Welcome back friends! We took a little break from creating Disney recipes, but I’ve missed this, so we’re picking things back up again! This month we’ll be roasting the peanuts from the WDP Circus in Disney’s Dumbo.
This recipe is featured twice in the film. Timothy mouse is snacking on them when he first meets Dumbo, and when Dumbo stretches his ears to fly, he sucks them up and sprays over all the rude elephants.
I love salted peanuts! These are brined to get the salted flavor within the the shell, then tossed with peanut oil and salt before roasting. These are a healthy and delicious snack, I hope you enjoy them!
WDP CIRCUS’S ROASTED PEANUTS
1 1/2 pounds in-shell raw dried peanuts
2 quarts of water
1/2 cup of kosher salt
2 tablespoons of peanut oil
2 tablespoons of kosher salt
INSTRUCTIONS
Thoroughly rinse the peanuts under cool water to remove any excess dirt.
In a large bowl or pot, dissolve the 1/2 cup of salt in the water, then add the peanuts.
Place a plate over the water’s surface to ensure the peanuts are submerged and brine for 24 hours.
Drain the water, and spread the peanuts on baking sheets in a single layer to dry (this may take several days).
Once the peanuts are dry, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the peanuts in a large bowl and toss them with the peanut oil and salt until well coated.
Spread the peanuts back out onto baking sheets in a single layer.
Roast in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, rotating the pan(s) after 20 minutes. Everyone’s oven is different, so keep an eye on them so they won’t burn!
Remove the peanuts from the oven. They will continue to “cook” and become crunchy as they cool.
I grew up watching a healthy dose of animated Disney and Pixar movies, they had a positive impact on me, and I would love to continue the tradition with my daughter. We’ve already watched a few and as her attention span grows I’d like to watch more. Let’s be honest though, child(ren) or not, you’re never too old to love and enjoy these films. I’ve created this handy dandy Pixar watch list to keep track; please feel free to use it as a reference!
I grew up watching a healthy dose of animated Disney and Pixar movies, they had a positive impact on me, and I would love to continue the tradition with my daughter. We’ve already watched a few and as her attention span grows I’d like to watch more. Let’s be honest though, child(ren) or not, you’re never too old to love and enjoy these films. I’ve created this handy dandy Walt Disney Animation Studios watch list to keep track; please feel free to use it as a reference!
Have you ever watched Maple Town? It is an animated series from the 1980s featuring anthropomorphic animal characters, within an adorable utopic town, that taught little life lessons in each episode. When I was little, my mom recorded it onto VHS for me and I watched them over and over; I also had several of the toys and I still have them!
These toys have been up in the rafters of our garage for over 20 years! They’ve held up better than my My Little Ponies (see how I cleaned them here), but they are still careworn and very dirty. I want to clean these toys to prepare them for my daughter to love and play with!
If you have any flocked toys, whether they are Maple Town characters, Sylvanians, Calico Critters, So Soft My Little Ponies or another, I’ve created this handy guide to help you give them a good cleaning without removing their flocking. Let’s get started!
FLOCKED TOY
Before cleaning.After Cleaning.
SUPPLIES
Container
Powdered OxiClean
Toothbrush
Paper or dish towels
INSTRUCTIONS
Important! Since flocking is attached to the toys with glue, warm to hot water or air could dissolve the glue and remove the flocking.
Patty Rabbit before cleaning.
Cleaning Patty Rabbit with OxiClean solution and fingertips.
Bobby Bear before cleaning.
Dirty water from the toys.
Dab drying Bobby Bear.
Patty Rabbit after cleaning.
If your toy has any clothing, remove it and set it aside (see “Clothing” section below).
In the container, prepare a small batch of the OxiClean per the instructions with warm water. Allow the water to cool completely.
Take the toothbrush, dip it in the OxiClean bath then gently tap the water onto the toy to wet the flocking (this may take several dips and taps to wet the flocking over the whole toy). We are not scrubbing with the toothbrush, just transferring a controlled amount of water onto the toy.
Use your fingers to rub the OxiClean water into the toy’s fur and set it aside for 10 to 15 minutes. I set mine on a white plate and boy did some dirty water drain off of them (see photo)!
After your toy has sat for 10 to 15 minutes, turn on your tap on the lowest stream it can distribute water, and carefully rinse each character. Take care not to linger too long over joints so water doesn’t leak inside.
With a paper towel or dish towel, gently dab each toy to remove excess water, then set them somewhere safe to dry overnight or longer until they are dry to the touch.
If your toy has any clothing, continue see the “Clothing” section below.
CLOTHING
Maple Town character clothing, before cleaning.
SUPPLIES
Container
Powdered OxiClean
Needle (Optional)
Thread (Optional)
Scissors (Optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
Important! If you’re worried about a particular article of clothing, please do a spot test first, before soaking the whole item.
Patty Rabbit’s clothing before cleaning.
Fanny Fox’s clothing before cleaning.
Mama Rabbit’s dress before cleaning and repairing.
Soaking the clothing in OxiClean.
Maple Town characters and clothing laid out to dry.
In the container, prepare the OxiClean per the instructions with warm water.
Place the toy’s clothing in the warm OxiClean mixture to soak. There are some types of fabric that will not react well in OxiClean.
Keep an eye on the clothing and remove it from the bath once clean. Some of my toy’s clothing was clean within 30 minutes, some of them took a couple of hours.
