Circus Food from Dumbo

We made cotton candy and popcorn for Dumbo. Since most people probably don't have a cotton candy machine, I thought I would share my Caramel Corn Recipe instead. By all means, just pop some popcorn and watch it with your kids if you want to. This is if you just want to do a little more.

Ingredients

1 cup of butter

2 cups of brown sugar

½ cup of light corn syrup

1 teaspoon baking soda

8-10 cups of popped popcorn, about 1 cup unpopped.

1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Pop your popcorn. I like to use an air popper because I get fewer unpopped kernals to deal with. You can use microwave popcorn, but I find that it changes the flavor depending on how much prebuttered flavor is on it. Pour popcorn in a big roasting skillet if you have one. You can also use 2 9X13 glass pans. Or you can use a large metal bowl and then transfer to 2 baking sheets once coated.
3. In a medium pot on the stove, melt the cup of butter. Then add brown sugar and corn syrup and stir. Cook over medium heat.
4. Bring to a boil and cook about 5 minutes. You don't want it to burn, so if it seems like it is turning too dark, turn down your heat or remove from heat. It should get really foamy/bubbly.
5. Remove from heat and add baking soda. As you stir it in, it should change color and texture.
6. Once fully stirred in, pour over the popcorn. Stir to coat popcorn. Transfer to baking sheets if using a bowl to coat.
7. Place in oven and set timer for 15 minutes. At 15 minutes, pull out caramel corn and stir around again. Then place back in the oven and set timer for 15 minutes. Repeat two more times.
8. During the final 15 minute timer, cover your counter with paper bags or wax paper. After the timer (should equal 1 hour in the oven total), pour caramel corn on cover counter to cool. Let cool 5-10 minutes. Eat right away or store in air tight container (Ziploc or Tupperware works great). Enjoy!

As I said, we made cotton candy and regular popcorn. Tori took control of the popcorn and I was manning the cotton candy station. She helped with hers. She wanted the biggest fluffiest one I could make. When we watched the movie, she asked a lot of questions about circuses past, present, and future. I have never taken my kids to a circus, but she has been to a fair and it is similar. I went to the Ringling Bros circus a couple times as a kid. I shared stories about that. My mother LOVES Dumbo! So, she joined in the fun on this one. She also had stories of going to the circus as a child. Tori said she preferred going to the zoo to see the animals, but thought the trapeze looked like fun!

Dumbo has a special place in our family. When my mother was pregnant with my younger brother Drashan, she would sing Baby of Mine to him in her belly. When he was born, he almost died. He was in the NICU for weeks and it was a very scary time for our family. I was 15 at the time. During the first night, my mother sat next to his crib in the NICU and sang Baby of Mine. He moved and reached out and grabbed her finger. It was the first sign that he was fighting his way back to us. So of course, whenever we get to that part, my mom and I both cry. I hope you enjoy this sweet moment with your baby.

Lady and the Tramp – Spaghetti and Meatballs

All of these measurements are about. Sometimes when cooking, I just let the ancestors tell me when to stop.

1 ½ pounds of ground beef

1 tablespoon of garlic powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of ground black pepper

1 ½ teaspoon of dried basil

1 cup of breadcrumbs or Gluten Free Panko crumbs

1 egg

2 tablespoons of oil for frying

Box of spaghetti

Jar or 2 of your favorite marinara sauce

1. Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl. Mix, and honestly the best way is to mix with your hands. Tori enjoyed smooshing the meat with her fingers!
2. Portion out a rounded mound and roll between your hands to make a ball. You can use a melon baller to portion out or eyeball it.
3. Heat oil in a big skillet on medium high heat.
4. Fry the meatballs a few minutes on each side. The best way to do this is small batches with room between each one and don't move them until you are ready to move to the next side. It can be tempting to move them a lot. Resist that temptation.
5. Drain each batch on a plate lined with paper towels. On the last batch, pile all the meatballs back in the skillet. Cover with your favorite marinara sauce and reduce heat to low. Let simmer while you are making pasta.
6. In another pot, start boiling water. Follow the directions on your box of pasta to cook pasta.
7. Once pasta is drained and ready, serve up your delicious spaghetti and meatballs. Enjoy!

