Tag: Appetizer

Secret Note French Bread

Posted August 3, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 5 Comments

Our new Book of the Month is The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas, and I can’t wait to get started! It took me forever to finish it (60 chapters, y’all. Dumas ain’t kidding around), but it was still a really fun read. It’s got everything you could ever want in a classic book: Intrigue! Adventure! Bishops on the run for trying to put the king’s displaced twin brother on the throne! Yaaay! 🙂

When I started reading, it didn’t take long for me to find my appetizer: early in the book, Aramis sneaks Prince Philippe a secret note in a loaf of bread.

“Fun!” I thought. “I can make french bread and hide a little note inside.”

In my hubris, I decided to make authentic french bread, because, y’know, historical accuracy. Then I saw that the Julia Child recipe takes seven hours. And most other “authentic” recipes take anywhere from two to four.

There are people out there who have hours and hours to devote to the refined art of traditional bread making. These people do not have 6-month-olds who are teething and mobile, which means I am not one of them. So instead we’re going a less historically accurate route and going a more fast-and-easy-but-still-french-bread-and-still-delicious route.

Enter Leigh Anne from Your Homebased Mom‘s recipe for Easy French Bread. It caught my attention because of the short rise time (40 minutes total), making the whole recipe just a little over an hour from start to finish. It’s not as porous inside as a traditional French baguette, but it’s delicious, with a beautiful crust and tender crumb.

Maybe it’s a good thing that Aramis didn’t give Philipe this EXACT loaf of bread…he probably would have eaten it all without even stopping to notice the note! 😉

Jessica’s Mushroom Vol-Au-Vents

Posted July 6, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 9 Comments

Our brand new Book of the Month is Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, and I’m super excited to get started! It’s hard to find time to read with a new baby, but I MADE time for Neverwhere. It was such a fun read—clever, imaginative, and an Alice in Wonderland retelling to boot! What’s not to love? 🙂

Even though most of the book is set in “London Below,” I decided to start things out with a fancy little dish from London Above: the mushroom vol-au-vents from Jessica’s gala. Vol-au-vents consist of puff pastry stuffed with (in this case) a creamy mushroom filling. They may look complicated, but they’re deceptively easy. Just bake some puff pastry shells, cook your mushroom mix in a pan while they bake, and fill the finished shells!

When I started looking up vol-au-vent recipes, I noticed that parsley was the most common herb people turned to for seasoning. To change things up, I decided to try fresh basil instead, and I loved the way it turned out! The basil flavor rose above the mushroom base without overpowering it, just how I wanted. I also noticed that a lot of people made their base from scratch, but I decided to take a little shortcut: cream of mushroom soup. The results were subtle, perfectly seasoned, and utterly delicious. Perfect for a sophisticated young lady like Jessica!

Tribble Energy Bites

Posted June 1, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 4 Comments

Fandom Foodies announced earlier this year that they would be doing a Star Trek recipe month this June. This was perfect, since I was already planning on doing a Star Trek TOS menu this month anyway! 🙂

[EDIT: Sooo it turns out the Fandom Foodies theme was changed to Game of Thrones? Lol! You should totally still check it out. There’s always good stuff on the Fandom Foodies linkups. I’m gonna keep doing Star Trek though, since I’ve been looking forward to it for so long. :)]

All the recipes I’ll be making this month are crowd-friendly finger foods, perfect for any Star Trek party.

We’re starting the month off with a Tribble-themed appetizer: cranberry almond energy bites coated in shredded coconut. It’s a recipe I came up with while I was pregnant with the Little Mister, when I needed a quick make-ahead recipe for postpartum breakfasts and snacks. It’s delicious, quick, and easy to customize based off what you already have in your cabinets. Plus, it looks just like those fuzzy little Tribbles: my favorite characters in all of Star Trek TOS!

Sabriel’s Dried Fruit

Posted May 4, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 11 Comments

Welcome to our latest Book of the Month: Sabriel, the first installment in Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom trilogy! Sabriel was on my TBR for years before I FINALLY got around to borrowing the audiobook from my library last September. It was sooo good! I love Sabriel as a main character, and did I mention that the audiobook is narrated by Tim Curry? So yeah, there’s that awesomeness too. Plus, some of the foods in the book sound SO delicious that I knew I wanted to make a menu for Sabriel here on blog. So here we go!

