Castle Connections Travel: Mama Melrose

I love taking this food journey with Ruby Anne...all the yummy, no calories (for me!)

Click here for her website

Click here for her Facebook page

Dinner at Mama Melrose located in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. 
On previous visits Lindsay and I have shared a Pepperoni Flatbread and the Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce. This time my friend Jeff and I had the Wood-Grilled Chicken and Penne Pasta AND the Shrimp Campanelle. Both were good but very heavy on the sauce. 
Since alcohol is included on the dining plan, we ordered the Magical Star Cocktail (I ended up giving the electric ice cube to the sweet little girl seated next to us) and the Italian Surfer - again both good drinks, not to weak or strong. 
For dessert I had the Dessert Sampler (Valencia Blood Orange Cake, Lemon Cheesecake topped with Passion Fruit Pearls and Tiramisu) and my friend had the Chocolate and Cherry Torte which was beyond sweet! All in all a good meal, but next time I think I will try the steak.... table next to us had ordered and it looked yummy!!!

Castle Connections Travel: O'Hana

Ruby Anne's next amazing food adventure while at Disney

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Dinner at O’Hana last night at the Polynesian Resort. This is one of my personal favorites. They start you out with a loaf of friendship bread - it is made made from pineapple and coconut but we didn’t eat a lot of it as we didn’t want to fill up on bread. Next out was a bowl of salad with a Lilikoi dressing. Followed by a dish with fresh veggies, honey-coriander chicken wings, pork dumplings and teriyaki noodles. Then comes the fire grilled meats: giant shrimp, chicken and steak. And yes it’s all you can eat. Just when you think you cannot or eat another bite, they bring out desert which is O’Hana Bread Pudding topped with ice cream and a Banana Caramel Sauce.
We had the classic Lapu Lapu (alcohol drink at O’Hana inside a pineapple) especially because alcohol is included on the food plan.

Wait staff was excellent as always and loved hearing the roaming Polynesian ukulele playing singer!! Can’t wait til next next trip to eat here again!

Castle Connections Travel: Be Our Guest (be our guest, put our service to the test)

Do we all remember way back in 2015 when my friend Ruby-Anne was a guest blogger?
If not, check it out here!

She co-owns Castle Connections Travel and is all about everything Disney!
She's there now and is posting her trip, come follow along!

Click here for her website

Click here for her Facebook page

Today she went to Be Our Guest! 


Had lunch at Be Our Guest today. We did not pre-order, chose to order when we got to the restaurant. You are given a magic rose that the waiters are able to locate you with when your food is ready. We had the French Onion Soup, Croque Monsieur and the Carved Turkey Sandwich. All 3 were fantastic and the wait staff phenomenal!! You can dine in the Ball Room, the West Wing or the Rose Gallery Room. If you would like to eat at this awesome restaurant AND plan a magical Walt Disney World vacation give us a call toll free at 888-919-5590 or locally at 678-957-7500.

Great baking tips

As we embark on the great holiday baking season, my friend over at "A Day in the Life of Jennay" posted some amazing baking tips.
Some of them seem simple, but as I read them I did a checklist in my head, and come to find out, she reminded me of a lot of things I should make sure of before I start baking away!
Visit her site here
Visit the original post here

She has a great blog with tons of DIY, Photography, and Recipes. Check it out!

Reposted from "A Day in the Life of Jennay"

Baking Tips for the Holidays!!

