When Tony’s on Main Street first opened in the Magic Kingdom in 1989, I was thrilled as Italian food is among my favorites. But somehow on our 1990 trip, we didn’t make it there. Not even once. This only added to its mythology to me as an exclusive, impossibly romantic restaurant with old-school Italian grandmothers laboring in love over handmade pasta. Continue reading “A Delectable Disney Classic: Tony’s Town Square Lasagna” →
Now that we’re all cooking about five meals a day during Staycation 2020, this favorite pasta salad emerged this week as one the kids can make. I’m not sure that it was even on the menu at Disney’s Kona Cafe, but it showed up as a side dish during lunch for many years. We have a beloved tradition of eating at Kona Cafe on our first day of arrival, and I would start craving this by the time we were crossing I-10. Of course, this was all before they made those most dreadful menu changes. Hey, at least the sticky wings are back. Continue reading “Easy Disney Cooking: Kona Cafe Hawaiian Pasta Salad” →
Store-bought frozen bread dough, a butter bath, and thick layers of cinnamon-sugar yielded our family’s greatest indulgence of 2020. I’ve had the original famous Dollywood Cinnamon Bread at the Grist Mill at Pigeon Forge, and never dreamed it could be this good at home. I actually served it after a full meal earlier in the week, and once my son had a bite, he screamed, “Oh my goodness. DAD! DAD! You have to come try this NOW.” With a little bit left by bedtime, we finished it off for breakfast. Continue reading “OMG I Made Dollywood’s Cinnamon Bread and It Was THAT Good” →
How can such an African culinary staple be the favorite of so many who visit Disney’s Boma restaurant at Animal Kingdom Lodge? Well, quite simply, I think of Bobotie as an exotic meatloaf with a custardy-lovefest on top. And what a perfect dinner it is for Valentine’s Day, served with saffron rice, a light salad, and a banana-based dessert. Continue reading “Bomalicious African Bobotie – A Disney Recipe for Love” →
A psychologist once told me that we don’t really reach adulthood until about 27 years old. That exactly coincides with the time that you’re expected to have absolutely perfected a few soul-healing dishes. Well, at least that’s how we do it in the south. These are the chicken casseroles, the cakes, and the deviled eggs you take to church homecomings, reunions and funerals. But mac and cheese is such an important part of such gatherings that you can’t afford to be meh. I mean you wouldn’t want a 2-star mac and cheese showing up at your funeral, would you? How distressing and tacky. Continue reading “Disney’s Most Comforting Dish: Art Smith’s Homecomin’ Mac & Cheese” →
Word has it that the third Monday in January is the most depressing day of the year, and we’ve surely gotten off to a blue start in 2020. With 5:30 sunsets, freezing nights, and news of bigly foreign conflicts, Fantasyland seems farther away than ever. I think that weeks like this may be why God created soup sometime back in 18th-century France. And of all the soup that Disney has made, this Baked Potato Soup one ranks right up there with Boma’s Oxtail Stew and Le Cellier’s Cheddar Soup as the most comforting. Continue reading “January Blues Cure: Disneyland’s Loaded Baked Potato Soup with Caramelized Leeks” →
Let’s just go ahead and admit that back in the day we never had the pine cone shape cheese concoction. My aunts and grandmothers always showed up to soirees and funerals with the round kind – almost always covered in tiny pieces of chopped pecans. By the late 1990s, cheese balls had nearly disappeared from the tablescape, replaced by the block of cream cheese covered with hot pepper jelly. But like deviled eggs and retro Disney tees, (affiliate link) the cheeseball is making an old-school comeback. And for a campground festive spread, these pine cones are easy and beg to be photographed. Continue reading “Retro Campground Christmas: Pineapple Pine Cone Cheeseball” →
Every now and again, I venture away from my beloved mashed potatoes, which is go-to comfort food. Now, this recipe is about as southern as it gets, a suppertime staple of my Great-Aunt Eula who grew up on the tobacco farms of South Georgia. Its simplicity, with just five ingredients, is mighty deceiving. It wants for nothing more, and is another example of how we have overcomplicated our meals, at the expense of both time and money. Continue reading “Tillamook Buttered Suppertime Potatoes” →
My late father was a bit of a cowboy, and had been to the altar three times before he passed away at the age of 38. Now his second wife (my step-mother) was probably the kindest and most traditionally wonderful of the three wives. A school teacher. A Sunday school teacher. A beauty queen. A whole lot like Cinderella herself. Every Christmas she baked dozens of pecan pies, and hand delivered them to everyone she knew. She grew up among pecan orchards in Georgia, and had perfected the art. Yet, no one’s pies could ever measure up to hers. This drove the Third Wife particularly crazy – she was fiercely jealous of the Second Wife and had convinced herself that it that pecan pie that kept Cowboy Daddy looking back over his shoulder. Continue reading “Second Wife’s Southern Pecan Pie” →
This is my slightly-adapted version of my great-aunt’s recipe for Mississippi Mud. We had it so many times at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground that we started calling it Marshmallow Marsh Cake. As you may remember, Marshmallow Marsh was a splendid evening event at the campground where guests paddled canoes to a spot on Bay Lake, roasted marshmallows, watched fireworks and sang old-time ditties. It disappeared some time in the 1980s, along with make-your-own pizza, the trams, and other favorites. Continue reading “70s Recipe Flashback: Marshmallow Marsh Cake” →
