Maple Butter Basted Steak with Rosemary and Roasted Garlic

Posted September 23, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Would you believe me if I told you the Nancy Drew series is absolutely FULL of steak? Nancy and her friends eat it in at least FOURTEEN books! I haven’t made steak for the blog in eons, so I chose it as this menu’s entree and challenged myself to make it seasonal.

Lately I’ve been eating roasted garlic rosemary bread with maple butter on top, and it got me thinking about how well rosemary, maple, and garlic go together. Rosemary and garlic are my go-to aromatics for steak, so I decided to see what happened if I added maple to the mix in the form of maple butter, used to baste the steak as it sears. Oooooh man, you guys. It’s the coolest combo of savory, salty, herby, and sweet. A steak that’s been kissed by autumn.* dreamy sigh *

Plus, it’s a quick and easy preparation, which suits the steak served in THE PASSWORD TO LARKSPUR LANE, my favorite Nancy book so far. This. Book. Has. Everything: Carrier pigeons caught in plane engines, coded messages, kidnapped doctors, pigeon fanciers (raised eyebrow), and competitive diving. It’s a wild ride to say the least. 😀

Halfway through the book, Nancy and her friends help an elderly couple make a steak dinner as she investigates a mysterious blue flame that’s been popping up in their yard at night. Something tells me she wasn’t spending hours waiting for the meat to marinate, so a quick sear with aromatics and compound butter feels appropriate.

If you’re looking for an autumnal dinner to go with your cozy mystery book, this is the meal for you!

No-Knead Rosemary Walnut Bread with Roasted Garlic

Posted September 9, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

When I was a kid, a row of Nancy Drew books with neon yellow spines sat on the bookshelf in my parents’ living room. I wish I could say I devoured them like a ravenous book beast, but . . . I never actually picked one up. Probably because my TBR was already massive, and I kept telling myself I’d start the series “when I had time.” I’m super embarrassed to admit it, especially since mysteries are my absolute favorite. But now I’m proud to say I’m FINALLY reading the series!

Here’s my take on the books so far: they’re fun, light-hearted little adventures, though a bit paint-by-numbers at times. My biggest quibble is that the character’s don’t experience much character development. However, that’s not surprising considering the series was written by a variety of ghostwriters (the author “Carolyn Keene” is a pseudonym). These books are meant to be quick, fun stories you can read in pretty much any order. If that’s what you’re craving, these books deliver. In fact, this series a perfect introduction to the mystery genre for younger readers, since it has fun with beloved mystery tropes without getting too gritty or disturbing. Plus, Nancy’s confidence, kindness, resourcefulness, and positivity make her a great role model.

Now let’s talk food! Lots of Nancy books have bread in them, and I’ve been looking for an excuse to share this Miracle No-Knead Bread from Pinch of Yum for ages now. It has become my favorite low-maintenance yeasted bread. Since you just mix the dough and let it rest over night, it’s perfect for when you want the flavor of a yeasted loaf but don’t want to deal with multiple rises, punching down dough, or kneading. To make it extra special, I decided to take my inspiration from the nut bread from THE SIGN OF THE TWISTED CANDLES, since it meant I could use my favorite bread flavorings: walnut, fresh rosemary, and roasted garlic.

This trio of flavors always manages to unlock something special in hearty, crusty breads, giving them a textural boost and a new delicate layer of flavor. Today’s bread is no exception. It shines the brightest when you cut thick slices and toast them with a bit of butter. Give it a try. You’ll thank me later. 😉

Very Hungry Caterpillar Watermelon Punch

Posted August 25, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

I have a little surprise for you guys this week: a bonus recipe! There’s just so much wonderful food in THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR, I had trouble choosing which ones to include in my menu. And since this 2 month stretch (July-August) has an extra Thursday, it means I get to do an extra post! I knew I wanted to include watermelon somewhere in the menu since it’s the most iconic summer fruit, and I thought a punch recipe would be a unique way to use it.

This recipe is super easy! Just blend your watermelon, strain into a pitcher, and mix in the rest of your ingredients. You can buy premade watermelon juice at the store if you don’t want to blend your own fruit, but I find the storebought stuff has a weaker flavor and less vibrant color.

