Posted June 2, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 9 Comments
That’s right, folks! Our new Menu of the Month is going to be based on
Star Trek: The Next Generation. The Mister introduced me to
Star Trek after we first got married, and now I’m hooked. Plus, now seemed like a good time to throw in another TV/movie menu, since I haven’t done one since
February. I’ve been looking forward to this menu for MONTHS, so let’s get started! 🙂
Read More
Posted May 26, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 5 Comments
On Tuesday, I premiered our new Borrower tea (Arrietty’s Cherry Tree Tea) and waxed lyrical about the beautiful cherry tree from the book. Since I was determined to feature the cherry tree in a recipe too, I decided to give it the place of honor and save it for dessert! These dainty 3-tier mini cakes are filled with cherry preserves and my very own mock Devonshire cream (the recipe for that is included below too!). Topped with powdered sugar and fresh cherries, they’re the perfect bite-size finish to our Borrower menu!
Read More
Posted May 19, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 3 Comments
As much as Homily complains about not wanting to live in a badger’s set, something tells me she’d secretly love the challenge. Homily lives for homemaking, and making a home out of a badger’s set is no small feat! These Badger’s Set Salad Bites are inspired by the wild, field-to-table food the narrator hypothesizes Homily would serve at her new home. They feature dandelion greens, fresh berries, and edible blossoms. And don’t forget the homemade strawberry-infused white balsamic vinegar for dressing! As with all our recipes from The Borrowers, each salad bite is the perfect size for a full-size Borrower meal or a Human Bean appetizer! 🙂
Read More
Posted May 12, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 4 Comments
The next installment in our Borrower menu is actually three foods from the book combined into one! At afternoon tea, the Clocks serve tiny slivers of toasted chestnut in place of regular toast, and the narrator says they ate birds’ eggs and minnows while living at the badger’s set. These all sound like great breakfast components to me, so I combined them all together into a meal fit for a peckish Human Bean or a whole family of Borrowers. My chestnut toasts are just like the ones in the book—whole chestnuts sliced thin and toasted until golden brown. Since minnows are a little hard to find, I used sardines, and quail’s eggs are just the right size for a Borrower!
Read More
Posted May 5, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 3 Comments
A few months ago, I read The Borrowers for the very first time, and I couldn’t believe what I’d been missing. It was amazing! Despite being written for a young audience, the characters were nuanced and relatable. The plot, though relatively simple, was engaging. I LOVED Arrietty’s spunk—she quickly became one of my top literary heroines!
We first meet the Borrowers while they are making their evening dinner: potato soup. Of course, since the pot was no bigger than a thimble, only the most delicate slivers of potato and onion were taken from the Borrowers’ stores to make the soup. Nevertheless, the resulting dinner was hearty and delicious, and I knew right away that it would be the appetizer for my Borrower menu.
Read More
Posted April 28, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 6 Comments
Of all our Series of Unfortunate Events recipes, I think this was the one I was most excited about. I knew for sure I would be making Uncle Monty’s famous coconut cake from The Reptile Room as our dessert—it’s the food I remember best from the whole series! All the cakes I’ve made on the blog so far have been chocolate (like Delicious Death and Dauntless Cake), so it was fun to try something different. And you can bet the Mister was excited: he loves coconut! This particular recipe starts with a mix, but I used a few baking tricks to make it more like homemade. The frosting is my own invention too, but I used this BHG recipe as my starting point. The final result is a moist, fluffy cake with just the right amount of coconut. So eat up! If your life is anything like the Baudelaires’, you may not know when you’ll encounter such a delicious dessert again. 😉
Read More
Posted April 21, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 9 Comments
I’m super excited to include this mango and black bean salad as our Series of Unfortunate Events side dish! In the books, this recipe is credited to the author’s lost love—the mysterious Beatrice. It’s considered her signature dish, and I can see why! This recipe is easy, healthy, AND super delicious. The sweet, juicy mango plays off the mellow beans and crisp celery, hitting all the right notes along the way. And the hint of lime in the dressing adds a touch of freshness, making it perfect on a hot day.
Read More
Posted April 14, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 5 Comments
Can you guys believe I’ve never made pasta for the blog before? I couldn’t believe it either, but when I decided to make the Baudelaires’ pasta puttanesca for my Series of Unfortunate Events entrée, I went back and checked…and it’s true. I’ve NEVER done a post about pasta. So we’re fixing that now! 🙂
Read More
Posted April 7, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 12 Comments
Our April book of the month is definitely a modern classic (or rather a classic series). We’re cooking A Series of Unfortunate Events! I DEVOURED those books as a kid. In fact, when I first started the series, I went to the library three times in three days, because that’s how fast I was whipping through it.
Even though it’s been years since I first read A Series of Unfortunate Events, I still remember the Baudelaires’ Aunt Josephine and her chronic fear of pretty much everything. She was too afraid to even turn her stove, resulting in her penchant for cold cucumber soup.
This particular soup is a light, delicious recipe originally developed by Whole Foods. I specifically sought out a cucumber mint soup, since the author mentions that such soup has “a delicious, minty taste.” I’d never made cucumber soup before now, but this recipe is easy and refreshing, not to mention healthy. Not bad for not using a stove! 🙂
Read More
Posted March 31, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 6 Comments
Since there’s an extra Thursday this month, I get to do a bonus recipe! At first, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to make; I felt like the main menu had already covered what I considered to be the most important Three Musketeers dishes. Then I remembered the mysterious “breakfast of chocolate” d’Artagnan eats at a friend’s house midway through the book. I did a little research to figure out what it was, and the most likely candidate seems to be hot chocolate. As it turns out, people in France often have hot chocolate with their breakfast. D’Artagnan speaks about his chocolate breakfast as if it were a small, insubstantial meal, and having only a cup of hot chocolate would certainly fit that description. As such, I decided to make authentic French hot chocolate as my bonus recipe, and boy oh boy was that a good choice! The recipe I use here is a slight variation on one by Erin from Well Plated, which is a copycat version of Cafe Angelina’s famous hot chocolate. This thick, smooth hot chocolate has enough intense, rich flavor to satisfy even the most ardent chocoholic!
Read More