Remove the articles of clothing from the soak and rinse them thoroughly. Squeeze the out the excess water, smooth out any wrinkles, and set them aside to dry.
If there are any loose threads the clothing that will not unravel the garment if cut, you can use the scissors to snip them off.
If there are any tears in the clothing, select thread that is similar in color and thread your needle. Carefully sew the tears back together using appropriate, simple stitches.
After your toy and its clothing are clean and dry, re-dress, and display or enjoy!
I fortuitously found our first Llama Llama book at a local library book sale. It was October and I collected what halloween-themed children’s books I could find, then brought them home. Zoey immediately fell in love with Llama Llama Trick or Treat, handing it to us over and over again until both my husband and I could (and still can) recite it from memory.
Since October, we have collected Llama Llama Gives Thanks, Jingle Bells, I Love You and Easter Egg. As I researched the author, Anna Dewdney, I was deeply saddened to hear that she has passed away. Her stories and her artwork are so heartfelt and beautiful; we love them, and will continue to collect and read all of her books.
As we continue to introduce Zoey to more Llama Llama stories, I’ve created a bibliography of Anna Dewdney’s Llama Llama series. Please feel free to use it too if you need it! Her estate has released some books posthumously and I’ve decided to include those that have the same look and feel as the originals.
I’ve been keeping my eyes open for a Bob’s Burgers planner, but I have yet to find one, I’ve decided to make my own!
I have been admiring bullet journals for the past year, and attempted my own, but hit a wall with how complex I was trying to make them. This is technically my first bullet journal so please bear with me as I learn what works and what doesn’t.
Each month will be themed for a different character or idea and this month is Tina themed! Check out my past month’s themes:
For May’s weekly spreads, I decided to start with Tina’s “Everything’s OK” face. Tina is (for the most part) a rule-follower like myself and has a really hard time lying and/or hiding her emotions when she knows something’s wrong.
I couldn’t do a Tina theme without any horses and one of the most memorable horses in the series is Tina’s imaginary horse Jericho (voiced by Paul Rudd) from the “The Horse Rider-er” episode.
Checking out all the butts!
And last but not least, one of my favorite moments is when Tina raises her literal (eye)glasses during a toast in “An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal”.
Mercer Mayer’s core Little Critter books are another staple series of my childhood!
I fondly remember my mom reading All by Myself, Just Me and My Dad, Just Me and My Mom, Just Grandma and Me, and (my personal favorite) Just Go To Bed! The stories felt so relatable and cozy and the artwork, although quirky, was also very warm and welcoming.
As I research this series, I realize that as much as I loved the books I knew, there are so many more I’ve never had the pleasure of reading! I am starting to collect Little Critter books to read to my daughter, so I’ve created this one-page handy dandy bibliography to keep track as I go! Please feel free to use it too if you need it!
I’ve been keeping my eyes open for a Bob’s Burgers planner, but I have yet to find one, I’ve decided to make my own!
I have been admiring bullet journals for the past year, and attempted my own, but hit a wall with how complex I was trying to make them. This is technically my first bullet journal so please bear with me as I learn what works and what doesn’t.
Each month will be themed for a different character or idea and this month is Gayle themed! Check out my past month’s themes:
For the April weekly spreads, I decided to start with Gayle’s cats. Poor Gayle is mostly a hot mess, but she has many redeeming moments and her cats mean the world to her. I started with Mr. Business, who definitely demands his own weekly spread, and followed him with Pinkeye and Jean Paw’d Van Damme.
One of Gayle’s most iconic moments I had to include is in the episode “Art Crawl” when she feels the universe is telling her create paintings of animal butts and display them in the restaurant during the local Art festival.
I had every intention of making naturally dyed eggs this year. Every. Intention. Then I realized I did not leave myself enough time to prepare and create the dyes. Going natural is a labor of love that I would still love to do…next year.
This year, I dyed a small amount of eggs using food coloring, vinegar and water. It was a lot quicker, a lot simpler, and I was pretty happy with the results!
SUPPLIES
4 16 ounce mason jars
8 teaspoons of vinegar (2 for each color/jar)
4 cups of water (1 for each color/jar)
Food coloring of your choice
8 hard boiled eggs
INSTRUCTIONS
Prepare each mason jar by adding two teaspoons of vinegar to each one.
Boil the four cups of water and carefully pour one cup into each mason jar.
Add drops of food coloring to create the desired shade (don’t be afraid to add a lot, I used 40 drops of blue in one jar) and stir until the color, vinegar and water are well incorporated.
Gently add two eggs to each color, allow the the water to cool slightly, then seal the lids and put them in the refrigerator overnight.
Remove the mason jars from the refrigerator and carefully remove the eggs from the dye, then drain the rest.
Rinse the eggs, gently rubbing with your fingers to remove the darker colored film covering the eggs.
Gently pat the eggs dry with paper towels.
I used the mason jars I had available, which were 16 ounces with regular mouths. I dyed two eggs within each jar; I probably could have crammed 3 eggs into each jar, but I didn’t think that would have given them an even coating of the dye. Please feel free to multiply the recipe and enjoy!
Thank you and your helpers for all that you do! Since I was a little girl, your operation has grown into something that could rival Christmas morning! It’s enthusiastic and impressive to say the least, but I don’t think our little girl needs all the bells and whistles this year.
My daughter is a 19th month old toddler this Easter and I would like to request up to six items for her Easter Basket that are simple, sweet and more useful than not!
Whole Heartily 