Food & Wine Festival at Home - Grass-fed Beef Sliders

So tasty, I had to make it at home!

Although the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival ended earlier this week, that doesn't mean the party can’t live on in our hearts and our stomachs.  Probably one of the easiest dishes to make at home was the Grass-fed Beef Slider at the Florida Local booth.  It was served up with Monterey Jack cheese and Sweet and Hot Pickles.  You can make these sliders at home with any ground beef you have available, but eating grass-fed, rather than grain-fed beef, is what makes these sliders stand apart from your every day mini burger.

Food & Wine Festival at Home, Grilled Lamb Chops with Mint Pesto & Potato Crunchies

The pressure of missing this year’s Food & Wine Festival affected me so much that I actually broke down and made reservations to go this year.  One of my favorite dishes was from Australia.  The Grilled Lamb Chop with Mint Pesto and Potato Crunchies is making a repeat appearance this year, and I can't wait to compare my version with theirs.  This recipe was not in last year’s festival cookbook, but I liked it so much that I've made a tasty version easy enough for any home cook.  This is quick to prepare any weeknight, just remember to marinate the lamb the day before.

Mint Pesto
¾ cup fresh packed mint leaves
¼ cup fresh flat leaf parsley leaves
2 scallions, sliced thick
2 medium garlic cloves
½ teaspoon of lemon zest, grated finely
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sea Salt, to taste

1. Grab your food processor and toss in the parsley, scallions, garlic, lemon zest and mint leaves.  Press the button until it is chopped pretty good.
2. Add the olive oil slowly until the mixture is smooth
3. Add sea salt to taste

Easy peasy!  I triple the recipe and freeze the pesto in ice cube trays, which was done when fresh parsley & mint were plentiful at my local farmer's market.  Your local grocer should carry it, too.  Each cube equals about 1 oz of pesto that I can thaw later and put on a burger or add to pasta for a quick side dish on a busy night.

Guest Author Sunday Welcome Back Amy Mullins!

Guest Author Sunday

Welcome Back Amy Mullins - 40 Never looked so Good!

Disney Gals are thrilled to welcome back Amy Mullins as she takes us all along for part of her 40th Birthday celebration. I think we can all agree, turning 40 sure looks magical on Amy!

Part Two: Celebrating The Big 4 -0 Walt Disney World Style

 

Tick-tock, tick-tock… The day is fast approaching in which I will turn the BIG 4-0 and run my first ever half marathon, 50 days to be exact.  But I suppose if I “have” to turn 40 I want to be at Walt Disney World and want to make it memorable by running the Wine and Dine Half marathon.  Then I want to top it off by celebrating at EPCOT’s International Food and Wine festival.  Yup! That’s what I am going to do with some of my closest family and friends joining me in making this a birthday to remember. 

Food & Wine Festival at Home, Beef Empanadas

Last year was my first time going to the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival and I swore to myself on the flight home that I'd never miss it again.  This year's festival runs from September 27 - November 11, and it looks like I'll be pouting at home, salivating as I scroll through tweets and Instagram pics from friends who will be there.  Instead of continuing to be grouchy about breaking the promise I made to myself last November, I remembered that my wonderful husband, who can somehow see into the future, purchased the 2012 Food & Wine Festival cookbook for me.  While I won't get to romp around Epcot, eating and drinking a my way across the globe, I can prepare the same delicious food at home.  This month, I'll share the recipe for Beef Empanadas, which will be back again at Argentina during the 2013 Festival.  Check back next month for Australia's Grilled Lamb Chop with Mint Pesto and Potato Crunchies (which isn't actually in the cookbook, but I'm pretty sure I've figured it out the home chef version.)


Quick foreword here...While it is easy to make, this is a labor intensive recipe. I would not attempt this during the week if you want your family to eat before bed.  This is a good one to get the kids involved with, especially those with little fingers who enjoy playing in dough.  All the ingredients were things I already had in my pantry, except for one and I'll explain what I swapped it for shortly.

What you'll need:
6 cups of all purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 pound cold vegetable shortening, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
2 eggs, beaten and divided
1/2 cup melted vegetable shortening or vegetable oil
1 cup ice water, divided (3/4 cup, 1/4 cup, 1/2 teaspoon)
2 cups finely chopped white onion (almost 2 medium sized onions)
1 1/4 pounds thick sliced roast beef, cut into 1/4 inch cubes.
  - Since there was no roast beef in the freezer, I used 3/4 lb of ground pork & 3/4 lb of ground chuck
1 1/2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
  - I would suggest using less if you aren't into spicy food
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Experience the Epcot Food and Wine Festival from Home with Italian Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

The 2013 Epcot Food and Wine Festival is right around the corner. So in honor of that I want to share with you some of my favorite recipes from past and present Food and Wine Festivals. I’m not sure if I have mentioned this before, but I LOVE chocolate! I admit it I am full blown chocoholic! And one of my favorite ways to indulge in my addiction is the flourless chocolate hazelnut cake from Italy at Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival. This cake combines all the gooey fudgeyness of a brownie with the rich decadence of fudge and then adds a bit of crunch with the hazelnuts, this is really a chocolate lovers dream! And this recipe is really and truly so easy. If you can whisk up five simple ingredients in a bowl, then you will be able to master this cake. Even the most novice of bakers will be able to impress their friends and family with this dessert!