I can't think of a more iconic Disney food scene than Lady and the Tramp eating spaghetti. This was a top choice for Tori and I. She really had a blast squishing and forming the meatballs. I was surprised, being that she is older and not into as tactile experiences. Then I remembered she is all about slime and it made sense.

The interesting conversation that came out of watching Lady and The Tramp was a discussion on racial stereotypes. That movie is chock full of them. We also discussed the history of racial stereotypes being used as a form of entertainment and how that has changed over the years. My stance is you can be aware of the things that don't work or are offensive about a piece of art, but can still appreciate the art for the time it was created and what was intended.

This movie still has one of my favorite lines: “Hate to change the subject, but ever chase chickens?” I hope you and your family can enjoy some wholesome food and a not-so-wholesome movie together.

Slushees from Inside Out

This is the easy night.

1 pgk of any flavor Kool-aid

1 cup of sugar

24 oz of water

8 cups of ice

Now, first I want to say these measurements are more approximate than exact. I have a pitcher I use for Kool-Aid normally and I wanted half the amount of water I usually do, to make it more of a syrup than a drink. Then I filled our blender with ice, it holds 8 cups.

1. Mix sugar and Kool-Aid pack together in pitcher
2. Fill pitcher with 24 oz of water. Mix till dissolved.
3. Fill blender with ice and pour in Kool-Aid.
4. Blend on high till slushee consistency. (think margarita style)
5. Pour into glasses and serve with a straw.

This was super easy and fun. Since the freeze brain part with the slushee is early in the movie we were still drinking them when we got to that part. Tori has loved this movie since it came out and she was 6. I realized when we were watching it this time, Tori is now the age of Riley (the main character). We talked about the brain and hormones and the changes that happen at her age. I may have had a my baby is not such a baby anymore moment.

That's why I love this movie. It is not just focused on Riley dealing with her changes but the personifications in her head dealing with it, much like parents do. It's hard to see someone you think you know suddenly change. My oldest turns 20 this year!! I don't feel old enough to have a 20 year old. Having children 9 years a part kind of stretched that “I'm an old mom” time out but I am embracing it more here in my 40^th year around the sun. I'm just glad my 11 year old still likes to do these silly projects with me.

Cinnamon Crisps for Coco

I swear not all my recipes will be fried things!

Cinnamon Crisps

4 flour tortillas

1 cup of sugar

1 tsp of cinnamon

enough oil to fry

 1. Heat oil to 325 either in skillet or deep fryer.
2. Combine sugar and cinnamon in large bowl. Big enough you can toss your fried tortillas in. mix around till well mixed.
3. Cut tortillas, with a large knife or pizza cutter, into 6-8 pieces each depending on size. Really you can't do this wrong. Just make sure they fit in the frying oil and sugar mixture bowl.
4. Fry tortillas on each side till brown. It should only take about 30 seconds or so.
5. Remove from oil and toss in sugar mixture bowl till covered with cinnamon sugar. Remove and
put on plate to finish cooling. Repeat with each piece of tortilla till all done. Then enjoy!

I wouldn't call these authentic. It's something my friend's mom made for us when I was growing up in rural central California. I make them occasionally as a treat for my kids. We eat taco night every Tuesday at our house. My Husband is Mexican by heritage but Californian by birth. We both had that odd mix of almost authentic but not quite Mexican culture. We do our best to weave Mexican culture into Tori's life. To her, these are Mexican food. So when we thinking about Coco and what to make she wanted these. I tried to steer her toward the tamales I have in the freezer still from Christmas but it was a big NO. So we made our normal “Fiesta Night” and cooked up some Cinnamon Crisps to watch Coco.

This movie always makes me cry. I love it so much! I love it's message about family, family secrets, and finding balance between finding your path without having to cut off your family. Tori will look up at certain parts and say, “Are you crying again mom?” because she knows I am. I do EVERY TIME!

