Green Eggs and Ham, All Grown Up: Avocado Deviled Eggs with Sweet and Spicy Bacon

Posted June 4, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

When we think of classic books, we don’t often imagine cute picture books, but you can’t deny that Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham” is a classic. Combine that with the fact that it is literally about nothing but food, and you’ve got a book I can’t resist. 😉 I’ve had my heart set on making a sophisticated version of the titular dish from “Green Eggs and Ham” for years now. I wanted to make a highfalutin version because Pinterest is already teeming with simple, Seuss-inspired green-dyed egg and ham dishes. Nothing wrong with that; there’s just so many I figured one more would just be a drop in the ocean. Plus, almost all those recipes are aimed at kids, and I wanted to make something for us adults who grew up with Seuss and feel nostalgic about it.

Cookbook Update: Cover Reveal!

Posted May 21, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book Events and Tours / 2 Comments

Hi, everybody! I haven’t shared an update on my latest cookbook in a while, mostly because my schedule was just PACKED. Finishing the manuscript, keeping up with my normal blog posts, homeschooling my toddler, and wrangling my 1.5-year-old (a speed demon who likes eating rocks and crayons) took every drop of energy I had. If you follow me on social media, I shared quick updates there regarding manuscript submissions and such when I had a spare minute. But now things have FINALLY slowed down! I get to read, keep a normal sleep schedule, and cook for pure fun again.

Just in time too, because now it’s time to share something BIG. Too important for just a quick twitter post. Folks, WE HAVE A COVER! My publishing team has been tweaking it for several weeks, but the finished copy has finally gone to print so I can safely say this is the official cover. Time for the big reveal!

*** drum roll, please ***

Blueberry Oatmeal Bars from “Blueberries for Sal”

Posted May 7, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

“Blueberries for Sal” first came on my radar almost 20 years ago. My mom had just started homeschooling me and my younger brothers, and for the boys she started using a reading curriculum called Five in a Row. With this program, you read the same picture book each day for five days, followed by activities that are relevant to the story. At the start of the next school week you, start a new book. I was too old for it, but I remember my brothers really enjoying particular stories, especially “How to Make Apple Pie and See the World,” “The Story About Ping,” and “Blueberries for Sal.”

When I started light homschooling with my toddler earlier this year, the preschool edition of Five in a Row was the only curriculum I purchased (we do more subjects, they’re just not curriculum-based). I’m a big believer in focusing on building enthusiasm for learning in the very early years of education, and I like that Five in a Row adopts this philosophy.

Alleluia-In-Place: A Shelter-In-Place Easter Feast

Posted April 8, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Holidays / 0 Comments

“We are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song!”
– Pope St. John Paul II, quoting St. Augustine

With shelter-in-place measures extended until May in many states (including my own), people all over the country are trying to come up with ways to celebrate Easter from home on short notice with limited resources. At first, making a big deal (or any kind of deal) about Easter this year might feel a little silly. Surely we should just keep our heads down and focus on getting by, right?

But times like this are when celebrations are most important. We need them to “snap us out of it” and remind us that there’s so much more to life than what’s happening right now. And so much more happening right now than what we’re agonizing over. This is especially true of Easter, as it centers on life and hope.

That’s why this year I want to “Alleluia-in-place” by focusing on bringing joyful hope to my family’s Easter celebration, even if that celebration has limitations. We will wear our Sunday best, attend Mass via livestream, hunt for eggs, Facebook video chat with friends and family, and of course FEAST.

Below, I’ve shared my family’s Easter menu (plus a couple extra options) to offer some ideas if you want to make your own special Easter meal without limited ingredients getting in the way. These recipes avoid common shortage items, so they should all be doable if you have grocery pickup or delivery in your area. If you have to make do with what you currently have at home, you can still probably make the deviled eggs, bread rolls, and maybe a couple others (depending on what you have on hand). I’ve also included a link to my cookbook at the end, which offers even more options. Feel free to comment if you’d like advice on substitutions!

Warm up your singing voices, folks. We’ve got an Alleluia to sing! 🙂

Thumbelina’s Fairy Wing Thumbprint Cookies with Homemade Raspberry Lavender Jam

Posted April 2, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Today marks the end of my Hans Christian Andersen recipe series, which started in January. We’ve constructed delicate meringue swans from The Ugly Duckling, chilled mini ice cream cakes from The Snow Queen, and created sea foam marshmallows from The Little Mermaid. You may have noticed a sugary theme here.

