Monday

Happy Halloween Wishes to You!

Magic Kingdom, Pumpkin Display, Fall Display, Focused on the Magic
Welcome, foolish mortals! Happy Halloween! 

It's time for tricks and treats and crazy costumes. We've had some tricky weather here in the NE over the weekend in what we're calling, Snowtober. I've had power outages but thankfully I'm baaack! 

The kids were in for a treat with school closings in the area due to snow, downed power lines and toppled trees. Trick or treating will be a challenge for the little ones though as they'll be running through slick streets filled with tree branches in cold temps. 

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween, MNSSHP, Focused on the Magic


Wishes, Disney Fireworks, Magic Kingdom, Focused on the Magic

More treats in Halloween links from around the blah-haha-ghostphere:

If you are overwhelmed by the thought of doing Halloween makeup check out these makeup tips from the experts on Halloween cosmetology

Have you carved your pumpkin yet? Ours are all homegrown and soft so we'll be carving or smashing later today. Here you'll find the mother load of Disney pumpkin carving templates

Disney Fall Display, Disney Pumpkin, Magic Kingdom, MNSSHP, Focused on the Magic


You may also enjoy our post~ Halloween Decorations around the Magic Kingdom in Disney World and our Halloween themed Wordless Wednesday~ Fall and Wordless Wednesday ~ Villains

Which brings me to the classic Halloween in the NE question all parents have dealt with.....Do they wear their costumes over or under the coat... or even worse the dreaded snowsuit!?

 Halloween Earhat, Disney Halloween Mickey Ears, Focused on the Magic
Enjoy! 

Saturday

Virtual Food & Wine Festival ~ Germany




Welcome to The Virtual Food & Wine Festival. In honor of Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival a few Disney bloggers have gathered together their special culinary talents and prepared a virtual F&W Festival! 

You're all invited to visit each blog and virtually eat your way around the World Showcase! Please visit all of our blogs and leave comments on our dishes. 

During the Food and Wine festival each fall, the number of snack offerings around the World Showcase is dizzying. One of our all time favorites is the Apple Strudel from Germany served with Karamel Sauce and Vanilla Sauce.

My MIL always made the best strudel and she encouraged me to try making it myself. Her recipe included making the dough from scratch, which was way beyond my abilities. Well, very sadly my MIL passed away a year ago. In her memory and my husband's prodding, I decided to give Apple Strudel a try. It also helped that I found a fabulous recipe in The Cooking With Mickey Volume II from Caffe Villa Verde in the Disneyland Hotel using filo dough. 



Apple Strudel with Filo Dough


Yield: 1 strudel
Preheat oven to 400º


Ingredients:


1 pound apples, thinly sliced
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
5 sheets filo dough
1/2 cup butter, melted
Whipped cream or custard sauce
*optional ingredients:
1/4 cup raisins or cranberries
1/2 teaspoon Apple Pie Spice


Peel and core fresh apples. Cut each into wedges, then into thin slices.
 


Combine cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle with two thirds of the cinnamon and sugar mixture and mix lightly. Mix in Apple Pie Spice and cranberries or raisins. Set aside.


On a clean kitchen towel, put a single layer of filo dough. Brush with melted butter.
Place another sheet of dough on top and repeat, until all five have been layered with butter.
Keep filo dough under a moist kitchen towel after the package is opened and while working.
Place apple mixture on upper third of filo dough layers.
Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon and sugar mixture and roll dough, using the kitchen towel to lift the dough as tightly as possible around the apples.



Place rolled dough, seam side down on a buttered baking sheet and brush with remaining butter. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and sugar on the top of the roll.



Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve hot with whipped cream or custard sauce.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kitchen Notes: Using cranberries was too tart. Raisins would have been better. A baking mat or parchment paper was essential, as cleaning up the caramelized sugar would have been awful if not impossible. This recipe made two strudels. If the filo leaves were wider it might make one strudel but may have been more difficult to roll. I used my Mickey kitchen towel with a waffle texture. Next time I'll use a pastry cloth to roll the dough. It would absorb less and might give me a tighter, better-looking roll. 