I told her she was kind of cheating on this one. Mexican culture is a big part of our life already and it was hard to come up with something new to discuss on this one. Then I realized we had never discussed Luchadors! So I still found a new thing to talk about.

I love all the colors in this movie and if you wanted to do a craft instead you could look up how to cut paper banners or make paper flowers. We do this often to celebrate Dia de Muertos.

Beignets from The Princess and the Frog

I don't want to be one of those people with a long story before the recipe so.....

1 ½ cup warm water

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 cup evaporated milk

2 rounded teaspoons of insta yeast

6 ½ cups of flour

¼ cup shortening

Enough oil to fry in

Powdered sugar to pile on top

1. Combine eggs, evaporated milk, and salt and beat until well mixed.
2. Add water.
3. Sift insta yeast into flour.
4. Add 3 cups of flour mixture into egg mixture.
5. Add shortening and continue to mix.
6. Switch to a dough hook and add the rest of the flour mixture.
7. Once dough forms a ball, knead on a floured counter.
8. Grease a bowl and put dough in bowl. Cover with saran wrap or a damp towel and let rise in a warm place. It should take about 2 hours to double in size, but check at 1 1/12 hours.
9. Sprinkle counter with flour and roll out dough to ¼ inch thick or so.
10. Cut into squares about 2 inches. If you roll like me, there will be a lot of non-squares around the edge and that's fine.
11. Heat oil in Dutch oven or open deep fryer to 350 degrees F.
12. Fry the squares a few minutes on each side until puffy and brown. Then remove with tongs or slotted spoon and let drain on paper towel lined baking sheet.
13. Pile high with powdered sugar and enjoy!

*If you do not have insta yeast but do have active yeast, then start by placing yeast in the warm water with ½ cup sugar. Add when you add the water.

My daughter Tori decided she wanted to make food from different Disney movies and then eat the food while watching the movie, mainly because she wanted these beignets. We both love Princess and the Frog. I always say if I was a princess, I would be Tiana. Tori loves the music and the animation. So, when I agreed to do this project with her, this was our first choice.

I had never made beignets before. The dough was a little trickier and stickier than I thought it would be. We over worked the dough and they didn't come out quite as fluffy and soft as I wanted, but they were still good! The best part was Tori and I had a great time making them. She took a nice break to play Roblox while we waited for it to rise.

We used our deep fryer to cook them, just removed the baskets and used tongs. I used a small strainer and a slightly larger bowl to set it in to “sift” the powdered sugar on top of the beignets. Tori did a tray of them and powdered sugar got everywhere, which she thought was funny. Honestly, I only got slightly less covered in powdered sugar.

Who we are!

My name is Elizabeth Saenz. I am a mother of three amazing beings! Tori is my third child and the only one from my second marriage. She was born 6 years after her older sister and 9 years after her older brother. Now that she is 11 and a Diva, I have had multiple friends and family say I should start a blog chronicling our creative endeavors, fun trips, and silly family time. So I finally listened and started this blog. This post is just to give you a little information about our wacky family.

I am a writer and a new age spiritual person. I still consider myself a Punk and a rebel with a bit of a Goth flare, even though I'm not as angsty as I used to be. I'm a super liberal political activist type. My free time is spent enjoying anything Disney, going to concerts, and playing video games. My uber geeky side is only outdone by my husband, and Tori's father, Ryan. He is a great DM/GM, and loves Warhammer 40K and Legos. My oldest, and only son, doesn't want me talking about him, so we will say he is a typical 20-year-old computer geek. My middle child, Alex, is an amazing artist and she also is a little emo punk clone of me. She and Tori as actually very close for being 6 years apart. They are very different, but still love spending time together.



This leads us to the star of the blog, my daughter Tori! If she is not singing or dancing, she is playing Roblox with her friends. She loves drama and has been in local plays and theater camps. She also just loves being silly and having fun. She is so creative, and when she and I get together, we can have some real magical experiences!



I hope you enjoy our little blog and that it inspires you to find a little magic in your life.