Bunny and I made a trio of varieties this year, starting with a Milano Cortina 2026 fusion flavor that was filled with cannoli filling in honor of the host country of the Olympics:
We also made plum butter Berliner, filled with homemade Pflaumenmus, which was sehr lecker!
And our final variety was filled with our favorite Guinness mousse and topped with a chocolate glaze:
It was a tasty trio!
As long as I was already frying donuts, I also made German Mutzen from the Rhineland, which turned out very much like beignets:
And here’s a bonus look at our Mardi Gras dinner of “Bayou Queen Punch” and “Tiana’s Famous Gumbo” from Entertaining with Disney:
We had a nice day of feasting, and now we’re ready for Lent!
Time for a look at this year’s Star Wars celebration!
It began, of course, on May the Fourth, with two breakfast recipes from the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Cookbook. I made Keshian Spice Rolls….that color is all natural because there was a puréed beet in the dough! I also made an unusual coffee drink called “Sunrise Caf” which featured turmeric and five spice.
We had an afternoon treat of Cassius Tea Cookies from Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook…they’re kind of like sugar cookies, but with black sesame seeds!
Of course we had our favorite Ronto Wraps, with roast pork, sausage, Ronto Wrap slaw, and peppercorn sauce from Delicious Disney: Walt Disney World. The Ronto Wrapper flatbreads were based on the recipe from the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Cookbook, but I improvised a bit.
We also had a side of Yalbec Stingers from Star Wars: The Life Day Cookbook:
And every special dinner calls for a special drink…this time, we had the Aleen Firefly, which was a combination of pineapple juice, Sprite, and Jello cubes from Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook.
For dessert I made Kowakian Crumb Cake, a type of blueberry crisp from the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Cookbook.
I also had a special Her Universe outfit to celebrate the day!
You can’t celebrate May the Fourth without also celebrating The Revenge of the Fifth, so I picked a few more recipes from Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook. For dinner the main course was Nal Hutta Swamp Stew, which was a delicious pork stew with potatoes and roasted green chilies.
We also tried another new drink recipe, Seezelslak‘s Speciality, which was a light and refreshing smoothie made with coconut milk, frozen cantaloupe, and lime zest.
And for dessert, Ladybug made Cloud City Bread, which was like a cross between a meringue and a marshmallow, and so melt-in-your-mouth delicious!
I look forward to this fun little celebration every year!
Time for a look back at two days of Star Wars celebrations!
This year, I have a new cookbook, so many of the recipes are from Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook…as a matter of fact, unless other noted, all of them were! We started day one of the celebration, May the Fourth, with “Kand and Zand Rolls” and “Hyperspace Brew.”
I made “Kyber Scones” for a lunchtime treat:
I baked “Lira San Crackers” to go with dinner:
Our beverage of choice was the “Cantina Crush,” which is very similar to our favorite Brazilian lemonade recipe, but served over ice cubes instead of crushed ice:
For dinner, I made “Batuuan Ronto Wraps” with smoked sausage and roast pork, spicy slaw, and a peppercorn sauce, just like we had at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, according to the recipe from Delicious Disney: Walt Disney World. I served them in “Ronto Wrappers” according to the recipe from the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge cookbook.
For dessert we had “Carbonite ‘N’ Cream Pie,” which not only had chocolate and vanilla ice cream, but also Oreos!
Day two of the celebration, Revenge of the Fifth, isn’t quite as involved, but we still had a special drink, “Rim’s Edge.”
And a full dinner, featuring “Roasted Arkanian Tenderloin,” “Hynestia Spheres,” “Lammas Tree Bites,” and from the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge cookbook, “Mustafarian Lava Buns.”
For dessert I made “Lha-Mi Glacier Bars.”
The Star Wars days have really taken on a life of their own, and I tend to do as much food prep for them as I do a more commonly-observed holiday. I love that we’ve really made this celebration a big deal, and something we all look forward to!
