Disney Party and Shark Party

Sue and I may be twins but we have totally different ideas on how to celebrate our 43 birthday. 

Sue is a die hard Disney fan and I'm all about sharks (read: Sharknado, Sharktopus)

We decided to compromise and hold a half shark party and half Disney party. 

We wanted to share our fun and easy ideas for both parties with everyone. 

Some of the photos we will link to other posts where we will have recipes and/or how-to's. If you have questions on how we made anything, please feel free to leave us a comment or question in the comment section below. 

First up THE SHARK PARTY:

Sue made me my cake - this awesome Shark Attack Cake.

She even put a photo of me on the doll.

I admit it. Sue comes up with some fun-tastic ideas sometimes.

One of the cutest shark party treats was this Bagel and Cream Cheese Snorkeler. (Click HERE for the how-to and recipe) He was super easy and super tasty! 

This guy isn't a shark but he is a scary water related monster soooooo....

he counts towards the shark party half of the party.

I carved this cucumber shark to put on the veggie tray. I thought he turned out pretty great. 

He only took a few minutes - the hardest part was carving all those spooky teeth.

Speaking of teeth....

How about some (mozzarella) shark teeth. Doesn't get much simpler than that.

Speaking of simple --- toss some shrimp in some seafood sauce and you have the perfect shark bait.

Sue and I worked together to carve this watermelon shark. Another quick and easy addition to the shark party. 

What shark wouldn't love to dive into a bowl of goldfish crackers? (This beautiful wood shark is Gary, my niece, Kenzie, brought him back from Cuba for me!)

Delicious gummy sharks from Orientaltrading.com.

So Yummy.

And some after dinner mints with a shark twist go perfectly. 

Another Orientaltrading.com purchase. 

Adorable shark cups. They actually hold a lot and make you feel really cool while drinking out of them. 

To drink in the shark cups?

Well, that would be Chum Punch, of course. (Otherwise known as lemon-aid, strawberries in syrup, grenadine, and ice.) 

I made a paper mache shark to act as a table center.

He turned out pretty cute - except he kept getting into the snacks. Sneaking the shrimp and...

He kept trying to eat our bagel guy. 

And of course, we had to have some sushi too.

We all know how much sharks love sushi.

There is the over view of the shark table. 

And now, on to THE DISNEY PARTY:

Since Sue and I had to make each other's cakes, I decided to find something that was cute but not too, too difficult. Then I recruited our other sister, Orra, and our friend, Taylor, and we came up with this Ratatouille Cake. 

Doesn't he look adorable in the fridge sneaking some cheese? Sue was happy with him and that is all that matters!

What's a Disney party without at least one reference to Cinderella? Sue made this Bread bowl carriage drawn by 2 fine steeds (dollar store finds). (Click HERE for our Spinach Dip Recipe) 

Pretty sure Cinderella would have preferred this ride.

Sue has several Mickey shaped bowls.

Chips and Dip in one....

Nachos and salsa in one....

And BBQ's Farmer's sausage in her casserole dish. 

All you need is some Pillsbury Pizza dough and a Mickey cookie cutter and you can whip up these Disney-rific Mickey Pizzas.

Or these Mickey Mouse Sandwiches....

Or even these Mickey Mouse tortilla chips.

One of my favorite Disney movies is Emperor's New Groove so I made some of Kronk's Spinach Puffs. A little fiddly with the filo pastry but otherwise tasty.  

To up the cuteness factor we made these Mike Wazowski Rice Krispie Treats. Super simple! All you need is the usual Rice Krispie ingredients plus some green food coloring and some candy eye balls. 

*Voila* Done.

This one isn't immediately recognizable but it's supposed to be Rapunzel's braid. (From the movie Tangled). Those are pepper flowers in the braid. 

And there is an over view of the Disney table. 

Our mom gave us the beautiful flowers in the center for our birthday. 

Now.... what to do for next year's birthday.....

We're sharing at these fun linky parties - Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons, Wondermom Wannabe, Carole's Chatter

Double Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

Sue here today!

If you know me then you know I am crazy about Disneyland. My hubby and daughter and I have gone several times and always have soooo much fun. Everything about Disneyland is my favorite.

Especially the food.

Oh. My. Gosh.

You can check out our last two trips to Disneyland HERE (2011) and HERE (2013). 

Anyways, I stumbled across this recipe over at Bakerlady and decided to give them a try. She tweaked them from someone else who developed the recipe to try and mimic the Disneyland's White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies. I made a few teeny changes and came up with this version.

They are an interesting combination of flavors so don't be afraid. 

So good when you want something different. 