You can whip up a quick batch for a VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR themed birthday party or baby shower…or just for a refreshing break from the August hea!

Very Hungry Caterpillar Cake

Posted August 12, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Behold, the easiest fancy cake you’ll ever make!

There’s a reason you don’t see many cakes on this blog. Cupcakes, yes. I love decorating cupcakes, but full-size cakes are so. much. WORK. Spare me the crumb coats, hours in the fridge, tedious smoothing of topcoats, meticulous piping, and strategic sprinkle placement. I admire anybody who can decorate a fancy cake, but it’s just not for me.

However, I knew the day was fast approaching when I could avoid it no longer. This whole Very Hungry Caterpillar menu has a birthday party theme, and my last two blog desserts were cupcakes. I knew it was time for a full-size cake. My bone-deep hatred of cake decorating inspired me to get creative, and I gotta say this cake turned out GORGEOUS. Plus, it was genuinely easy.

I just made 3 layers of the go-to chocolate cake recipe from my cookbook, a triple batch of my favorite vanilla buttercream (also from my cookbook), and Life, Love and Sugar’s recipe for chocolate drip ganache. If you’ve never done a drip top, don’t worry. This was my first time too, and it was really easy and forgiving.

Here are a few tools that I found super helpful (though they’re not required):

Turntable. This makes it a lot easier to get a smooth finish on the sides, and it allows you to focus on the timing of your ganache drips instead of trying to turn a heavy plate smoothly at the same time. I took a detachable one from underneath a rotating serving plate my grandma gave me, and it worked great!
Large frosting knife. If you have a bench scraper, use that to get a smooth finish on your frosting, but if not a big frosting knife will do. It also helps smooth the ganache.
Tall enough fridge space for a 3-tier cake. I’m lucky enough to have a basement fridge with one shelf removed. If you’ll be storing this in your main fridge, plan accordingly.
Squeeze bottle. You can add your drip top with a spoon, but if you’re new to the method (like me) a squeeze bottle gives you lots more control.

I shared the finished cake with my nieces and nephew, who came after I took pictures. It was EXTREMELY well received (this is a big deal, since my 8-year-old niece has an even more discerning dessert palate than Paul Hollywood). Enjoy!

Very Hungry Caterpillar Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Tortilla Chips

Posted July 29, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

As you may recall, the Very Hungry Caterpillar LOVES fruit. When he eats his week-long feast, fruit makes up most of his diet, so today we’re making a recipe that includes every fruit he ate Monday-Friday. Say hello to my 5 Fruit Salsa!

This salsa is composed of finely diced apples, pears, plums, and strawberries generously drizzled with a refreshing clementine white balsamic vinaigrette (the clementine is the 5th fruit). Of course, every salsa needs something to dip in it, so I baked up some flower-shaped cinnamon sugar tortilla chips.

This has to be of the easiest recipes I’ve ever made. Perfect to throw together before a party or as a snack! Munch on, little caterpillars! 😀

A Very Hungry Hot Dog Bar

Posted July 15, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 1 Comment

Running a blog can be a lot of work. Sometimes I sit down to type and my brain just won’t do words, or a recipe I planned doesn’t work, leaving me scrambling to make something else at the last minute. But other times a recipe is pure fun at every step of the process, from early development to editing the final post. That’s the kind of recipe we’re making today. It was just such a joy to work on. It reminded me why I love what I do! 😀

Very Hungry Caterpillar Sandwiches

Posted July 1, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

I was planning to do a Very Hungry Caterpillar menu next year, but after Eric Carle’s recent passing, I really wanted to do it now. It’s been comforting to spend the past month working on recipes inspired by his most famous character. It’s also given me an opportunity to talk with my 4-year-old about the Carle books we’ve read. I grew up with his books myself, and it fills me with warmth to know I’m passing on his legacy to another generation.

This Very Hungry Caterpillar menu is going to have a children’s party vibe, similar to last month’s Stuart Little menu. I know lots of people like to use Very Hungry Caterpillar as a birthday or baby shower theme, so I’m keeping that in mind as I plan.

