the food, it doesn't have any calories, right?

Overall, it was a good experience.

December 9, 2009:

For this trip, I arrived in the evening because I wanted to watch (and videotape) the Holiday fireworks show. I walked throught the gates of Disneyland just as the Holiday parade was starting on Main Street, so I had to make my way through the crowds to get to the Plaza Inn for dinner. Everyone was watching the parade, so it was uncrowded inside the restaurant.

I had just gotten engaged this week, and I know that I am going to want to lose weight for our wedding in 2010. I don't know why I think I can "diet" at Disneyland (not that they don't have any healthy options... they do.. I just don't have the willpower), but this night I was looking for a salad. The Plaza Inn has a cobb salad on the menu which looked pretty healthy until the girl mixing the salad put a ton of salad dressing on it. Oh well.

The salad was freshly mixed when I ordered it and came with a soft, yummy breadstick. It was a delicious meal... not as diet-friendly as I had been hoping for, but very good.

December 18, 2009:

On this visit I decided that I just wanted snacks instead of full meals. I had just seen a holiday special on the Food Network with Guy Fieri in Disneyland and his son had a peppermint ice cream in a waffle cone that looked fantastic. THAT was what I was in the mood for.

Okay. On that delicious note, I am going to end this looooong blog post. I will pick up my eating adventures in my next post :)

Raglan Road - Dalkey Duo

2009-11-22T10:51:00.000-08:00

This week's Sunday paper had a coupon for cocktail sausages, so of course my mind immediately went to the Dalkey Duo recipe I had been wanting to try. I have dined at the Raglan Road restaurant at Walt Disney World's Downtown Disney area twice... and I have had the Dalkey Duo... twice :)

The restaurant has a lovely Irish Pub theme and if you dine late enough, there is live Irish music and Irish dancing. It is very entertaining. The food is good too.

I love trying different kinds of beer, so it is nice that they offer a "flight" of beers (actually, several different flights). That beer tastes mighty fine with this deep fried sausage appetizer.

Here is the Dalkey Duo in all of its glory:

I love how they present some of the sausages on the forks, and then put extras on the side in a bowl. It is hard to see here, but there is a little container of mustard sauce in between the bowl and the forks.

I wondered what the word Dalkey meant... was it a type of cooking method or something? Nope. It is a town in Ireland.

So, having gotten over my deep-frying fear when I made the Honey Sesame Chicken, I was eager to try this at home. It is really quite a simple recipe. Please note that yesterday I finally ordered a new camera, so the next update of this blog will have gorgeous pictures (I'm sure!). For this one we will have suffer through with shots from my cell phone camera.

First, I began heating my canola oil in a big pot. This should get to about 350 degrees before you start cooking the sausages and it takes a bit of time to get to temperature.

Then, I blended 1 3/4 cups regular flour with 1/2 cup corn flour (masa).

Here is the flour:

And the masa:

Mixed together:

The I add the wet ingredients, 1 1/4 T of whole grain mustard mixed with 1/2 cup of lager. At least, that is what the recipe said to do.

Unfortunately, that small amount of liquid mixed with the flour resulted in a paste-like consistancy. Not what we are looking for in a batter. So, I ended up pouring about 12 oz of lager into the flour ... just enough to get a pancake-like batter.

I added a bit of salt and pepper and then started preparing the sausages. I used Hillshire Farms Lit'l Smokies beef smoked sausages for this recipe (Because that's what my coupon was for!). The prep couldn't be more simple. Just coat the sausages with flour.

Then you shake off the excess flour, coat in the batter, and (carefully) place the sausages in the hot oil.

While these sizzled away, I made the delicious mustard dipping sauce. Now, the name of the dipping sauce is kind of misleading, because the sauce has more mayo in it than mustard, but I guess mayonaisse dipping sauce doesn't sound as appealing. So, I put 10 T of (light) mayo (ha!) and 7 1/2 T of whole grain mustard in a bowl. Added the juice of half a lime, a bit of salt and pepper and stirred it up. Yum.