I decided to do something different this year, and start the new school year on a Friday, so we could spend a day doing only the fun, first-day-of-school stuff, and not worry about diving into the work until next week. Last night, I made sure the school room was ready to go…I made a few minor changes this year, but for the most part, our setup is the same as it has been:
After we look through our materials for the year, pictures are always a priority:
I decided we needed a fun outing to kick things off, so we drove all the way to Livingston, IL (about 40 minutes away) to the Twistee Treat Diner at The Pink Elephant for ice cream cones. It’s on Historic Route 66, and we’ve driven by it every time we’ve gone to Chicago, and I thought the time was finally right to check it out!
Would it even be the first day of school if we didn’t build a Lego set? I decided the Disney Villains Icons set would be a nice bridge from our fairy tale themed summer school…it’s a very clever set, and the girls let me build the Sleeping Beauty part. We’ll just ignore the hard time they gave me over the VHS tape build!
A (poison) apple for the teacher!
Ladybug requested a special dinner from Lilo and Stitch: The Official Cookbook. She really wanted to try the Pelekai Sweet and Sour Pork, and it was excellent! I also made a super decadent, super chocolatey cheesecake for dessert.
I really liked starting the school year this way…it was nice not to have to immediately get started on our actual work! I think we just might do it this way again next year (which will be Ladybug’s last first day of school with me)!
Summer vacation is coming to an end, which means I won’t have as much time for cooking “fancy” dinners. So even though I still have a lot of recipes left to try in The Official Disney Parks Cookbook, here’s a look at the ones we’ve tried so far. Unlike Delicious Disney: Walt Disney World, a cookbook of recipes from only Disney World which was the inspiration behind many of our Disney Dinners last year, this cookbook contains recipes from Disneyland, Disney California Adventure and beyond, Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Disney’s Animal Kingdom and beyond, and other Disney locations including Vero Beach and Aulani.
Mini Strawberry Cheesecakes
Walt’s Chili and Beans
Shrimp Boil Tacos with Andouille Sausage and Corn
Honey Crunch Cake
Totchos
Tres Leches Cake
Key Lime Pie
Charred Nebraska Corn Chowder
Pork Goulash with Sauerkraut Pierogi
Caramel Hawaiian Sweet Bread Pudding
Chef Mickey’s Breakfast Pizza
Pink Leilani
S’mores Gelato Shake
Watermelon Lemonade
Goofy’s Kitchen Cherry Tomato and Bocconcini Salad
BLT Flatbread
Red, White, & Blue Sprinkle Whoopie Pies
Naan Bread with Cucumber Raita
Mango Lassi
Tomato Florentine Soup
Lemon Soda Float
The Hollywood Brown Derby Cobb Salad
Beef Sliders with Pimento Cheese
White Chocolate Peppermint Bar topped with Peppermint Meringue Kisses
I really love our Disney Dinners, and I’m really excited about the newest cookbook in this series, Delicious Disney: Disneyland, which comes out this fall!
One of our cooking projects this summer has been making recipes from Lilo and Stitch: The Official Cookbook. There are still plenty of recipes we haven’t tried, but here’s a look at the ones we’ve made so far:
Kaua’i Sugarloaf Pineapple Salsa
‘Ohana Fruit Salad
Blue Hawaiian
Dawn Patrol Loco Moco
Pā’ina Haupia Cake
Pleakley’s Pink Stuff Frosé
Braddah’s Baked Spaghetti
Luki’s Shaved Ice
The Green Flash
Easy-Kine Kālua Pork
Mahalo Hasagawa Matcha Brownies
Island Grilled Lemonade
Nani’s Spaghetti Salad
Comforting Butter Mochi
Gantu’s Galactic Brew
Black and Blue Seared ‘Ahi with Experimental Sweet Potato Mash
Guava Celebration Cake
Pudge’s Peanut Butter, Jelly, and Banana Sandwich
Rock-a-Hula Açai Bowls
Hapa Kine Strawberry and Basil Cooler Companions
We have definitely been introduced to some new flavors (guava was a huge favorite!), cooking techniques (I’ve never grilled lemons for lemonade before!), and even culinary science (butterfly pea tea has some very interesting properties!), through these recipes, which I love, and most of the recipes have been big hits!
Yesterday was a most anticipated day…it was Stitch Day!