Completely by accident, this has been a desserts-only only blog for all of 2020. It just seems like every time I encounter an Andersen story, inspiration draws me in the direction of something sweet. We’ll get back to savories soon, I promise…just not this week! 😉 The dessert I’m sharing today pairs too perfectly with its story to swap for something savory. And maybe there’s a reason for that.

Last-Minute St. Patrick’s Day Activities for Kids…and Parents Who Didn’t Know They’d Be Homeschooling This Year!

Posted March 17, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Holidays / 1 Comment

With all the school closures due to the virus outbreak, many families have found themselves temporarily homeschooling. Lots of people I’ve talked to are enjoying the extra time with the kids but struggling to come up with educational activities on such short notice. I found myself in a similar position, albeit for different reasons. We started light homeschooling with the Little Mister earlier this year, but I got a nasty case of food poisoning on Sunday and didn’t have anything ready to go for this week, most notably St. Patrick’s Day.

Last night, I scrambled to throw something together last-minute. I did a few quick internet searches for crafts and ran through the house collecting all the Irish stuff we had…then I sat down and banged out this post really quickly, hoping it might help parents who are temporarily homeschooling due to current events. Or just want something fun and Irish-y to do with their kids today! 🙂

One of the things I love about a holiday-themed school day is that it turns education into a celebration. These last-minute St. Patrick’s Day activities for kids are great if you find yourself unexpectedly homeschooling due to school closures or just want to break up the monotony that can come with current social distancing requirements. If you’ve got a library card, a music app on your phone, some snacks in your cabinets, and construction paper, you can throw together a day’s worth of themed activities, no problem!

BOOKS

We’re reading Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato and Fin M’Coul: The Giant of Knockmany Hill. If your child is older, you can even read some of The Confession of St. Patrick, which is translated from Patrick’s original writings, or selections from a book of Irish folktales. These and other Irish-themed stories are available in ebook or audiobook format in most online library systems, where you can check them out instantly and access them on your browser.

CRAFTS

We’ll be creating a simplified version of a leprechaun mask craft from Glamamom.com using construction paper, tape, orange paint, and a paper plate. It works especially well when paired with the Jamie O’Rourke book, since kids can have fun waiting for the leprechaun to appear in the story and putting the mask on whenever he speaks. If your child knows how to read, you can have them play the part of the leprechaun as you read together.

FOOD

You’ve probably figured out that I’m usually all about themed recipes. However, given my recent bout of food poisoning, I’m currently all about not upsetting my stomach, so I didn’t do much in this arena. I literally just raided my cabinets for anything green or orange to present to my children as Special St. Patrick’s Day Snacks™. Green and orange packaging also counted. In the end we wound up with goldfish crackers, dry roasted edamame beans, an apple pie Larabar, and a pumpkin puree pouch (for the baby). A peek in the freezer revealed a bag of spinach muffins I’d forgotten about, so I’m hoping my kids will eat them if I convince them it’s festive.

Another nice way to utilize library ebooks is by checking out Irish-themed cookbooks and discussing the sorts of food you see. If during your quarantine prep shopping you happened to buy the ingredients for something your kid wants to make, go ahead and fire up the stove!

MEDIA

We have Song of the Sea, The Secret of Roan Inish, and Darby O’Gill and the Little People on DVD. All but Roan Inish are available to rent on Amazon, and you may be able to find them through your preferred video streaming service. If not, there are lots of other Irish movies for kids available. The Secret of Kells is a favorite of mine, though the brief scenes with the invaders could be a bit scary for very young children (same goes for the banshee scene in Darby O’Gill). If you’d rather avoid movies, try an Irish folk music station on Pandora or other music streaming service and dance along!

RELIGION & CULTURE

If you are Catholic (our family is), this is obviously a great day to talk about the person of St. Patrick. I like to include other Irish saints too, like St. Brigid or Our Lady of Knock, if we don’t get a chance to observe their individual feast days. We will be praying this shortened version of the St. Patrick’s Breastplate Prayer and listening to the Shining Light podcast episode about him. If you don’t plan on highlighting the religious significance of the day, it can still be a good time to talk about Irish history and culture in general, especially if your family has Irish heritage.