At this point, the sausages had browned up and I drained them on a plate lined with paper towels.

Then they were ready to eat!

I stuck them on forks as an homage to the restaurant's presentation.

So, how did they turn out? They were pretty good. The batter seemed a little bit soft, so maybe I should have left them in the oil a tad longer. Also, the sausages I used were small in comparison to the thickness of the batter. I think that it would have been more like the original if I had used bigger cocktail sausages.

However, they did taste good and the dipping sauce was delicious. It makes a lot of sausages, and even with just a salad on the side this was a pretty decadent meal.

We had a lot of sausages leftover, so I put the extras in a baggie with a paper towel (to absorb any moisture). Two nights later I decided to heat them up in the oven... on a metal cooling rack placed over a baking sheet... so the heat goes all the way around the sausages. And guess what. They tasted better than the first night. They were nice and crispy and the dipping sauce benefited from having time for the flavors to meld in the refridgerator.

So, knowing how well they reheated, I think that this is a great dish to serve at a party. Do the bulk of the work the day before, then just reheat on the baking sheet/cooling rack combo for about 10 minutes before you want to serve. Perfect!

Raglan Road charges about $10.50 for this appetizer meant for two. After buying the sausages, mustard and beer I probably spent about $5 (plus pantry items). Although I actually had to spend more money since I had to buy a 6 pack of beer. So, yes mine was cheaper, and I had more sausages, but the restaurant price isn't bad. And the beer didn't go to waste :)

Oh, and a comment about the beer I used. I probably should have been authentic and used an Irish lager, but I found Karl Strauss lager in my supermarket and I definitely wanted to buy it. It is a San Diego beer that is served at Disney's California Adventure park and I have always enjoyed it there. It is really good.

If you would like to try the Dalkey Duo at Raglan Road at Walt Disney World, or taste a refreshing Karl Strauss beer at Disney's California Adventure, contact me at http://www.kingdomplanners.com/ and I can make it happen :)

Susan

Eating around the Disneyland Resort...

2009-11-14T20:08:00.000-08:00

This is a different kind of post for me. Instead of cooking a Disney recipe, I am going to review some of the foods I have eaten at Disneyland/California Adventure over the past few weeks.

Part of my job as a Disney Travel Consultant is of to be informed about all things Disney. Since I live fairly close to Disneyland and California Adventure, I go to the parks once a week to research all aspects of the resort, and to do Tweets for our Twitter friends. It is really fun, and I have the ambitious goal to try everything that the Disneyland Resort has to offer... including the food.

Everyone has their favorite Disney treats, for example, I LOVE Dole Whip Floats. I could eat them every week, but I have decided that I need to branch out and try new foods each visit.

I will start with with my visit on October 9th. Disneyland was very crowded this day, so I decided that I would just grab lunch from a food cart. Unbelievably, I had never had one of those huge turkey legs... and I knew that people raved about them. From the number of people I saw walking around with those Flintstone-era turkey legs, I figured they had to be good. So, I ordered one from a cart near Big Thunder Mountain with a bottle of Diet Coke and I sat down to a wonderful view of the Rivers of America.

Here is the leg:

And the view:

The turkey leg was very good. The sticky coating took me by surprise, but it was very flavorful and there was a ton of meat on the leg. Too much for one person, really. I couldn't finish it.

That is one of the issues I do run into at Disney... too much food for a single person. Since I often do my weekly visits by myself, I end up wasting food or just stuffing myself. It is nice to have a friend to split items, and then you aren't too full to eat a fun snack later :)

Later on I did find more room in my tummy for my favorite snack... Dole Whip Float! Yes, I know I said that I was branching out, but I figure that I can fit one Dole Whip Float into my rotation. It will be my last for awhile. The Tiki Juice Bar was so busy that the Dole Whip line looked like it should be for a ride. Then, when I got up to the counter I had to wait another 5 minutes because the machine had overheated! I finally got my Float and I was happy.