Double Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

(Slightly adapted from Bakerlady)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temp

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 up brown sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

2/3 cup white chocolate chips

2/3 cup dark chocolate chips

1/4 cup raspberry jam

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in egg and yolk and vanilla. 

In a smaller bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cream of tartar. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until well combined.

Take out about 1/4 of the dough and place in the smaller mixing bowl. Top with 1/4 of the raspberry jam. 

Cut the jam in using a butter knife. (Be careful not to over mix. You want there to be chunks of jam visible!)

Using a small (or medium) cookie scoop, place scoops of dough on prepared cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Repeat steps with remaining dough. (You want to do this in 1/4's and not all at once because doing it all at once results in the jam being too mixed in.)

Bake at 350 for approx 10 - 15 minutes, depending on size of cookie. Bottoms will be lightly browned.

Remove from heat and let cool on wire cooling racks.

Mmmmmm.....cookies!

When you are looking for something a little fancier than "the usual" chocolate chip cookie, give these a try.

The fruit and chocolate can be a little strange but in a good way!

Bacon Potato Soup (and some Disney inspiration)

I decided to take advantage of Bacon Week here at joandsue.blogspot.com and share a recipe that was inspired by our recent trip to Disneyland in California. 

We had a fantastic potato soup whilst in Disneyland and I decided to try and replicate it. I think I got pretty close with this one! 

My hubby and daughter and I always have so much fun with our Disney/California food adventures so I decided to share some of our favorites from this trip as well as the recipe for this Disney inspired potato soup. 

Bacon Potato Soup

Ingredients

1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 cup diced celery

1 medium onion, diced

1 large carrot, diced

4 large potatoes, diced

1/4 cup flour

salt & pepper

2 cups chicken broth

4 cups half and half cream

generous dash of hot sauce

Garnish

green onions, diced

bacon, diced

aged cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions

Prep your ingredients first for easier cooking. (I used my mickey bowl to stick with the Disney theme - plus it's a really cute bowl...)

Fry the bacon until crispy.  Remove the bacon but leave the bacon fat in the pan.

Fry the celery, onion, and carrot in the bacon fat until onions soften. 

Add potatoes and cook approximately 5 minutes. 

Turn heat to low and whisk in the flour and salt & pepper. Stir constantly for about 4 - 5 minutes.

Slowly stir in the chicken broth and half of the bacon.

Turn heat to medium/high and bring to a simmer. Cook about 5 minutes or until potatoes are softened. 

Mash the mixture slightly so the soup is creamy.

Add in the half & half cream and simmer for 5 minutes. 

Sprinkle in a generous dash of hot sauce. 

Serve hot.

**NOTE** if soup seems really thick then thin it with a bit more chicken broth.

But don't forget the garnish!!

A little green onion, a little more bacon, and some aged cheddar for good measure.

Mmmmmm! So tasty!

Now, on to some of our favorite Disneyland food finds:

First up - we happened to be there when they were getting ready for Halloween.

There were all sorts of spooky goodies, including these fantastic caramel and chocolate dipped apples.

How amazing are they?!?!

These mile high nachos were so cheesy we couldn't stop eating them!

They were from the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney.

My hubby and I were celebrating our 20th anniversary and decided to splurge on the dessert platter at Goofy's Kitchen in the Disneyland Hotel.

Creme Brulee, Chocolate cake and cheesecake, lemon square, and snickerdoodles. 

*siiiiiiigh*

Can you believe how humongous that cinnamon bun is?

It came with 2 eggs and 2 strips of bacon at Millie's - a great place across the street from Disneyland that is a little more budget friendly. So. Much. Tastiness. 

Another Millie's breakfast! 2 eggs, 2 bacon and 2 Belgian waffles smothered in strawberries and whipped cream. 

When can we go back?

One of our repeat favorites from in side Disneyland is the corndogs.

What can I say? They are simply amazing!

That look of shock and wonder on my face - it's because of the MASSIVE zucchini sticks. 

Also from Millie's.

Yeah. We like Millie's a lot.

P.S. - the ranch dipping sauce is made of rainbows and unicorns. Pretty sure.

The last of the Millie's finds - BBQ chicken tortilla salad.

Kenzie's favorite.

I'm not normally a fan of blue cheese BUT this wedge salad from TGIF in Knott's Berry Farm was amazing.

And pretty. 

Last, but not least, the Cajun Pasta - also from Knott's - was just the right amount of spice.

Plus, the portion was ridiculously huge. 

There you have it. 

Disney inspired bacon potato soup and some of our family favorites.

What are your favorite places to eat in Disneyland?

(P.S. - for more of our favorites from our 2011 trip click HERE)

 

We're sharing at these fab linky parties (be sure to check them out!) - Feeding Big, Memories By The Mile, Anyonita Nibbles and New Mrs Adventures