Shenanigans with Chili

So, it has been a while. A lot longer than I had intended between posts. It was a little of lack of inspiration. A lot of having my attention on other projections on-line. And a whole lot of overtime at work. But, for now, things appear to be slowing back down to normal.

My parents have announced that we will be taking a trip to Walt Disney World in October. That's right. Food and Wine Festival. I know, I'm excited too. In effort to get back in to the swing of things and get pumped for the upcoming trip (yes, I am aware that it is still over nine months away) I have decided to get back on track and continue my journey through the Disney cookbooks. I made beer cheese soup about a week ago (I'm not saying it helped the Packers beat the Cowboys, but I'm just saying the soup had just finished when the game winning field goal was made...) But, I've already covered that here. So, its still football season and while it's not to terribly cold out winter is still here. What is better than chili in winter? Just about nothing.

I found the recipe for Walt Disney's personal chili in on of my books. So, I set about planing the meal. What is funny is I wanted to do everything according the the recipe since I knew I would be writing a blog about it, but nothing seemed to go my way no matter what I did.

I had read the ingredient list and directions. I was prepped to make the chili in the middle of the work week. It would be perfect for dinner and have tons of leftovers. But, apparently I hadn't read the instructions as carefully as I thought. The recipe clearly said to soak the beans overnight.Well I hadn't, so we had something else and then I planned to make it on another night. Well, then I read that the beans needed to simmer for two hours. I don't have that kind of time during the week. So, chili and cornbread would go great with the NFL playoff games on Sunday.

I soaked the beans overnight. There really wasn't a clear timeframe. In the morning I was surprised to find that the beans had nearly soaked up all the water. Following the directions I drained, rinsed, and put them in a pot with fresh water. Here is where things got a little weird. The recipe says to use a 2 quart sauce pan. I had to use a 5 quart dutch oven and still didn't have enough room. Granted I did use kidney beans, which the recipe does not call for, but I like them in my chili so I went with it. On the flip side the beans are supposed to sinner with chopped onions (2 whole white onions) for two hours. I somehow forgot to get onions so I didn't have them in the pot.

I ended up taking about a third of the beans out to use a different night. Waste not want not after all. I don't know how two pounds of pinto beans alone would fit in a 2 quart pot if 3 pounds of beans fills a 5 quart pot, but math was never my strong point...

The garlic with the ground beef and celery smelled absolutely amazing. I thought it couldn't get any better, but then I added the spices. I had been wrong. My boyfriend and I had to have a quick snack because the smell had our mouths watering and stomachs growling. I had the beans simmering and the meat mixture simmering at the same time. I figured it would be easier that way. I was surprised at how little of the spices the directions called for, but I figured it would turn out just fine.

By the time it simmering time was complete I realized that this recipe was not the kind of chili that I am used to. I wold totally put it on a hotdog, or a baked potato, or possibly some steamed rice. But I would not consider it to be a bowl of chili. There wasn't much liquid to it. It was simply beans, spices, and ground beef. So, after some quick collaboration with my boyfriend we decided to add a can of tomato paste, a can of tomato sauce, a little water, and more spices. A lot more.

We let our new concoction simmer for nearly a half hour so all the flavors could meld together. I was pleased with the final product. The beans were not as tender as I would have liked, but perhaps I had not cooked them enough before adding them. The original recipe said it would serve four people, they must have been four very hungry people. Before I made my additions I had enough in the pot for at least two dinners and lunch for my boyfriend and I. Now, I have enough chili in my fridge to feed us for an entire week. I must say that I am quite pleased as I really feel that we got a lot of bang for our buck on this recipe.

I prefer my chili with sour cream, cheddar cheese, and crackers. My boyfriend is not a fan of crackers in his chili.

In the end I am happy that I made this recipe. Have I made better chili before? Yes, yes I have. I didn't feel that the directions in the cook book were enough to go on. My boyfriend and I both interpreted them differently and overall I felt the chili was a little bland before I made my changes. But, keep in mind that I spent a good deal of time of my youth in Texas and good chili was not hard to find. Overall, I'd say it is worth trying but to keep in mind that you may need to adjust the recipe to better suite your own personal tastes.

Fettuccine Alfredo: A Taste of Disney

It has been too long since I had a touch of Disney magic at home. Its not been four months since I came home from my last trip and, right now, there is no future trip in the works. I am not going to lie: I'm starting to feel the pains of withdraw.

My boyfriend and I are trying to get better at planning out our meals for the week before we go grocery shopping. We are trying to get better about eating healthy and not wasting food. Both of which are going to help us out a lot. After a much too short visit home I got a new cookbook. My mom had gotten me one of the Disney cookbooks that is missing from my collection.


The start of the Italian herb bread, if only you could smell how amazing it was. Which of course was just as amazing as the chicken sautéing in olive oil.


On the long drive home I was able to look through it and do the meal planning for the next week. Nearly every recipe in the book sounded amazing and brought back memories of fantastic family vacations. It was decided. I needed to make one in the next week.

Well, being short handed at the vet hospital and still trying to balance a part time job finding the time to make anything extravagant would be difficult. Then I found it. Fettuccine Alfredo from L'Originale Alfredo di Roma Ristorante at the Italy pavilion at EPCOT.

It looked simple enough. But, yet it sounded perfect. After all, who doesn't love pasta.

To be completely honest I was a little concerned with how it would turn out since it only called for noodles, butter, and parmesan cheese. I had always thought there would be cream, most likely heavy cream, in the alfredo sauce. But, it is a Disney recipe that made it into a cookbook comprised of the most requested recipes from the Disney parks. It must be good.