I love pineapple, so I love the intensely sweet juice with the more subtle pineapple flavor of the ice cream. The texture is very light and smooth and the whole thing is just very refreshing. Thumbs up!

50s Prime Time Cafe S'mores

2009-11-10T09:41:00.000-08:00

My sister and I had these S'mores when we visited Walt Disney World last May. They are available at the 50s Prime Time Cafe, but since we didn't have a reservation we decided to order them from the adjacent bar, the Tune-In Lounge. It is great to know that if you can get a seat at the bar you can order from the full Prime Time menu. Our bartenter/waitress was really nice too.

We each had one of their fancy cocktails and shared this dessert. Too bad that the S'mores looked so good that we just started eating right away and forgot to take a picture. Here is a picture of our drinks... Dad's Electric Lemonade and Grandma's Picnic Punch.

I love the glowing ice cubes!

So, the recipe for the S'mores is really easy. So easy that I can't believe that I haven't made them in my kitchen before.

First I placed graham crackers (I used lowfat.. which is so funny since these things drip with chocolate, but every little bit helps) on the covered broiler pan. Topped the crackers with Hershey chocolate bar squares (a good use for my leftover Halloween chocolate bars). Then big marshmellows.

I then put them under the broiler and kept a close watch on them. They browned up in less than 2 minutes, so you want to make sure you are there to take them out as soon as they are done.

Then I just plated them and gave it an artistic squirt of chocolate syrup, just like they do in WDW.

Ok, they might not look just as pretty as they do in WDW, but they were very yummy. The 50s Prime Time Cafe charges $4.79 for this dessert, and I made two servings which would go for $9.58. The full packages of the ingredients that I needed for this recipe cost less that this, and of course I have plenty of crackers, marshmellows, etc leftover for future recipes. So, considering how little effort this took, it is a no-brainer to make these at home!

If you do want to go to Walt Disney World to try the original, contact me at http://www.kingdomplanners.com/ and we will help you plan a magical vacation!

Raglan Road Bread Pudding

2009-10-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

I have to say that I never thought I would be a fan of bread pudding. I mean, it seems too simple to be a good dessert... stale bread? Really? However, I had read many wonderful reviews of this dish on Disney message boards, and I decided I would have to judge for myself.

So, back in 2007 I went to WDW with my boyfriend and I made an ADR for our first night at Raglan Road in Downtown Disney. I figured it would be convenient since we were staying at the Port Orleans French Quarter resort and we could take a romantic boat ride directly to Downtown Disney. Plus, I was on a mission to eat this dessert.

So, we got to the restaurant and ordered the Dalkey Duo (a heavenly deep fried sausage appetizer... a recipe I will tackle in the future), then I got a salad as an entree, since I didn't want to be too full for dessert. Well, I was full, but that didn't stop me.

The dessert was served in a mug and had little pitchers of cream and caramel sauce to pour on top. It was so delicious and something that just warms the soul.

Here is a picture of this fine dessert:

It was so good that I made a point to go back to the restaurant specifically for dessert (ok, we had the Dalkey Duo too...and some ribs... but no entree) this past May with my sister.

So, here is my attempt to recreate that wonderful dish.
First, preheat the oven to 350 and butter a casserole dish. I have to note that the original pudding has raisins in it, but I prefer the dessert without them, so I have omitted them.

Then tear some pieces of bread (I had been saving odds and ends of bread loaves and sticking them in the freezer, knowing I would make this eventually), then spread the pieces of bread with softened butter and layer in the dish.

Next, I started the custard by boiling 1 1/3 c cream and 1 1/3 c milk and then immediately taking it off the heat. While it was coming up to temperature, I whisked together 4 egg yolks and 1/3 c superfine sugar... and then stirred this over a pot of simmering water. I don't have a proper double boiler, so I improvised with a big pyrex cup and it did the job.