In case you’re unfamiliar with this holiday, it’s a day in celebration of Experiment 626 (which is why it is celebrated on June 26), otherwise known as Stitch, of Lilo and Stitch fame. Last year, we just happened to be at the Magic Kingdom on Stitch Day, and it’s hard to top that, but Disney did just release Lilo & Stitch: The Official Cookbook last month, so I planned a special day of meals to celebrate our favorite alien-dog.
We started with ‘Ohana Fruit Salad, which had pineapple, lychees, pear, green apples, strawberries, and tangerines, and was tossed with coconut yogurt and served in a hollowed-out pineapple. It was really delicious!
Next was Kaua’i Sugarloaf Pineapple Salsa, served with plantain chips…I can’t wait to serve this with our next Mexican dinner, because it too was delicious!
Funny story about the drink I made…it’s called the Blue Hawaiian. Does it look blue to you? No matter how much of the blue vanilla syrup I added, I couldn’t get the pineapple and lemon juice based drink to change colors, not even to green! Even though the color wasn’t right, the drink itself was tropical and refreshing!
For dinner, I made Dawn Patrol Loco Moco. I’ve been wanting to try this Hawaiian dish of a hamburger patty served on rice and topped with gravy and a fried egg for a while, and we weren’t disappointed!
For dessert, we had the Pā’ina Haupia Cake, which had a lovely coconut filling. Bunny drew an outline of Stitch, and Ladybug copied it in royal icing to make the decoration for the top of the cake…they did a fantastic job!
We had a really fun time celebrating Stitch Day, and I can’t wait to try more recipes from the cookbook!
May the Fourth be with You! (But watch out for the Revenge of the Fifth!) We’ve had another fun two-day Star Wars Day(s) celebration. Most of the recipes we tried this year were new, starting with yesterday’s breakfast of Keshian Spice Bread from Star Wars: Galactic Baking (a new cookbook in our collection):
Dinner last night was a repeat (but so worth it)…I made Ronto Wrappers (flatbreads) from the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge cookbook, and Batuuan Ronto Wraps from The Official Disney Parks Cookbook (just like we had at Disney World last summer and so delicious):
I also made the iconic Star Wars Blue Milk from a recipe on the Disney Food Blog…this one was pretty hit or miss, but it looked pretty!
Dessert was Hoth Cocoa Cream Puffs from Star Wars: Galactic Baking…they were amazing!
For dinner tonight, I made Nerf Kebabs from the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge cookbook, and served Wawaatt Sprouts from The Life Day Cookbook with them:
I modified the recipe for Lothal Spicebrew from the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge cookbook to make it non-alcoholic…it was much more popular than last night’s drink!
For dessert, I baked Sith Cookies from Star Wars: Galactic Baking. The were soft and delicious.
This has become one of my favorite bonus holiday celebrations, and I’m really excited that there’s another Star Wars cookbook coming out later this year, so we can try even more recipes!
Last year, I cooked a whole series of “Disney Dinners,” using Delicious Disney: Walt Disney World as one of my primary inspirations for Disney-themed meals and desserts. Well, Delicious Disney has a new offering this year…The Official Disney Parks Cookbook, so I’m back at it. Here’s a look at one of the first recipes I made from the book: Shrimp boil tacos with andouille sausage and corn from the On the Cob Marketplace stand at Disney California Adventure’s Food & Wine Festival:
No Disney Dinner is complete without a Disney Dessert, so Ladybug and I also made a Honey Crunch Cake from the California Grill at Disney’s Contemporary Resort:
Both of these recipes were amazing, and I’m looking forward to trying more recipes from the cookbook in the future!
As hard as it is to believe (since it seems like we just celebrated Christmas), Lent is upon us already. But first, let’s take a look at Mardi Gras 2023 in the Markel house!
As I did last year, I made plum Berliner instead of pączki. I’m not saving myself any work by doing so, but I like the Berliner a little more.
I don’t understand why the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Festivale event is on Monday and not either the weekend or Tuesday, but I had a fun time hanging out with Pavé!
For dinner, I turned back to two of our favorite recipes from the Entertaining with Disney cookbook…Tiana’s Famous Gumbo and Bayou Queen Punch:
For dessert I made a King cake. I couldn’t find quite the shade of green sugar I wanted, but it was still pretty and tasted great!
Now that the celebration is over, I guess it’s time to really buckle down for Lent.
