Welcome, welcome, welcome back my friends to another week of Muting and The Mouse. I hope you are ready to enter into the magic differently this week. One of our slogans is “entering into the magic, no matter how far”. Our previous posts have been entering the magic right there at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, but what about if you are far away? Well, we hope you enter into the magic by reading our posts, which would lead you to our post here. Today, we are going to take a look at bringing Disney home. One way you can bring Disney home is by recreating some of the magic. It could be in decorations, movies, photos, and even food. Today our posts will bring home some Disney magic by recreating a food item that we love.
First, I should start out by saying that I bought Abby a Disney Cookbook as a Christmas gift. The book is photographed above and is called “The Unofficial Disney Parks Cookbook” by Ashley Craft (no relation). The book was available on Amazon and made the perfect extra gift to have under the tree. After looking through the cookbook, I highly recommend that Disney fans have this book to help bring home some Disney Park favorites! It has everything covered and will be sure to have you feeling like you are at the most magical place on earth!
After flipping through the book, we had decided we were craving a staple when at the parks. We have talked about this dish being found at the Friar’s Nook, but it is also found at Animal Kingdom in multiple places. We normally enjoy this dish at Flame Tree BBQ. We decided the meal we were going to make was going to be the BBQ Pulled Pork Macaroni and Cheese. This is one that we usually get on every trip. The cheesy, gooey, tender mac and cheese along with the BBQ pork alway hits the spot. Now, we did change the recipe a little bit because we did not have all of the ingredients, but it did turn out amazing.
First off, we had bought a pre seasoned pork shoulder from Aldi. This was easy to prepare. I had decided to cook the pork shoulder in the crock pot. I unpackaged the pork shoulder and set it in the crock pot and then from there added some barbecue sauce on the bottom and top of the pork shoulder. I had used Sweet Baby Rays Honey BBQ, but you could use whatever kind you like. I also added some Apple Cider Vinegar to give it a little extra zang of flavor. From there, I set the crock pot on low for 8 hours. Every hour, I would flip the pork shoulder to ensure an even cook and then would baste the shoulder with the barbecue and vinegar mixture in the crock pot.
At the end of 8 hours, I started to cook the pasta for the macaroni and cheese. I only had tri-color Rotini, but in mac and cheese, any smaller pasta would work. While the pasta was cooking, I decided to take some time to pull the pork shoulder. While the heat on the crock pot was turned off, I grabbed two forks and shredded the pork. The pork was so tender and in no time there was an entire pot of pulled pork. The pork soaked up the vinegar and barbecue sauce and was the perfectly seasoned, tangy pork. After that, it was time to make the coleslaw to top the Dish. It was very basic as we had pre shredded cabbage mixture and a pre packaged dressing to top it. The dish really was starting to take form.
After that, as the pasta drained it was time to make the cheese sauce. This was a very basic cheese sauce and it was fine, but next time, I would try to adapt it, as it was not cheesy enough for me. The cheese sauce was done and it was time to stir in the pasta. Once that was all stirred in, we heated it all together and then it was time to construct the bowl. We topped the mac and cheese with the pulled pork and then some coleslaw. The finished product is photographed below alongside the one found at the Friar’s Nook.
The dish did not disappoint. It did remind me of being at Disney as we played some Animal Kingdom music in the background. The mac and cheese was cooked well and had a nice cheesy flavor. The pulled pork was both sweet and tangy while being super tender. The slaw added a nice cool touch on the back end of the dish. It was overall pretty easy to make. The recipe in the book “The Unofficial Disney Parks Cookbook” by Ashley Craft was easy to follow even though we bought a pre seasoned pulled pork. I am excited to follow the recipe to the exact way shown to compare.
You might think that Pulled Pork Macaroni and Cheese is an everyday dish you can get anywhere, and you are right. But the fact remains, they serve it at Disney and you can have fun making it ,following the recipe the cookbook. The recipe is easy to make and is something that you can make your own and add your own touches to. Bringing home a little piece of Disney in the form of food is ONE way you can enter into the magic, no matter how far. Be sure to mention in the comment below if you have tried making a Disney Dish at home. It is truly a fun way to add some Disney magic into everyday life!
Muting & The Mouse 