When Sabriel first visits the Old Kingdom, she must trek through the snowy, treacherous countryside to her father’s house. Her only sustenance: dried fruit and homemade toffee.

I’ve made fruit chips from apples before, but I’d never tried making more traditional dried fruit. Now seemed like as good a time as any to try! Plus, with a new baby taking up pretty much all my time, I could use some healthy, ready-made snacks to save for emergency munchies! 🙂

Magic Green Worms: Sour Gummy Worms from James and the Giant Peach

Posted April 6, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 6 Comments

Are y’all ready for a new Book of the Month? I’m really excited about this one. James and the Giant Peach is an old childhood favorite of mine, and when I reread it last year, I couldn’t help thinking what a great menu it would make!

For our first James and the Giant Peach recipe, I’m making an edible version of the “magic green things” he encounters at the beginning of the book. After all, they’re such an iconic part of the story, how could I leave them out?

These sour green gummy worms are my version of a blood orange gummy recipe from Steele House Kitchen. They’re quick to make and actually pretty healthy (they’re sweetened with honey instead of sugar). Plus, you can make them without a special mold! 🙂

Shepherd Book’s Goat Cheese & Basil Stuffed Strawberries: An AWR Original Recipe!

Posted March 2, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 4 Comments

Howdy, folks! Today’s recipe marks the start of our first TV show menu of the year. It’s themed after one of my favorite shows: Firefly!

The show is set in a dystopian future when mankind leaves Earth to terraform the universe. The arm of the law doesn’t really reach the outer systems, which have taken on an attitude toward law and justice reminiscent of the Wild West. The show follows the travels of the crew and passengers of the spaceship Serenity.

In the first episode, the ship’s mechanic convinces a preacher named Shepherd Book to travel with them, and he pays for his passage with something unusual: a small box of strawberries.

Little House Johnny Cake

Posted January 5, 2017 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 14 Comments

Welcome to our very first menu of 2017! I’m proud to announce that our new Book of the Month will be Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books.

I love all the hearty frontier food featured in the books—smoked venison, corn cakes, snow candy, and so much more! One food that stuck out to me in the Little House books was “johnny cake.” I’d never heard of it before, but the Ingalls family eats it while traveling to their new homestead, so it sounded like perfect pioneer food.

Mouse King Cheese Bites from the Nutcracker!

Posted December 15, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 12 Comments

These cute little cheese wedges are my tribute to The Nutcracker’s main antagonist: the Mouse King! They’re super easy to throw together and simply delicious. They’re also really easy to customize based on what you’ve got in your fridge (I found lots of different versions on Pinterest and altered them to suit my needs). Whip some up to enjoy while watching The Nutcracker…or for your next Christmas party!

Roasted Chestnuts from The Nutcracker!

Posted December 1, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 11 Comments

This month we’re making a menu for a play: The Nutcracker! The story is so well-known and beloved that I knew it would be downright sinful to pass up the chance to make a menu for it. Plus, what better way to get in the mood for Christmas than with some Nutcracker food?

When I was brainstorming Christmasy, Nutcracker-themed recipes, roasted chestnuts sprang to mind almost immediately. I’d never made roasted chestnuts before planning this menu, so I was really excited to try them. There’s a little bit of a trick to making them easy to peel, but the warm, savory nuts inside are well worth the extra effort.

P.S. I used a method outlined on Tori Avey’s blog, which you can check out here.

White Whales: Spicy Firecracker Shrimp in Crispy Egg Roll Wraps

Posted November 3, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 3 Comments

I’ll admit, firecracker shrimp wasn’t the first thing that came to mind when I started planning my Moby Dick menu. But while I was hunting for good ocean-themed appetizers, I saw a firecracker shrimp recipe from Picture the Recipe and was immediately smitten. With Moby Dick on the brain, I couldn’t help but look at the little shrimp wrapped in egg roll wraps and think they looked like little white whales! 🙂

So I cooked some up, and I’m SO glad I did. They might look hard to make, but each step is pretty easy (even the wrapping!). And they’re even easier to eat! The shell is crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and the perfectly cooked shrimp is gently spiced. Saving some to share with the Mister was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.

So eat up! We’ve got an ocean voyage to start! 🙂