Posted November 1, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 3 Comments
November has arrived and, with it, our brand new book of the month: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow! Normally I save spooky stories like this for October, but as I was rereading Sleepy Hollow in preparation for this menu, I noticed that pretty much all the food was perfect Thanksgiving fare: pies flavored with pumpkin and apples, dressed turkey, cider, and so much more! Thus, I decided to save this menu for November, when people would be hankering for classic autumnal flavors, rather than Halloween-specific recipes.
I’m starting things off with delicious apple cider crullers. When Ichabod Crane describes the delicious food served at the Van Tassel party, crullers are high on the list, as is cider, so I decided to make a recipe that combined the two together. I’d never made crullers before and originally planned to find a recipe online, but when I realized they’re made with choux pastry, I whipped up a batch of the trusty choux recipe from my cookbook, simply subbing apple cider for half the water. The icing was easy to improvise too: just make powdered sugar icing and use cider instead of milk for the liquid. These were scrumptious and fun, a big hit with everyone at our house. They were gone by the end of the day!
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Posted October 31, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book Events and Tours / 5 Comments
Hi, everybody! Happy Halloween! Our November menu starts tomorrow, but before that kicks off, I have two pieces of exciting news to share about my cookbook, A Literary Tea Party:
- First off, just a reminder that I’ll be in Ottawa, IL on November 17th at Prairie Fox Books for a book signing. There will be fun giveaways, and I’m bringing treats from the cookbook to share! I’ll also be there again in late spring/early summer to do a cooking demo for the grand opening of their new cafe. No exact date set for the second event yet, but I’ll let you know when it’s decided.
- Second, my cookbook has been nominated for the 2018 Goodreads Choice Awards!! 😀 😀 😀 Every year, Goodreads.com picks 15 newly published books in 20 different categories and has 3 rounds of voting to determine the winner in each category. If you would like to vote for my book, you can access the Food & Cookbooks category by clicking here (you’ll need to create a Goodreads account in order to vote, if you don’t already have one). I truly appreciate your support. Seeing my book alongside those of Bobby Flay and Giada de Laurentiis is mindblowing. To be honest, it doesn’t feel real! I’ll know by Nov. 6th if I qualify for the next round of voting. Fingers crossed! ?
See you all back here tomorrow for our first Nov. recipe!
Thanks again for your support!
Posted October 25, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes, Holidays / 0 Comments
Ghosts are an essential part of the Scooby-Doo cartoon (even if they do usually turn out to be just some guy in a mask 😉), so I thought it would be fun to make a ghost-themed dessert for this month’s menu. I loved the idea of making spook cupcakes, and I decided to tie-dye the frosting for some psychedelic 60’s flair, perfect for Scooby-Doo! I started with my go-to chocolate cupcake and vanilla frosting recipe from my cookbook and gave the frosting an orange, lime green, hot pink, and light blue swirl. Then I used this recipe to make my own homemade marshmallow ghosts (but you can totally go with store bought ghost Peeps, if you want). These sweet little specters are a perfect addition to any Halloween menu or Scooby-Doo birthday party!
Note: The marshmallow mixture for the ghosts needs to set overnight.
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Posted October 18, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 2 Comments
One of my favorite things about Scooby Doo is its distinctive ’60s aesthetic. Who can forget Fred and Shaggy’s bell bottoms or the Mystery Machine’s psychedelic paint job? Even the iconic color scheme associated with the show—orange, lime green, light blue, and purple—has a fun, hippy vibe to it. I wanted to capture that vibe in today’s side dish: a melon berry fruit salad that would look right at home at a 1960s-themed shindig. I cut cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon into flower shapes reminiscent of those found on the Mystery Machine and added some blueberries for extra color and flavor. To finish, I tossed it all in a homemade lemon honey dressing. The Little Mister was definitely a big fan of this recipe. Most of the watermelon and blueberries didn’t make it past the photo shoot! XD
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Posted October 11, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 1 Comment
Shaggy and Scooby are famous for their bottomless appetites, especially when it comes to sandwiches. They’ve been known to down two-foot subs in one gulp, and anything they make it always piled high with ingredients. A giant sub sandwich seemed like the perfect entree for my Scooby-Doo menu, but the question still remained: what kind should I make? With virtually endless options, I found myself staring at lists of ingredients in hopes of coming up with that perfect sandwich. I wanted something fun and a little funky to match Shaggy and Scooby’s quirky personalities.
