food

BEST DISNEY WORLD DINING TIPS: Top Ten {Tuesday}

by oh amanda on April 25, 2011

in disney

Top Ten {Tuesday}

Last September I did a post about Best Disney Websites. And honestly, I didn’t have a long list. I’m kind of a newbie when it comes to the Internet-Disney subculture. Most of you real Disney fans were properly shocked by my naivete then proceeded to DEMAND that I read The Disney Food Blog.

I did and promptly fell in love.

The food at Disney MAY be my most favorite thing. And the Disney Food Blog highlights every bit of Disney-food there is! We’re talking snacks, meals, drinks and planning. When we were on vacation in September, I pulled up the Disney Food Blog on Les’ phone more times than I can count!

Well, when I was at Disney Social Media Moms Celebration (Cinderella’s Castle Day 2 *is* underway and will be up this week!) I finally got to meet the author of the Disney Food Blog, AJ Wolfe! She is delightful and I decided we must do something together. Which worked out perfectly because she just released the MOST FABULOUS ebook EVER.

Disney World Dining Help

I read it all and learned so many new things I’m going to start searching out answers on the Moms Panel about food! Not to mention it made me so excited about our upcoming trip in December! I think I’m going to plan our trip around restaurants and meals I need to eat!

So, before I read the book I thought, “I’ll do a post about some of my favorite Disney restaurants and meals. Then I’ll mention the Disney Food Blog Guide Ebook, etc.” But the book is SO good that basically this post is going to be about the ebook with an aside to me and my favorites. I’m telling you, if you are going to Disney World and plan on eating there YOU NEED THIS BOOK. Here we go:

The Top Ten Things You Need To Learn From The Disney Food Blog Guide & A Little Bit of Stuff From OhAmanda

{nice one, huh?}

1. The Disney Dining Plan

I told you we did the Dining Plan on our trip in September. It was free when you booked a room and bought tickets. And to me it was worth every single penny and every single calorie. The food was divine, the service excellent and the experience unparalleled.

Well, apparently, I may have missed out on some savings! AJ gives an awesome rundown of the cost of the Disney Dining Plan–whether or not it’s a deal for you and your family. If the FREE Dining is worth it and more. She actually gives charts with prices to help you decide!

2. Top 5

kouzzina

You know I love me some lists. (Clearly.) And if I had to choose my Top 5 Disney Restaurants, it would be tough. Especially because I haven’t eaten at all of them. But I’ll give it a stab anyway. Here’s a list within a list for ya:

1. 50′s Prime Time Cafe {I can’t help it. I’ll never get over the surprise of my waiter yelling at me.}
2. Akershus (Breakfast) {Maybe it was because of Lydia’s love for it? Plus, I love breakfast.}
3. Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue {Best of the best!}
4. Boma {It’s at the Animal Kingdom Lodge! And so much food! SO MUCH FOOD!}
5. Kouizzina {I’ve been there 3 times, so I kinda feel like an expert.}

If my list doesn’t do it for you–AJ has TONS of these Top 5 lists…for counter service, character meals, table service and more. She’s speaking my love language.

3. Itinerary

The other day I read a question on the Moms Panel site where someone asked if they thought they could eat at 3 sit-down meals in Epcot in one day. I don’t know if it was possible or not, but I sure would want to try! AJ gives some sample itineraries for your meals–where to eat (and what to get) if you are at each of the parks, at some of the resorts, if you are trying to save money, if you are a vegetarian or if you have a large group.

4. SNACKS

Ok, I love the meals. I love sit-down dinners. But I can down some snacks. I made certain we did not waste our snack credits on frivolous snacks like bottled water or *gag* turkey legs! I wanted the most fun and interesting snacks we could find. And Disney Food Blog came to my rescue. We had the carrot cake cookie at Hollywood Studios…

hollywood studios snacks

The Zebra Cupcake at Animal Kingdom…

disney world food

and the Cinnamon Roll from Main Street Bakery. And fudge. And Mickey Mouse Rice Krispies Treats dipped in chocolate. And more…and more!

5. Specialty Meals, Events & More

The Food and Wine Festival at Epcot is FULL of great food (ok, I’ve only been once and it was like 10 years ago and I was with my 70 year old grandmother, so I don’t really remember much of the food). Every holiday serves up new and exciting foods. You wanna know about how to get a birthday cake delivered to your table? Propose to your girlfriend at dinner? Watch the fireworks from your table? AJ tells you every bit of it in her ebook.

However, she did NOT mention these special Halloween cupcakes we bought while we were there. In honor of my favorite Wicked Witch’s sister (I have a favorite Wicked Witch?!)…

wizard of oz cupcake

6. Printables

You know I’m a sucker for a printable. And AJ includes some for budgeting, booking, calendaring and even brainstorming your meals. My little fill-in-the-blank heart is pitter-pattering right now!

7. Reviews

On the Moms Panel, people always ask about our favorite restaurants. Or the best restaurant for a certain age-group. (See, here’s one I answered about best character meals!) The DFB Guide includes reviews of EVERY RESTAURANT ON PROPERTY. Are you kidding me?!