Then I beat the egg mixture slowly into the cream mixture and poured 2/3 of it on top of the bread.

This needs to sit and soak for about 30 minutes. After the waiting period, pour the remaining custard on top of the bread, pressing the bread down so at least half of it gets soaked in the custard. Then put it in the oven and bake for about 35 minutes.

While it is baking, it is time to make the custard sauce and caramel sauce. For the custard, heat 2 3/4 c milk to a boil. Meanwhile, combine 6 egg yolks, 3 3/4 T superfine sugar and some vanilla in a separate bowl.

Then slowly whisk the hot milk slowly into the egg mixture (you do not want scrambled eggs!). Then wipe the milk pan clean and pour the milk/egg mixture back in. Cook this mixture, stirring constantly (or, at least, often) until thickened. About 10 minutes. Do not let this mixture boil.

While this is heating, make the caramel sauce. Heat 1/2 stick of unsalted butter, 4 T light muscovado sugar (My grocery store did not have this. Muscovado sugar is a very dark sugar, so I just substituted dark brown sugar. It was fine) and 2 1/2 T clear honey (I could not find clear honey, so I just used clover honey and again, it was fine) to a boil until sugar is dissolved. Then add 2 1/2 T heavy cream and cook another 2 - 3 minutes over low heat.

The caramel sauce does not take much effort, so you can still keep an eye on your custard and keep stirring. Here is the thickened sauce (you can make a line on the back of a spoon).

And that's it. Here is the bread pudding next to both sauces.

As you can see, the recipe makes a whole lot more custard sauce than caramel sauce. I think you could halve the custard and double the caramel for the perfect ratio. But, I love caramel, so maybe that is just my personal taste.

Here is an individual portion.

The verdict? Really, really good. It doesn't look as pretty as the restaurant version, and the bread didn't seem to hold together as much as it did at Raglan Road (maybe because I used a casserole dish instead of packing the bread into individual baking containers), but it was delicious. The flavor is exactly what I remembered from Disney.

The restaurant charges $6.99 per person for this dessert...and this recipe is good for four very generous servings...probably 6 reasonable servings, but I am not reasonable :) So, it is definitely much more frugal to make it at home.

If you want to go to Disney World and try the original version, contact me at http://www.kingdomplanners.com/ and we can help you plan your vacation!

Nine Dragons Restaurant - Honey Sesame Chicken

2009-08-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

Well, a ton of stuff has been going on this summer which delayed my blogging. But, now I am really ready to commit to this blog. I hope to learn a lot, and hope that it is an enjoyable place for people to visit.

Last night I looked in my refrigerator and decided I needed to cook the chicken breasts that I had defrosted earlier.

While looking in my "Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs" cookbook, I immediately decided on the Honey Sesame Chicken recipe. This dish is served at the Nine Dragons Restaurant in the China pavilion in EPCOT. Although I have never tasted this dish at Walt Disney World, I have had similar entrees at other Chinese restaurants and I was pretty sure it would be delicious (if done correctly).

The restaurant currently charges $18.98 for this entree... and I was certain I could create a replica for much less. In fact, I had many of the ingredients in my pantry or refrigerator already. I only needed to buy some white wine.

I was a little wary of the deep frying aspect of the recipe (I have never deep-fried in my life!), but the individual steps seemed pretty simple.

Here is a picture of the ingredients:

I also added in my Mike Wazowski mug because I think it is cute :)

My first step was to cut the chicken breasts into 2 inch chunks and then marinate them. The proper technique would have been to mix the marinade first and then add to the chicken, but for whatever reason I just dumped the marinade ingredients into the chicken bowl directly. I doubt it made any difference at all.

First, the pepper:

Then salt:

Then some water:

And some white wine:

Some wine for the chef as well....

Then some sesame oil and sugar to taste (As I was adding directly to the raw chicken, of course I couldn't taste. I probably added a tablespoon or so and that was fine):

I gave this a stir and then put it in the refrigerator. Easy so far.