Then I thought about pizza. Shag and Scoob’s abiding love for pizza is a little less iconic than their love of sandwiches, but it’s still a big part of the cartoon. Why not bring the two together? I started with a 2-foot-long sub loaf and added a layer of pizza sauce and fresh basil. Then came smoked ham and two layers of sandwich-style pepperoni and mozzarella. Top it off with oil-and-vinegar dressed tomatoes and red onion, more basil, and more sauce, and you’ve got yourself a pizza sub! It was a big hit at our house. Even the toddler was a fan! 🙂
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Posted October 4, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 3 Comments
Zoiks! Halloween is just around the corner, and since it’s one of my favorite holidays, I always like to do a spooky menu here on the blog for October (check out my Edgar Allan Poe and Phantom of the Opera menus from previous years!). This year, I’m making a Scooby-Doo menu, starting with Scooby’s favorite treat: Scooby Snacks!
According to the creators of Scooby-Doo, Scooby Snacks are a sort of caramel-flavored cookie. However, Keebler’s boxed version and most of the homemade versions I’ve found online are honey or cinnamon graham crackers. Since I have something else in mind for our dessert recipe this month, I’m gonna stick with the honey graham cracker version.
The recipe I’m sharing today originally appeared on the Brown Eyed Baker Blog, though I made a few changes just to mix things up a little bit (I added cinnamon and vanilla and caramelized the honey). I LOVE Michelle’s recipes. They’re always reliable and delicious, and these grahams are no exception. They’re rich, crisp, and buttery—with an extra nuttiness from the caramelized honey. I caramelized it using a technique I found on Bee America. It’s a quick, super easy way to make honey-flavored bakes a bit more special, and I definitely plan on trying it with other recipes in the future. Maybe I should caramalize my honey-glazed grilled peaches next time I make them!
P.S. The Little Mister LOVES these. I’ve already started saying, “You don’t want to put your socks on? Will you do it…FOR A SCOOBY SNACK?” XD
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Posted September 27, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments
Blue and gray and green. In Sarah Plain and Tall, these are Sarah’s favorite colors because they are the colors of the sea. To wrap up this month’s menu, I wanted to make a dessert reminiscent of Sarah’s home in Maine. I loved the idea of making sea glass candy—especially since sea glass reminds me so much of the little ocean treasures she shows Anna and Caleb—so I decided to go a step farther and make them in Sarah’s favorite colors too!
I used this sea glass candy recipe from Make Life Lovely, which turned out great. The instructions are simple and easy to follow, and the final product is delicious. I’m really pleased with the colors too. They came out with just the right misty, ocean-y feel I was hoping for. And they were delicious! They actually taste a lot like cotton candy. I wouldn’t recommend serving them to very young children since the ends can be a little sharp, but they’re great for older children and adults. We ate them right up! 🙂
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Posted September 25, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Blogging, Uncategorized / 8 Comments
I’ve hinted a few times over the past several months about some big news I wanted to share. It’s been hard to keep it a secret, since it’s been a major contributing factor to my difficulty with keeping up on blog stuff, but I wanted to wait until the time was right to spill the beans. That time has finally come, so here’s my big announcement:
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Posted September 20, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments
When I was growing up, my mom liked to make soup, stew, and chili extra special by serving them in bread bowls. It made eating that much more fun for us kids, and mom loved that it cut down on dishes! 😉 When I started working on my Sarah Plain and Tall menu, it became clear to me early on that a nice hearty stew would be my entree. I’ve made a variety of soups, stews, and chowders here on the blog before, so when I tried to think of a way to make this one special, my mind immediately went to bread bowls. They get major nostalgia points from me, and they just contribute so well to the rustic prairie feel I wanted to create for this menu.
Store-bought bread bowls are great if you’re short on time (we always used the Panera sour dough rolls when I was a kid), but making your own can be lots of fun. I tracked down this quick recipe from Taste of Home, and it turned out great! The bread tastes delicious when you fill it with stew or thick soup, but I enjoy it sliced up with a spread of homemade farmer’s cheese too!
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Posted September 18, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Blogging, Book Events and Tours / 10 Comments
Hey, everybody! Life has been WILD for the past couple months. I’ve had a hard time doing any blogging apart from my weekly recipe posts, but now that things are settling down, I want to touch base with you all and let you know what’s new!
First things first…
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