Lemon Garlic Baked Fish with Oregano

Posted March 18, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Did you know baked fish is the only entree mentioned by name in the book HEIDI? That’s lucky for me, since right now it’s the middle of Lent. Talk about a perfect time to test out fish recipes!

Heidi eats this dish while staying in Frankfurt with the Sessemans. Although they’re an affluent family who could afford to make this dish super fancy if they wanted, the Sessemans’ kind, down-to-earth demeanor made me feel like they’d appreciate a simple recipe that let quality ingredients shine. I used walleye, which is genetically similar to zander, a fish native to Germany (and Heidi’s home country of Switzerland!). Fresh lemon, oregano, and garlic were all the dressing it needed to create a refined dish celebrating delicate, tender fish. Also, I found out “oregano” means “the brightness of the mountain,” which is perfect for this book!

I enjoyed the simplicity of the flavors in this dish. Everything was fresh and light, a perfect reminder of the “the brightness of the mountain.” Enjoy! Read More

Mini Zopf Bread: Soft, White Rolls from HEIDI

Posted March 4, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

March is here and, with it, a new menu! For March-April, I’ll be making recipes inspired by the book HEIDI by Johanna Spyri. If you ever needed a sweet, wholesome read, this book’s for you. It’s a darling gem of a story about a little orphaned girl who goes to live with her grandfather in a cottage in the Swiss Alps, where she is a force for good in the life of everyone she meets.

If you’re familiar with the book, you know exactly what food we’re making today: the soft, white rolls! When Heidi befriends Granny, the goatherd’s grandmother, she learns the old woman cannot eat tough black bread. Since that’s the only kind of bread the family can afford, Granny hasn’t tasted bread in years. Heidi is extremely distressed by this, so when she’s served soft white rolls while staying in Frankfurt, she resolves to bring some home to Granny. At her departure, her friend Clara sends her home with a heaping basketful! The rolls are the most prominently featured food in the story–arguably synonymous with the book itself–so I knew they had to be the first item on the menu. Read More

Mr. Rochester’s Bonbons

Posted February 18, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Make way for bonbons! Today we’re making the last recipe in my Jane Eyre menu: bonbons inspired by Mr. Rochester’s time in France. Although the rest of this menu was heavily influenced by early 19th century recipes, I had a difficult time finding bonbon recipes from the period. Luckily, the basic process doesn’t appear to have changed that much over the years, so I decided to use modern techniques but stick with period-appropriate flavors. Let’s take a look at the flavors we’re using today: Read More

Roasted Potatoes: My Take on an Early 19th Century Recipe

Posted February 4, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 1 Comment

Today my foray into early 19th century cooking continues! I’m making a recipe for roasted potatoes I found in the 1823 cookbook The Cook’s Oracle by William Kitchiner. Roasted potatoes may sound like a dull choice, but I think this is the perfect recipe to showcase one of the fascinating differences between modern and historical cookbooks: the level of detail in the recipes. Read More

Mr. Rochester’s Breakfast: Toast with Fried Ham and Poached Eggs

Posted January 21, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

This year I have a special cooking goal. I want to delve into historical recipes and cooking methods, so I can create food from fiction that’s more accurate to the period in which the characters lived. Today’s recipe is inspired by a scene in JANE EYRE where Mr. Rochester is convinced Jane is a ghost or figment of his imagination. To prove herself, Jane promises to make him a breakfast of eggs and fried ham. Of course, there’s no harm in just throwing some eggs and ham in a hot skillet and calling it done. They’re good no matter how you make them! However, in this scene I saw the perfect opportunity to learn how people would have made such a breakfast in 1820’s England. Read More

Rustic Brown Bread from Jane Eyre

Posted January 7, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Hello, 2021! If you guys caught my post yesterday, you’ve heard all about my blog plans for this year, so I won’t dive into the details here. The short, quick version is that I’m back to making 4-course menus for every book I cook here on the blog, albeit on a relaxed schedule. I’ll be spending 2 months on each book instead of 1 and posting a new recipe every other week. Read More

New Year Blog Plans and Survey

Posted January 6, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Blogging, Holidays / 0 Comments

So long, 2020! Don’t let the door hit ya on the way out! 😉

I’m SO psyched for the new year. After spending the past four years publishing two books, having two babies, and moving to a new house, 2020 was gonna be my “rest year.” Let’s all take a moment to have a hearty laugh over that one. 😂😂😂

New Year Blog Plans

This year, I’m committed to taking it easy. No big project plans (not right now, anyway). However, there is ONE thing I really want to make happen: the return of full menus on the blog! If you’re new around here, you may not know that I used to make a recipe every week (each Book of the Month got a 4-course meal). With all the big projects and life changes that came my way, I decided two years ago to reduce my blogging schedule to 1 recipe/month.