The only changes that I decided to make were to add chicken and mushrooms. I also made Italian herb bread in my bread maker. I even got a bottle of wine. Yes. This was going to be an amazing dinner. I had been looking forward to making this meal for days.

I was dead tired when I got home from work. I had a 14 hour day at the vet hospital. I had been on my feet for nearly 12 hours. I wanted nothing more than to pass out in bed. But, I had dinner to put on the table. It didn't take me too long to pull myself together and get to work in the kitchen. You see, my boyfriend plays video games to unwind after work. I prefer to find peace in the kitchen.

I pealed and minced fresh garlic for the chicken and mushrooms. I got the salted water boiling. I was able to orchestrate the entire process with perfect timing. The smell was heavenly. I had made the bread the day before and set out the two sticks of butter earlier in the day so they could soften. Once the pasta was done and drained I plopped in the softest butter I have ever worked with. I'll let you in on a secret. I didn't measure the cheese. I grated the parmesan cheese directly over the pot with the noodles and butter. Well, my boyfriend grated the cheese while I tired the noodles. Once I was satisfied with the consistency I portioned out the noodles and topped them with the chicken and mushrooms.  Armed with our forks, wine, and herb bread we were ready to attack our meal.

I must say. It turned out fantastic. I even got away with enough leftovers for both of us to have lunch the next day, which is amazing. The same wasn't as saucy as I had thought it would be, but it was very tasty. It was way better than what I would have found at any American-Italian chain restaurant that's for sure.

It was a great ending to a long day. It brought just enough Disney magic back into our lives for the night. It was just what we needed. I feel that we are back on the right track. If you would like to try your hand that this amazingly simple dish you can find the recipe in Cooking With Mickey Vol 2 on page 103. Trust me, you will be glad you did.


Have a magical day!

Le Cellier

I ate at Le Cellier for the first time when I was much younger. Young enough to each off the kids menu and be a somewhat picky eater. Young enough that I know I did not appreciate it. So, when I got a little older and I heard people talking about how Le Cellier was one of the best places to eat at the Walt Disney World Resort I was a little skeptical. After all, my memories were of a dark room with fancy food. And as a young child that didn't put this place very high on my favorites list.

In May of 2016 my parents took my boyfriend and I to Walt Disney World. It was amazing! The spring before my parents had taken their first Disney trip without any kids. They enjoyed a meal together at Le Cellier and said it was one of the highlights of the entire trip. So, naturally, when they said they had made reservations for the five of us to dine there on our trip I was excited. I don't often eat steak as it is a little on the pricey side so I was very much looking forward to enjoying a steak. Especially from one of the beast steakhouses on Disney property.


The dinning room was just like I remembered. It was dark, but not because they didn't have any lights. The theme is that you are in a cellar, of course there won't be any windows or bright light. The decor was beautiful, and really welcoming.

Our server was fantastic. He shared stories of his world travels, how he came to work at EPCOT, and his plans for when his work visa expired. He explained the menu in a way that was easy to understand. He was able to make recommendations based on what he felt we would enjoy.

My parents had tried the poutine. Now, I had never heard of it before and there really wasn't much of a description on the menu. My parents were raving and our waiter explained that it is a dish that is popular in Canada and is essentially fancy cheese fries, sometimes served with gravy. I love cheese fries. They are my guilty pleasure. My kryptonite if you will. So, of course, they had to twist my arm to try them. (insert sarcasm here please)


We got two deferent kinds since our waiter recommended we get two for a group our size. Just before he brought out the poutine he brought us bread that represented the different regions of Canada and butter that had maple sugar on it. You heard me right. The breads were fantastic and all of us were able to sample them.  My boyfriend was so excited by the red wine reduction sauce that he asked for the recipe. We had gotten the signature and the bacon-cheddar. I really enjoyed both of them. But it was the signature poutine with that red wine reduction sauce that won the table over.

We were slightly full by the time our entires arrived. But, when I cut into my steak I was instantly hungry again. 4 out of our 5 steaks were cooked to absolute perfection, just how we wanted. Sadly, my little brother had to send back his steak. Twice. The manager himself brought it out for the third attempt and made sure that it was cooked how he wanted. It happened. I was a little glad it took so long for him to get his dinner, it gave me more time to digest before dessert. There. I said it. I am a horrible sister. I know.



My steak was so tender I didn't need my knife to cut it. There was so much flavor. And the steak itself was a very decent size. The mushroom risotto that it was plated on was amazing as well. I ate all of it. Not even ashamed to admit it. Three of us had gotten the filet mignon and the other two got the rib eye. We all enjoyed that meal. I think we all agreed that it was one of the best meals we have ever had at Disney.

Dessert was great. For the most part we each got something different. My boyfriend was a little disappointed with his, but I think it was just one of those things were the dessert at fancy restaurants isn't exactly what you are expecting it to me. I think he was expecting the strawberry basil float to be a little sweeter. It was good, but not my thing. The maple creme brûlée was fantastic. It had a lot of flavor and was just sweet enough to be dessert. But, it did get stuck in my teeth.

Overall, my one regret is that we didn't get the sampler of ice wine. My boyfriend and I enjoy sampling different wines and beers and we wanted to try as many as we could on the trip. But, it was a little expensive for us and we opted that we would be better off drinking the iced tea with dinner. After all, it was a very hot day out and we most likely were already dehydrated enough without adding alcohol into the mix. But, if I could do it over again I would spend the money to try the ice wine.



I highly recommend giving Le Cellier a try. I loved it. I know that I will be going back again.

Have a magical day!