Posted July 7, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 9 Comments
Our new Book of the Month is A Little Princess, and we’re starting it out with one of my favorite foods in the entire book: Sara’s bakery buns! When the previously affluent Sara Crewe is suddenly thrown into poverty, she struggles with hunger every day. One day she finds a coin in the street, but instead of spending it right away, she tries to find who it belongs to. When she can’t, she uses it to buy six warm, fresh bakery buns…then the baker woman sees her give five of them away to a starving child on the street! The baker woman is so touched by Sara’s generosity, she takes in the child Sara helped and teaches her to work in the bakery. Who knew a little girl with a simple bun could do so much?
In the movie version of the story, the bun in Sara’s hands looks like a giant, delicious cinnamon bun, but I decided to take it a step further and make something special: blackberry buns! Today we’ve spiraled traditional sweet roll dough around rich blackberry preserves and drizzled it with sweet lemon icing.
A dish fit for a princess!
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Posted June 30, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 7 Comments
Today we’re wrapping up our Star Trek menu with a true trekky classic: Romulan Ale. Easily identified by its distinctive bright blue color, Romulan Ale is said to be highly intoxicating, which is part of why the Federation dubs it illegal through most of the series. This particular recipe was a collaborative effort between myself, the Mister, and our good friend David, who’s a bit of a brewing/distilling enthusiast. We toned it down a little bit from the ale described in the show, so you won’t suffer the same awful hangover as you would after drinking the original. 😉
I knew I wanted to use a blue curacao base to get that iconic blue color, and David gave me suggestions for beers that would pair well with it without diluting the color too much. The Mister was my primary taste tester, and after a couple rounds of testing we had the proportions down just right. The resulting beverage tastes a bit like orange cream soda, with just a little beer flavor thrown in. Three cheers for teamwork! 🙂
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Posted June 23, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 1 Comment
In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deanna Troi’s love affair with chocolate is the stuff of legend. She eats it almost every day, and even has a specific technique for eating ice cream sundaes (Hint: it involves a lot of slow bites and savoring). I always thought her signature sundae looked super delicious, so I decided to make it here on the blog! This decadent ice cream dessert features homemade chocolate ice cream, chocolate fudge, and chocolate chips…plus double chocolate Pirouette cookies, whipped cream, and a cherry for good measure!
P.S. I used the chocolate ice cream recipe that came with my ice cream maker, but feel free to substitute store-bought ice cream if you’re strapped for time. 🙂
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Posted June 16, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 11 Comments
When it comes to Star Trek TNG, pretty much the entire cast is near and dear to my heart. I love Geordi La Forge’s head for numbers and Deanna Troi’s weakness for chocolate. And of course I love Captain Picard (how could you not?). But my all-time favorite Star Trek character is Lt Commander Worf, hands down.
I have a soft spot for prickly characters, and Worf is a veritable cactus of a Klingon. He is uncomfortable with affection, hates jokes, and resents having a birthday party thrown for him. What’s not to love? 😉 Worf loves traditional Klingon food that reflects his planet’s warrior culture, and what’s more warrior-like than blood pie? Rokeg Blood Pie is a Klingon staple usually made with real blood, but don’t worry, ours is made of bacon, sausage, beets, and butternut squash!
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Posted June 9, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 6 Comments
In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Geordi La Forge is one of my favorite characters. He’s the chief engineer on the USS Enterprise, and he’s smart, loyal, and adorably awkward around girls. Plus, his best friend is an android. What’s cooler than that?
One of Geordi’s favorite foods is pasta alla fiorella, so of course it had to be the entree for my Star Trek menu (though he mistakenly calls it “pasta al fiorella”).
As it turns out, pasta alla fiorella is super easy to make and ultra delicious. Traditionally the dish consists simply of plain noodles with ricotta or fiorella cheese, bacon, and asparagus. Clean, simple flavors—and extra delicious with fresh basil. No wonder Geordi loves it so much!
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Posted June 2, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 11 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! 🙂
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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!
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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! 🙂
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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!
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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.
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