Ingredients

7 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter

1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnuts

5 eggs

1/4 cup cocoa

Godiva Iced Coffee from the Belgium Kiosk at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival

A couple of years ago at the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival I stopped at the Belgium kiosk and decided to try something different. I’m not a big drinker, I’m usually more interested in the food at the festival rather than the wine or beer. But, it was a pretty warm October day and I was craving something cold. So I took a look at the menu board really quick and, being the chocolate lover that I am, I immediately zeroed in on the word Godiva. I mean seriously anything made with Godiva has got to be good, right? Oh! I was so right about that. The Godiva Iced Coffee was seriously the best thing I had ever tasted! It was cold and refreshing and oh so chocolaty. Pretty much after finishing my first one, I was already craving a second. Even after I came home from Disney I would still think about how good that iced coffee was. With the 2013 Food and Wine Festival around the corner, I really started thinking about that coffee again! It was a hot night in South Florida I was craving something cold, so I got on my computer and did a little searching and JACKPOT! I found the recipe for the Godiva iced coffee from Belgium! After a quick trip to the grocery store (and the liquor store), I was ready to try my hand at making quite possibly my most favorite drink ever.

The ingredients needed for the iced coffee are:

2 ounces Godiva chocolate liquor 


1 ounce half and half 


1/2 ounce simple syrup (Simple syrup is just equal parts water and sugar boiled together until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once the sugar has completely dissolved just take the syrup off the stove and allow the syrup to cool. Or you can cheat like I did and just buy a liquid sugar like the liquid raw sugar that I used. However, the next time I make this I’m going to use a full ounce of the liquid raw sugar because I like my coffee a little sweeter.)

4 ounces hot coffee (I used a French press to make my hot coffee, but feel free to brew your coffee any way you would like.)

Chocolate sauce for drizzling 


Whipped cream for garnish

Guest Author Sunday - Kim Jordan takes us to Epcot's Food and Wine Festival

Please help The Disney Gals in welcoming our honorary Disney Gal for the day Kim Jordan!

A little about myself:

My love for Disney World and all things Disney began with my family’s first trip in 2002. The first time my daughter saw the castle is a memory permanently etched in my brain. In my opinion, there is no better place to create cherished family memories than as Walt Disney World.  Since that first trip we have gone back 12 times and added a son to the memories. 

In fact, I felt so strongly about Disney, that when my husband moved us from lower Alabama to Upstate New York, I started a new career as a Dream Maker with Magic of Mickey Travel. Now, I get to help other families create a love for Disney and experience the Magical World that it truly is. 

Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival: What a Blast!!!

First, of all my friend and I had only known each other for 2 months when we planned this trip. The trip was just us, leaving the Husbands and children back in New York. We didn’t know whether we would become friends or enemies – but we were willing to give it a shot for the sake of the Mouse and Food and Wine of course.

Guest Author - Paul Roszkowski takes us drinking around the world

About myself:

I'm the one on the right

First I'm Disney Gal Judy's son. I'm 32 and a Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. I am a homebrewer and write a blog about my travels and brewing. I've been going to Disney since before I was born (no, really mom went when she was pregnant with me). I've lost track of how many times I've been to the parks on both coasts. I'm usually the one taking the photos at Disney so I'm not usually in them (thanks mom).

Drink your way around the world or One reason EPCOT is my favorite park:

I love EPCOT. As a homebrewer, food and beer lover it's a great place to experience new flavors and, especially during the Food and Wine Festival, different beers from around the world.

When it comes to the parks I get a little disappointed in the beer selection. Yes, I will admit I've been accused of being a beer snob. I prefer the moniker of beer geek personally but I think you get the idea. My problem is that in the parks that serve alcohol the beer is usually an AB InBev product. I won't go into an entire diatribe here but suffice it to say...not my first choice.

Wordless Wednesday

October Calendar Shot

Disney Gal Judy:

Food and Wine 2010

My husband and our dog Caleb doing their best Haunted Mansion impression!

My friend Melissa and I both collect Disney Collectible Dolls, we both won a D23 event to be able to purchase Toy Story's Jesse Doll and meet and have Joan Cusack sign it! This was in October 2010.

Trip Talk

Can you survive a Walt Disney World visit with your husband for a
specific reason in less than 40 hours? Yes you can, but can I tell
you how tired I am? Right now I am at work, wishing I was at home
sleeping and as I am typing this I am not even sure it is going to
make any sense.

My husband picked me up from work this past Friday at 4:00 pm and we
were on our way for a much anticipated trip to Walt Disney World. Now
it was not our normal trip, this trip was just to go and meet the
twelve Gals I have come to know through creating this blog. As we
were waiting at the airport I was getting text messaged asking if we
were on our way, where were we? It is nice to know that I was missed!
We were the last of the group to arrive in Orlando as everyone else
had pretty much been there already since Thursday or Friday
morning/afternoon. By the time we picked-up our rental car and got to
our hotel, the Yacht Club and got checked in it was already Saturday,
we set-up a wake-up call and tried to get some sleep. You know that
Disney commercial “I too excited to sleep!” that is how I was, even my
husband said, GO TO SLEEP!

Wordless Wednesday looks at September

Welcome to the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop with the Disney Gals! This week's theme is Your September Calendar Shot. 

Lori:


September is Childhood Cancer awareness month. Wish kids love to visit with Mickey

Wish Granted

Hanging out with a Goofy friend is the best medicine 

At Give Kids The World they get tickets to go to WDW.

International Food and Wine Festival is coming to EPCOT September 28, 2012–November 12, 2012.

Epcot is a paradise for us Foodie folks. From Le Cellier Steakhouse in the Canada Pavilion, to La Cantina De San Angel in the Mexico Pavilion, the food at EPCOT has been earning almost as much attention as the attraction.

Photo by Sammy Fries

During the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, international kiosks are spread around World Showcase like pixie dust.

My favorite festival features top chefs as well as domestic and international wineries. There is something for every taste bud.