8. Dining With Kids

disney food kids

There’s picky eaters, no naps, missed bedtimes, too much sugar and more to deal with when you are eating with kids at Disney. The DFB Guide covers all of it and more–the character meals, picky and adventurous eaters, baby food and even baby-sitting! Lydia’s favorite thing about the kids’ meals is that they were always served on a Mickey Mouse shaped plate!

9. ADRs

For the uninitiated, ADRs are Advanced Dining Reservations. You NEED these for certain meals (like if you want to eat at Cinderella’s Royal Table or with Chef Mickey)! We were hoping for a character breakfast to end our vacation. But I couldn’t get anything. I ended up calling EVERY SINGLE DAY while we were at Disney and finally got 1900 Park Fare (see my #momfail on that one) the day before!

10. Money Back Guarantee AND Coupon Code

The DFB Guide is 250 pages (including TONS of links and full color photos). And it is $18.95 which I admit, is kinda steep for an e-book. BUT if you don’t like the book or you don’t think it’s helpful, you can get your money back! (But believe me you will NOT want your money back!) And you can get $4 off with the code: OhAmanda.

OH! AND I’M GIVING ONE AWAY TODAY! Wanna win?

Enter to win a Disney Food Blog’s Guide to Walt Disney World Dining Ebook (do one or all, leave a separate comment for each):

  • Leave a comment. What’s your favorite Disney food? restaurant? meal?
  • Tweet it! I’m hungry for DISNEY! I need the @DisneyFoodBlog’s new ebook! @oohamanda is giving 1 away! http://bit.ly/OhDisFood
  • Share on Facebook. It’s easy – just click the “Like” button at the bottom of this post! You can even add a status update with it!

Contest ends Saturday, April 30.

disney world food

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Let’s see your Top Ten! WRITE it on your blog. Then LINK back to me somewhere in the post (you can use my button or just a text link, I don’t mind) so others can play along. Finally, come back and PASTE your url in the linky below. And if you wanna up the fun factor, start visiting and commenting, stumbling and tweeting, facebook liking and sharing the rest of the Top Ten Tuesday’s participants!

disney vacation


Disclosure: I was given the DFB ebook to facilitate this review. I am also an affiliate–anyone can be oneI really was going to just add the book as a post-script to this post but I loved it so much it became my main feature! It’s that good! All opinions my own. I am not a Disney employee.

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Anyone remember the fabulousness of my Rice Krispies Fruity Shortcakes? I know, you’ve probably been dreaming of them the last few months. Well, never fear, I have come up with a new CHRISTMASY version of Rice Krispies treats that you are going to LOVE.

See, Rice Krispies and The Motherhood contacted all the bloggers who had done those Springy treats (and some other seasonal challenges) to do a show-stopping Christmas treat. And although, I’m not super creative in the food department, I like a little show-stopping Christmasy challenge.

As I was thinking about this TWO things came to mind—first was this cute little craft Lydia and I were planning on making this year—it was a craft-foam gingerbread man inside a snowglobe. It’s something we found for 75% off after Christmas last year. I figured I could make some gingerbread men Rice Krispies and put them in a snowglobe!

But then something EVEN BETTER came to mind—my very favorite cookie from the Fickle Pickle! Anyone remember it? (Because I’ve blogged about it several times and just tweeted it last week!) OK, fine, you don’t know every single thing I love by heart–but if you’d ever had their CHOCOLATE GINGERBREAD COOKIE you’d never forget it!

So, that’s what we did. We made TWO batches of Rice Krispies Treats. One gingerbread and one CHOCOLATE gingerbread! Ready for the deliciousness?

Here’s what you need:

6 cups of Rice Krispies
1 bag of marshmallows
4 tablespoons of butter
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon molasses
1/4 cup cocoa {optional for Chocolate Gingerbread}
Assorted frosting, candy, etc for decoration

The key here is mixing all your spices in with the butter. Once the butter is melted, just stir the spices in until your butter is nice and…spicy. Then add the marshmallows and coat. Then stir until melted. Keep it on low the whole time otherwise your treats will get crunchy. I don’t know why, but it’s true. Look how yummy that is:

gingerbread rice krispies treats

After adding the Rice Krispies, I poured them into a baking dish and cut out gingerbread man shapes. A jelly roll pan might be a little easier for using cookie cutters because the treats would be thinner. If you were really crafty, you might be able to mold them into gingerbread people shapes, but I couldn’t figure it out. You saw my Rice Krispies Cannonballs, I could barely make circles!

gingerbread rice krispies

Lydia loved the fruit-by-the-foot and the marshmallows (I cut them in thirds with scissors so the colored sugar would stick to it!). Asa just liked picking up the candy and eating it. Pretty sure he didn’t even decorate his gingerpeople.

rice krispies gingerbread
Lydia’s creation!