It was definitely the best decision at the time, but now it’s starting to feel limiting. Plus, doing a 4-month recipe series on fiction-inspired cookbooks showed me that I could definitely pull off 2 recipes/month without feeling too stressed.

So here’s my plan: a new recipe every 2 weeks, a new book every 2 months. Each book finishes with a 4-course meal just like it used to, but in 2 months instead of 1. This will give me a chance to return to the format I love while still taking it easy.

Survey

Although I have no huge project plans, I’ve got some ideas for smaller changes/additions I’d like to make to the blog. Some are ideas for non-recipe posts that might pop up intermittently when I have time; others are user tools I’d like to add, provided you guys think you’ll find them valuable. I’d love to get your input on the stuff I’m considering, so I’ve shared a survey below. Thank you in advance to everyone who chooses to participate. I love hearing your feedback!

Jo’s Gingerbread Nuts: Tiny Gingerbread Cookies from The Little Women Cookbook

Posted December 10, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book Events and Tours, Book of the Month Recipes, Holidays / 1 Comment

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Can you believe Christmas Eve is just TWO WEEKS away? After such a chaotic year, I’m so ready for the cozy familiarity of the Christmas season. For today’s recipe—the final post in my fiction-themed cookbook recipe series—I wanted to make something festive, fun, and chock-full of holiday spices. I found just what I wanted in the delightful LITTLE WOMEN COOKBOOK by Jenne Bergstrom and Miko Osada, co-creators of the blog 36 Eggs.

Their cookbook is a thoughtful, creative compilation of recipes inspired by the Louisa May Alcott classic. Many of the recipes are as close to period-authentic as possible, a detail I appreciated. Today we’re making their recipe for tiny, crunchy gingerbread cookies called “gingerbread nuts!” In LITTLE WOMEN, Jo shares some with some children who are getting antsy on a long train ride to New York. These cookies are super easy and a bit unique too!

Baloo’s Fruit and Nut Granola Bars from The Jungle Book

Posted December 3, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

It may seem backward to kick off December with a book set in the hot Indian jungle, but let’s face it, this has been a backward year. For some reason, I just REALLY wanted to read The Jungle Book right now. And I figured, why not just read what I want, even if it’s not seasonal? After all, this is 2020, the year from the chaos dimension. Plus, I’ve already done recipes for A Christmas Carol, The Nutcracker, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Little Women, and The Polar Express. I’m kinda running low on wintery classic books (If you have any requests in that area, feel free to send them my way!).

Anyway, I’m glad I followed my whim, because The Jungle Book is pretty darn delightful. It’s got all the fun of jungle animals having crazy adventures, but it doesn’t shy away from the harsh reality of life in the wild either. There’s danger, violence, and even death, but that’s all somehow softened by the fact that we’re experiencing it through talking animals. In many ways, Kipling’s writing style reminds me of Jack London, because in every sentence you can feel the author’s awe at the beauty and power of nature.

Today’s recipe is inspired by Baloo who, to quote Kipling, “can come and go where he pleases because he eats only nuts and roots and honey.” I wanted SO MUCH to make a traveling snack for Baloo jam packed with all his favorite foods. Something easy my kids could make and eat with me (The Jungle Book is a children’s story, after all!). I also wanted it to be healthy (because, again, children), and heavily feature Indian nuts and fruits as a nod to the story’s setting.

Miruvor: A LOTR-Inspired Recipe from The Geeky Bartender Cookbook

Posted November 12, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Hi, everybody! To celebrate the recent release of my second book, A LITERARY HOLIDAY COOKBOOK, I’ve been doing a monthly post series devoted to recipes from fiction-inspired cookbooks. Today’s recipe is from THE GEEKY BARTENDER COOKBOOK by Cassandra Reeder, creator of The Geeky Chef blog. When I first started blogging, The Geeky Chef was one of my greatest inspirations when choosing a focus for my blog, so making a recipe from Cassandra’s book is great honor for me! Let’s get started!