Now, on to the batter. Combine flour, cornstarch and baking powder. (My camera is slowly dying and some of the pictures are taking on a purple hue. Please try to ignore. A new camera is on the way):

Then add an egg white, water and oil.

Then add a pinch of salt and whisk it up. Notice how bubbly it gets from the baking powder?

Fun!

Set this aside and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. There are a lot of steps in this recipe, but it is pretty easy. Just mixing some stuff and then putting it aside.

Next, the Honey Sauce. In another bowl, I combined honey:

...and sugar (I can't wait for that new camera!):

...and ketchup. Yes. Ketchup! A weird ingredient for this, but I just followed directions....

Next, some white wine vinegar and a pinch of salt:

Ok. Now we get down to business. Frying. Yikes. I started to heat up my oil to 320 degrees. In my other pan I started to toast some sesame seeds over medium heat and I dumped my drained chicken into the bowl of batter.

When the oil was up to temperature, I carefully placed the chicken pieces into the pan. I was really happy with the way the batter puffed up and took on a golden color.

I didn't want to crowd the pot (and therefore lower the temperature of the oil), so I cooked the chicken in two batches. When I took the cooked pieces of chicken out of the pot, I drained them on a plate lined with paper towels.

Meanwhile, I heated up the honey sauce in another pan. The ketchup seemed like an odd ingredient, but it did give the sauce a nice color without having to add a food dye.

When the chicken was all done, I put it in the pot with the heated Honey Sauce, and mixed it all around with a spatula. Then, I sprinkled on the toasted sesame seeds.

Here is the finished dish. I served it with steamed broccoli and brown rice.

Verdict: It was REALLY delicious. My boyfriend said it was one of the best Chinese dishes he had ever had, including what he had ordered in restaurants. I have to say that the batter was light and puffy... the chicken was cooked just right... and it didn't taste greasy at all. A bit sweet, but you have to expect that from Honey Chicken. Unfortunately my side dishes were kind of an afterthought, because I was worried about the chicken... but they were ok.

The recipe wasn't that difficult... and if I could have this result from my first attempt at deep frying, I'm sure anyone could. Next time I'm at EPCOT, I will want to try out the real deal and see if I was close.... but I am very happy with this result.

If anyone wants the actual recipe for this dish, just let me know and I will email it to you.

If you want to try the original at Epcot, contact me at http://www.kingdomplanners.com/ and we will help you plan a magical vacation!

The begining of a delicious journey

2009-05-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone (anyone?) :)

My name is Susan and I love all things Disney. Especially the food. Always the food :) And, I love to cook. I just returned from a wonderful trip to Walt Disney World and I thought it would be great to experiment with the many Disney cookbooks I own and the hundreds of Disney recipes that I have seen on the internet. My mission is to attempt to recreate some of the fabulous dishes that have been a part of my Disney vacations... and try some new ones as well. I will let you know whether the recipe was a success and, whenever possible, let you know if it is a good substitute to the original dish that I ate in the "World."

I think that I have been reticent to cook some of these dishes myself because honestly, a lot of them look pretty complicated and when I have read some of the rich ingredients in black and white it is sometimes hard to justify making a recipe. When you are on vacation, deep-fried french toast seems completely legit :) Yumm. On a regular weekend, it might seem a little too indulgent. However, I am going to power through and maybe mix up the rich desserts with the salad recipes... so that I don't gain 20 pounds in 2 weeks.

I don't want to infringe on any copyright issues, so if I use a recipe from a Disney cookbook that I own, I won't post the recipe, but I will let you know where it comes from. If I see a recipe several places on the internet, then I will assume that it is safe to use and I will post it here... just for personal use. Many of the recipes on the web are recipes that have been given out freely by Disney on recipe cards or via email, no purchase required. I also might take this experiment a step further and try to make some of the recipes a bit more figure-friendly.

Ok, that's all for now. I need to start looking though my cookbooks!!