Somehow only 2 of my gingerfolk escaped my stomach long enough to have their picture taken. And get their picture taken they did—inside a winter wonderland snowglobe! It’s just a big clear round bowl I found at Michael’s. I poured a little glitter in it and swirled it around. It made it sparkle and shimmer. Then I attached a cute snowflake ornament, added a little bit of that snowy cotton stuff and I think our little Ginger couple are as Christmas-y, wintery as can be!

rice krispies christmas

I used cut mini-marshmallows and green sugar for the gingerbread person on the right. Along with some red fruit-by-the-foot-straps. The chocolate gingerbread guy on the right looks a littlThen I laid out the candy (in a muffin tin, my fave!) and let the kids have at it. e Santa Claus-ish with a fruit-by-the-foot tunic, edible pearl belt and green M&M buttons. Oh, and don’t forget his cut marshmallows with red sugar for shoes.

Even if you didn’t want to do gingerbread people and all the {amazing} decorations we did, you could still do the gingerbread or chocolate gingerbread flavoring. It was really easy, the flavor was light and not overwhelming. It’s just nice and Christmasy. In fact, I took the leftovers to church last Sunday (not a very pretty presentation, mind you, because I had just stuffed all of them in a ziploc bag) but everyone who tasted them loved them! (Am I right, ladies?)

I will be making these for Christmas this year. Seriously, they are yummy, Christmasy and simple to make! What? You’d like to make them, too? Well, Rice Krispies is giving a $100 Visa Giftcard to one of you–just think of all the Rice Krispies treats you could make! Just leave me a comment with how awesome you think my gingerbread men are a fun way you’ve seen or made Rice Krispies treats!

Abbreviated Rules: No Purchase Necessary. Contest Ends Tuesday 12/21/10. For complete Official Rules, go to http://web.mediacdt.com/docs/motherhoodholiday. Open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and District of Columbia who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry. One entry per person. Subject to complete Official Rules. Void where prohibited. Sponsor: The Motherhood; www.TheMotherhood.com.

Disclosure: Thank you to Rice Krispies and The Motherhood for providing me with Rice Krispies galore and a stipend to fund my creation!

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One Last Thing Before Thanksgiving…or is it Christmas?

by oh amanda on November 24, 2010

in me

DSC_0089

{this picture has nothing to do with the post, other than I’m thankful for adorable Woody pajamas!}

The kids are watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, I’ve got a list of food to cook and there are 5 boxes of Christmas decorations sitting in our dining room. How has Thanksgiving become the starting line for Christmas? Poor overlooked Thanksgiving.

We were going to get our tree today–my husband demands that the tree sit in the garage for 24 hours before we put it up. Supposedly the branches fall down to their right position and something else really important. I think it’s just torture to have a blank Christmas tree in the garage. (Oh, but we’re not getting it because he’s going to a concert tonight…Hmph.)

Anyway, I found the most awesome Christmas tree lot this year!  The mens’ small groups from a local church go to Boone, NC to collect trees then they all volunteer to sell the trees throughout the season and all the money goes to to local charities that help abused children and exploited girls. I’m so excited about it!

The reason I even looked it up is because a few years ago we bought our tree and all the money went to Young Life. I just hate the idea of spending $50 on a dead tree that is in your house for 3 weeks. Talk about a waste of money! But when the money goes to helping people? I love this!!

If you’re in Atlanta check out Northbrook UMC in Roswell for your Christmas tree! If you’re not local, try googling “christmas tree lot benefits charity” and your town. You never know what you might find!

OK. I’m off to make the Cheeseball from Heaven, Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Pecans and Spiced Maple Sauce (I think I’m just gonna dice the sweet potatoes and mix the sauce, then throw it all in a ziploc bag so I can dump it out and cook tomorrow!), Swedish Apple Pie and Sausage and Herb Stuffing (is this something I can put together today and cook tomorrow? I’ve never ever made stuffing before!).

Oh, and one more last thing? If you didn’t get to pack a box for Operation Christmas Child, you can Build A Box online and they’ll put it together and send it for you! How cool is that?!

OK. That’s all. For real. Enjoy your weekend with your family! I’m so thankful for you!

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Blogs Are Better Than Magazines

August 19, 2010 blogging

Yesterday I got my favorite cookbook-magazine, Everyday Food and my favorite crafty inspiration, FamilyFun in the mail. As I was reading through them I saw so many things I ALREADY knew because I had READ them on BLOGS! Like this adorable book sling from Vanessa at Silly Eagle Books? Also on page 73 of Family [...]

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My New Favorite

July 3, 2010 linky love

I am a horrible blog reader. I subscribe to lots of blogs but rarely sit down to read them. For the past few weeks my feedreader has said I have 1000+ unread posts. This week I’ve got it down to 625. So, hold on to your hats, I’ve got some links for you… Photo :: [...]

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Top Ten {Tuesday}: Healthy Snacks

May 17, 2010 food

I’m not a big snacker. Wait. I take that back. I AM a big snacker. I could eat break-and-bake cookies, brownies and oreos all day long. But because I recognize my lack of self-control in the snacking department, I do NOT buy snacks. If I don’t have a cookie to eat, I’ll just usually grab [...]

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Will You Plan My Menu?

May 17, 2010 food

I want to do a menu plan this week. But I also don’t want to go grocery shopping. And really, I don’t want to cook. (Wow, am I sounding motivated or what?!) So, I was wondering if you’d help me. I’ve got a good base going on in my freezer. If I give you a [...]

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