My favorite holiday baking hints and tips:

• Stock up on food storage containers-I use Glad products.  Sign up for e-mail with Glad and get a $1 off coupon-go here!
• find your recipes and make a grocery list so that you will have everything you need when you start to bake-it’s no fun having to run out and get more supplies while you are in the middle of baking!
• stock up on Plastic Wrap by Saran…I like to get the red and green colored wrap around the holidays-very festive!
• clean up and organize your kitchen prior to your baking session-this makes it easier to find storage for all those cookies you are baking!
• if you are making your own cookie dough like me…spend a day making several batches of logs and freeze them so that when your ready to bake the cookies all you need to do is grab them out of the freezer!  No defrosting necessary!
• make sure your flour, sugar, and spices are not expired-replace if necessary
• purchase extra cookie sheets (I have about 6)-this will help if you are making several different kinds of cookies in one day
• Parchment paper, Parchment paper, Parchment paper…is a must!!  Not only does it minimize cleaning, the cookies bake faster and you can reuse the sheet for the next batch of cookies!  Seriously, invest in it!!
• Besides Glad food storage containers-find unique ways to wrap those beauties up for gift giving-I’ll be showing some really fun ways to do this up on my blog in the next few weeks!  Stay tuned!
• I always misplace my potholders and oven mitts -so I like to keep extra sets around for the holiday season.
• Don’t overload the oven-if you have to bake more than one cookie sheet full of cookies at a time-make sure to rotate the cookie sheets halfway through baking.  This makes sure that the cookies bake evenly.
• Don’t over bake…make sure to keep an eye on the cookies-every oven is different!
• Cool cookies completely PRIOR to storing.

Hope these help you out with your holiday baking adventures!!

A super cute cartoon to enjoy!!

Cartoon source

Layered Shrimp Dip

Another guest blog from Lisa C!




Layered shrimp Dip



She says:
This recipe is one of my mom’s and is a favorite of ours that we serve for the holiday’s.



1 package cream cheese softened

1 green pepper diced

1 small white onion diced

1 can baby shrimp (drained)

1 bottle of cocktail sauce



Directions:

Spread softened cream cheese on a plate, layer diced green pepper, diced onion and baby shrimp. Pour cocktail sauce over the top and spread neatly so ingredients are covered.



Serve with crackers of your choice. I find stone-ground wheat or Carr’s table water crackers are the best.

Click here to print

Broccoli and Ham Ring

Guest blogger is Lisa C!

This is dish she makes all the time...2 and 3 batches at a time. Even people who don't like one of the ingredients enjoys it!

Lisa Says:

The Thing (Broccoli & Ham Ring)




My signature recipe!! LOL well not actually.. not totally mine so to speak it actually is a Pampered Chef recipe that I have been making for several years now so it has become my signature as my family and friends just love it!!. I also put my own spin on it so it’s not exact to the Pampered Chef’s. Funny because it has been given the name The Thing because when I ask what I can bring to get togethers with friends I always get well your thing of course. Makes me happy that something that is so easy to make brings smiles to so many faces.



1lb Boiled Ham chopped

1lb Swiss Cheese chopped

1package chopped broccoli

½ cup diced onion

2 cans crescent rolls.



Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine ingredients in bowl. Unroll crescent rolls and arrange in a circle on a round baking stone. Scoop mixture onto crescent rolls. Fold over mixture and tuck under. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cut and then serve.

Click here to print

Caprese Salad Appetizer Skewer

Guest blogger!
Melissa Casalinuova sent me this recipe with her story. We all tried these at my house the other weekend during the Patriots game. These skewers cause good karma...Pats beat the Jets!

Melissa says:

OK...let's see.....we were at a Baby Christening Party at Glenn's cousin Michelle's house. Her youngest was being celebrated when a neighbor I believe came over with an appetizer for everyone. Now I of course thought, what a great idea....and how come I didn't think of it first LOL. Well anyways, it was a HUGE hit with everyone....and super easy to make!

Two containers of Cherry Tomato's or Grape tomato's


Two containers of small mozzarella balls or pearls



A bunch of Fresh Basil



Wooden skewers



Start with a cherry tomato....then if using the pearls use two and slide down to the tomato.

Next put a small piece of basil ( always rip basil with fingers so not to bruise it with a knife)

Then another Tomato....then two more mozzarella ( if using bigger mozzarella, only use one)

Season with Sea Salt, Fresh cracked pepper and good extra virgin olive oil......you don't need a lot

Enjoy!




Click here for printable version