Trying my Hand at some Disney Recipes

You know when you get that hankering for Disney?  You close your eyes, trying to transport yourself there.  You can smell that vanilla-esque scent on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom, and hear the delighted / scared screams of people on Tower of Terror.

So how do you combat the Disney Blues?  I wrote a post about just this sort of longing, a few months ago (if you want to read that, click here).  One of my suggestions was to cook a Disney recipe and I am happy to report, I did just that (or attempted to, with my own version!) a few weeks ago.  Here's how it turned out.

One of my absolute FAVORITE meals on Disney property is the Cobb Salad at the Brown Derby, at Hollywood Studios. It's a very finely chopped mixture of various kinds of lettuce, tomato, bacon, cheese and the most incredible dressing.  There are Cobb Salad recipes you can find on the internet, but I made my own version, using what I had on hand.

(Be warned - I am not a cook, so if you are looking for exact measurements and preciseness, this is not the post for you.)

I gathered some lettuce (I prefer Romaine), an avocado, bacon, eggs and some feta cheese.

 

I then boiled the eggs, using a method I read on the Pioneer Woman's website.  It's fool-proof and works EVERY time.  Cover the eggs with water and set to boil.  When the water comes to a rolling boil (like the picture below),  turn off the heat, take the eggs off the burner and cover with a lid.  Set your timer for 20 minutes and then rinse in cool water.  They will turn out perfect each and every time.

While the eggs were going, I cooked the bacon.  This little tip I learned from Rachel Ray; cook your bacon on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet.  That way, the grease drips down and the bacon is more crisp.  Plus, then it doesn't splatter all over your stove top!

As the bacon was getting good and crispy, I assembled the other ingredients.  I chopped the lettuce into small pieces, and did the same with the avocado.

YUM.  I could stop right here and be OK.  Delicious.

But there was more to be added!  The feta cheese came next.  At this point the bacon was cooked and after it cooled, I finely chopped it and addd it to the lettuce.  Then came the hard boiled eggs. Come to momma!

YUMMY.  Want. Cobb. Salad. NOW!

The dressing I used is one of my favorites and something I made quite often.  I take some olive oil, red wine vinegar and a Dijon mustard.

In a bowl I put about a tablespoon of the Dijon mustard, and what probably amounts to 1/4 cup of the red wine vinegar.  I then whisk in the olive oil until the dressing is the consistency I like - not to thick, and not too thin.  I poured it on the salad, tossed it with two spoons and voila!  Success!  

It was SO good. 

As you can see, my Cobb wasn't *exactly* like the Brown Derby classic.  But it did the trick - satisfied my appetite for food AND Disney, so I counted it a success.

The second part to my meal was the infamous Dole Whip.  This is an incredible pineapple treat that you can get at Magic Kingdom.  Until recently I'd never had one, and then had my first Dole Whip, with my friend Ellen, in March.  Ever since, I have been hankering for one!  I saw a post on Hip2Save (link here) where the author gave a recipe for a Dole Whip you could make at home.  So I went out in search of ingredients to make my own.

I'll be honest with you, the wheels came off the track a bit when it came to the Dole Whip.  The recipe on Hip2Save is a good one, but the issues I had were entirely operator error.  The trouble started when I went to the store - two stores, to be exact.  Neither of the large grocery stores in my town had frozen pineapple in stock!  It was crazy, it was like there was a Dole Whip craving citywide.  I was not going to march all over creation looking for frozen pineapple, and since I wanted to have it that night I didn't have time to get regular pineapple and wait for it to freeze.  So, I got a frozen mix of Tropical Fruit and called it good. The coconut milk was easier to find, thankfully.

I first tried to use my food processor, but no dice.  It just wouldn't puree the fruit enough, for some reason.  So out came the blender, and I used that instead.  MUCH better.  

The neat thing is - when you blend a frozen fruit with just enough liquid to make it come together, you get a sorbet-type concoction - very tasty!  Here is the finished product:

"Umm....." I hear you saying, "Isn't a Dole Whip supposed to be yellow? Like a pineapple?"  Why yes, yes it is.  But since I used the fruit mixture, the pinky color of the melon won out and so it was this orangey / pink color.  Not the prettiest thing ever, but it was good!  Did it taste like a Dole Whip?  No, but I still really liked it and I plan to use the same method with other juices and fruits to make my own sorbet at home.  When I make it again, I will also look for another brand of coconut milk.  This didn't have enough of a coconut / tropical taste to me and I could really only taste the fruit.

So the verdict?  In it's own way, it took me right back to Disney.  Yes, it wasn't the same salad and it for SURE wasn't the same Dole Whip but it surprisingly did the trick.

Share on Facebook and in the comments below - have you ever tried a Disney (or Disney inspired) recipe?  How'd it turn out?

Have a magical day!