I hope you found some ideas here to help bring your temporary homeschool to life
with minimal stress and lots of fun. Erin go bragh!

Little Mermaid Sea Foam Marshmallows

Posted March 5, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Today we’re continuing our Hans Christian Andersen recipe series with sea foam marshmallows from The Little Mermaid! Most of us were first introduced to the story through the 1989 Disney movie, but the original story has some key differences. SPOILER’S AHEAD!

Mirror Shard Mini Ice Cream Cakes from The Snow Queen

Posted February 6, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

I’m back with another Hans Christian Andersen recipe! When I created a poll asking folks what Andersen stories they wanted to see recipes for, “The Ugly Duckling” won by a landslide (you can see my recipe for it here), and there was a three way tie for second place! Today I’m making the first of those three: The Snow Queen. It seemed best to do it now since winter is almost over. It feels strange to write that, since winter here has been so mild that it feels like it just started. It’s almost like God is apologizing for last winter, which was monstrously cold and felt eternal.

The recipe we’re making today is inspired by the magic mirror that causes so much trouble in “The Snow Queen.” Splinters of the broken mirror lodge themselves in the heart and eyes of a little boy named Kai, making him see only the ugliness and evil of the world and none of its beauty. I’ve always found the story’s mirror quite intriguing since it doesn’t actually change anything about the world—only people’s perception of it, which is rather fitting for a mirror—and thereby corrupts them to evil, revealing just how much impact perception can have on our lives.

For the recipe, I wanted something frozen of course, which led me to the idea of an ice cream cake. I liked the idea of mini cakes better, since larger, more elaborate ice cream recipes can get tricky if they take so long the ice cream starts to melt. These easy cupcake-sized cakes feature a crushed almond and shortbread crumb crust, amaretto ice cream filling, whipped cream, and mirror “shards” made from melted Jolly Ranchers.

Meringue Swans from “The Ugly Duckling”

Posted January 9, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 4 Comments

Happy 2020, folks! I hope the new decade is treating you well so far. I submitted the first draft of my cookbook last week (which felt awesome), but I’ve had two very sick kids at home since then (not so awesome). Hopefully these ups and downs aren’t indicative of how the rest of the year will go!

In December I posted a poll announcing my plan to make a few Hans Christian Andersen recipes this year and asking you to vote on which of his fairytales you’d like me to do. “The Ugly Duckling” won by a landslide…followed by a three way tie for second place! So I guess I’m making four Andersen recipes this year instead of three! XD

I won’t reveal the other winning stories just yet; I’ll do it one at a time as the posts go up. I think it’ll be more fun that way. ^.^ What I WILL tell you is that all the recipes will be desserts, since that’s where my inspiration took me for each one. I had my fingers crossed that “The Ugly Duckling” would make the final cut because I knew exactly what recipe I wanted to make for it: meringue swans!

Using the meringue recipe I developed for my upcoming cookbook (and my tried and true buttercream recipe), I made these fun swans on Monday while my sick kids took a much needed nap. It took a little bit of experimenting to get the shape right, but it was SO worth it in the end.

NOTE: The meringues need to rest in the oven for at least 3 hours (overnight is even better), so I recommend making these a day before you need them.

Update to January Blog Plans

Posted December 26, 2019 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Blogging, Book of the Month Recipes, Holidays / 0 Comments

Hello, folks! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Just checking in to do a post-Christmas update to January blog plans, then I’m off to thoroughly enjoy a relaxing cup of tea and downtime with the kids. 😊

As many of you may recall, I’ve chosen Hans Christian Andersen as my next recipe inspiration, and I’m taking a poll to determine which of his stories I should make recipes for (you can vote here—poll closes January 1st!). I’ll make recipes for whichever 3 stories get the most votes, and I’ll post 1 recipe per month in January-March. Lots of you have been voting, which is amazing! Thank you! 😀

I hope you found some ideas here to help bring your temporary homeschool to life with minimal stress and lots of fun. Erin go bragh!

I hope you found some ideas here to help bring your temporary homeschool to life
with minimal stress and lots of fun. Erin go bragh!