Today’s super simple appetizer is just right for any kid who’s ever loved lunchables–we’re making Very Hungry Caterpillar sandwiches! I used spinach tortillas for the bread (don’t worry, you can’t really taste the spinach–at least I can’t). For the filling, I used American cheese and Genoa salami, but you can pick whatever meat/cheese combo your kids enjoy most. It took me less than 5 minutes to cut everything out, and the results were SO. FREAKING. CUTE. 😀

It’s super easy to scale the recipe up or down depending on how many you’re serving. There are about 5 sandwiches per hump in the caterpillar, so if you’re serving a small group, you can made individual caterpillars with one hump (just keep in mind you’ll need extra tomatoes for the heads). If you’ve got a large group and a big enough plate, you can add as many humps to the caterpillar as you want. A giant one would be lots of fun!

P.S. If your kids won’t touch anything spinach related (my 4-year-old is going through a no-green-things phase), you can make the same design using fruit or vegetables. For example, you could make a kiwi, watermelon, and mango body with blackberry feet and half an apple for a head. Or go the Caprese salad route with a cucumber, tomato, fresh mozzarella body and tiny basil leaves for feet. Have fun with it!

Stuart Little Roadster Cupcakes

Posted June 17, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

I know what you’re thinking. “But, Ali, you already made a recipe inspired by Stuart Little’s car.”

Yes, I was thinking that too. But hear me out:

That was savory, and this is sweet!
Plus these cupcakes have flavors inspired by rocky road ice cream.
And they’re topped with a car with a little “S” on the hood and a wee mouse in the driver’s seat. UNBEARABLY CUTE.
And I really REALLY wanted to make them.

These Stuart Little cupcakes are perfect for a birthday party or baby shower. I made them using my favorite, super-moist chocolate cake batter, marshmallow frosting from a recipe by Lil Luna, and the cutest little marzipan toppers. I loved the idea of developing a recipe with a chocolate/marshmallow/almond flavor combo reminiscent of rocky road, given the car theme. Plus, you can serve them with rocky road ice cream! Too perfect. 😀

My 4-year-old LOVED these. He’s been obsessed with cars since he was a baby, and he got hooked on marzipan after taste-testing the decorations when I made rüeblitorte. Plus, we read Stuart Little together not long before I started this menu (our first chapter book read-aloud! 😭 ), so he loved that he could connect the food to something he knew. Do I sense a theme for his next birthday party?

P.S. My 5-year-old nephew saw me working on this and pointed out you could also make Mario characters to put in the cars. So it turns out these work for a Mario Kart birthday too! Whodathunk? 😀

1940s-Style Slow Cooker Applesauce

Posted June 3, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Remember earlier this year when I made a historically accurate JANE EYRE menu? Today I’m adding a historically accurate recipe to my STEWART LITTLE menu too! Although the story is set in a fictional New York and no time period is given, the book was published in the 1940s, and the clothing and speech styles of the characters give that vibe. So let’s make some 1940s food!

Mouse on the Go: Stuart’s Hummus Deviled Egg Boats and Mini Pepper Roadsters

Posted May 20, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Hold onto your hat’s, folks! Today we’re gettin’ whimsical! 😀

Lately I’ve been trying to make a lot of historically accurate blog recipes, like Rustic Brown Bread from JANE EYRE and Rüeblitorte from HEIDI. I planned to stick with that theme through this menu too, but the only entree in STUART LITTLE is lamb stew. Since I already shared my go-to lamb stew recipe in my HUNGER GAMES MENU, I decided to have some fun and make something silly instead. Plus, I’m unofficially trying to make everything on this menu work for a birthday party just because I think STUART LITTLE would make such a cute party theme, and I’ve never seen lamb stew served at a birthday.

For my focus, I chose Stuart’s favorite modes of transportation: his car and boat. I made deviled egg boats for a WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE menu a few years ago, and the one’s I’m sharing today are a slight variation on that. I made homemade hummus from Gimme Some Oven, mixed it into the filling, dyed the egg white blue to match the boat in the story, and topped it all with a pita chip sail. The rest of the hummus went to fill the roadsters: mini peppers I cut in half and fitted with tomato wheels, pretzel steering wheels, and chive seat backs.

These were SUPER simple and so fun to make. If you’ve got kids, I highly recommend getting them involved with this one. My 4-year-old loved putting the sails on the boats and driving the little cars around his plate!