The strudel was a huge hit in my house and I'm so glad I finally tried it. I even made another one after this as a special birthday request. DS gave me the ultimate compliment when he said,
It tasted like it was fresh from Grandma's kitchen.




Now it's time to continue virtually eating your way around ºoº World Showcase. Bon Appetit!

Thursday

The ABC's of Disney ~ The Letter Q


Today, we're focused on the magic of Disney ABC's!
We're moving along through the alphabet focusing each week on alphabet letter inspired posts. This week's letter is "Q"
Timothy Q. Mouse

Tuesday

Wordless Wednesday ~ Villains


Sunday

Epcot's Food and Wine Festival ~ Greece and Spanakopita


Welcome to The Virtual Food & Wine Festival. In honor of Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival a few Disney bloggers have gathered together their special culinary talents and prepared a virtual F&W Festival! You're all invited to visit each blog and virtually eat your way around the World Showcase! Please visit all of our blogs and leave comments on our dishes.


___________________
One country that always stands out in my mind when sampling my foodie favorites in the World Showcase is Greece. As many of you may know I lived in Greece on Crete for a short time. It was at a time when I was just learning how to cook beyond the basics and experiment with new dishes. One of my favorite party foods became spanakopita. 

It can be served as an hors d'oueuvres, a light meal even breakfast. You can find it at the Greece kiosk during the F&W Festival and it's only 1 snack credit! 
Spanakopita
Prep Time:30 Min Cook Time:
Ready In:1 Hr 5 Min

Serves 8



Ingredients: 

2 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon olive oil  
1 small onion, chopped  
3 green onions
1 clove garlic
1 dash lemon juice
8 oz fresh spinach stems removed or 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach - thawed, drained and squeezed dry  
(4 ounce) package feta cheese, crumbled 
1/2 cup Ricotta cheese
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 egg, lightly beaten 
salt and pepper to taste  
1/2 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough 
3-1/2 ounces butter, melted or Olive oil

Directions:


 Preheat the oven to 350º F (175º C).
 Heat 2T of butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Slowly cook and stir onions and garlic until softened and clear. Mix in spinach. Cook until the spinach is wilted. Remove from heat and let cool. About 10 min.

Chop the cooled spinach mixture finely by hand. A machine just makes a gooey mess of it. Press the spinach mixture with a wooden spoon in a colander to drain. If you're using frozen spinach or baby spinach it will be more moist so really press the moisture out.
Chop the feta cheese till it's crumbled.

Mix in feta cheese, ricotta cheese, egg and salt and pepper.
See the Hidden Mickey's in the towel?
Separate one sheet of phyllo from the stack and evenly brush with a light coating of butter or oil. I used olive oil but you can also use Canola Cooking spray on the sheets. Place another sheet of phyllo over the butter or oil and press the two sheets together. Cut the layered phyllo dough into long strips about 3 inches wide using a pizza cutter. Keep the remaining phyllo covered with wax paper and a damp tea towel to keep it from drying out.
  • Lay out one strip of phyllo at a time on your work surface (I use wax paper) with one of the narrow ends close to you. 
  • Place a heaping tablespoon of filling 1 inch from the end closest to you. 
  • Fold the bottom right corner over the filling to the left edge to form a triangle. 
  • Fold the triangle up, bringing the point at the bottom left up to rest along the left edge. 
  • Turn the lower left corner over to touch the right edge. 
  • Continue turning the triangle over in this manner until you reach the end of the phyllo. Folding it as you would a flag. Repeat with the remaining filling and phyllo dough.






  • Place filled phyllo dough triangles on a large baking sheet with seams facing down and brush with the remaining butter or oil. 
  • Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 20-25 minutes.

I froze some of these for DH's birthday on Tuesday. Just put them on a baking sheet cover and place them in the freezer. When you're ready, brush them with oil and heat them up at 350º for 10-20 min.






ºoº

ºoº
Bon Appetit!
~Deb

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