{Travel} Disney Day 2-Animal Kingdom & Pandora

On our second day in Disney, we were up early and headed to Animal Kingdom.

It's such a beautiful park and we never miss the African Safari.

 Can you see the lions?

 I took some photos in Asia while my family rode Expedition Everest.

 The newest part of AK is Pandora which is based on the movie Avatar.

 Disney has outdone themselves again with Pandora.

Another new-to-us thing is that there is a Starbucks in every park now. They each have their own look to go along with the theme park.

We had lunch at Satu'li Canteen in Pandora.  I had the Chili Spiced Crispy Fried Tofu Bowl over greens and quinoa. YUM!

to be continued...

Day 1

Night 1
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{Travel} Disney-Night 1 Hollywood Studios & Boma

Another shot from our room at Animal Kingdom Lodge, I could sit on the balcony all day and watch the animals.

But we had fast passes for Toy Story Mania so off we went to Hollywood Studios.

 It had been a beautiful, sunny day and we were pretty excited about being at Disney while we waited at the bus stop at our resort.

 We were feeling all cute and refreshed from our naps and then....

Here comes the rain!  It got a lot worse when we were on the bus to Hollywood Studios and the winds were kicking up too.  We had our rain ponchos and umbrellas but they were back in our room! We were rusty with our Disney travel. We forgot to pack them in our daypack!

 We got SOAKED!  We did make it to Toy Story Mania though!!

I actually beat the hubs this time!

 The rain did stop, and we started to dry out a little.

 I sat out the ride Star Tours and watched the people walking by.

 I also enjoyed this lovely cocktail.  Our last stop was Tower Of Terror and it was still terrifying and fun!

 I was so happy that we were having dinner at Boma in our hotel that night. We needed to change out of our damp clothes!  We hung out in the beautiful lobby while we were waiting for our table to be ready.

 We warmed up by the huge fireplace and soaked up the Animal Kingdom Lodge atmosphere.

By the time we had dinner I was too tired to take photos. Boma is an African inspired buffet that resembles an African marketplace. It's a beautiful restaurant with so many interesting and unique food options.

to be continued...

day 1

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{Travel} Disney-Day 1 Travel Day, Animal Kingdom Lodge & Magic Kingdom

This week (and maybe longer) I'll be celebrating Disney Week here on the blog.  We just got back from an amazing birthday/Halloween trip to Walt Disney World and I can't wait to share all the details with you! To catch up on all of our past Disney adventures, you can click on my Travel page and scroll down to Disney.  

Our trip started nice and early with a 5:30am flight out of Philly but we were so excited, who needed sleep?

When we got to Orlando, a trip to Starbucks by Magical Express was necessary! Magical Express is the transportation system to the Disney resorts from the airport. You check your bags when you depart and they get delivered to your room.  It's a nice perk, you just need to make sure you have enough items in your carry on bag to "survive" without your luggage until it arrives.  The Magic Bands were new to us too.  They come in the mail right before your trip (you can pick colors for everyone in your group and they are personalized on the inside). The Magic Bands act as your room key, park tickets, fast passes, dining plan tracker and can even be used for charging privileges to your room if you want.

 The nice thing about an early travel day is getting to the resort early. Our room was ready too!

It was our first time staying at The Animal Kingdom Lodge-Jambo House resort.

We had a savannah view room which was so cool!  I will have some better photos of our room's view later in the week but this was one I snapped when we first got there. There's a giraffe in the background--look right in the center of the photo.

 After checking out our room and dropping off our carry on bags we headed to Magic Kingdom.

 It was all decked out for fall!

It's always a thrill for me to walk down Main Street and see the castle.

We had to stop for a castle selfie!

We got on a few rides including the Haunted Mansion (where I snapped this pic) and walked around the park, checking out the changes since our list visit (2013).

We had lunch at Pecos Bill's Tall Tales restaurant and then got Dole Whips. Yum!

Back to the hotel for a nap (and hoping our luggage would be there!).

to be continued...

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{Recipe} Cheezy Broccoli and Brown Rice Bake-Vegan & Oil Free

This was a recipe I tried over the summer (while Miss H/S was away) and the hubs and I loved it.   I recently made it again for her and she liked it too. It's a crowd pleaser for sure.  The cheezy sauce doesn't contain any dairy or nuts.  It all comes together quickly if you've got your rice made ahead of time.  You could use pre-made rice as well.

 Ingredients:

For the bake:

3 cups cooked brown rice

3 cups broccoli florets

1/2 cup breadcrumbs or crushed crackers (I used Panko)

For the vegan cheese sauce:

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1/2 cup water

1 cup baby carrots

1 small onion, chopped

1 15 oz can cannellini beans

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or any plant milk)

3/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 TBS lemon juice

2 tsp miso paste

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp yellow mustard

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

To make:

• Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9x9 baking dish with parchment paper.
• Steam broccoli on stove or in microwave.
• Place brown rice and broccoli in a large bowl and set aside.
• Make the cheezy sauce:  In medium size pot, bring vegetable broth &  water to a boil. Add carrots and cook for about 10 minutes to soften.
• Add onions and beans, turn down heat and simmer for 10-12  minutes.
• You can either add remaining sauce ingredients to pot and use an immersion blender to mix OR add veggies and remaining sauce ingredients to a high speed blender and mix until smooth. (I used my Vitamix).

• Pour cheezy sauce over broccoli and rice in the bowl. Stir to combine well.
• Put the mixture into the prepared pan.
• Add a layer of breadcrumbs.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes until brown around the edges.
• You can also pop under the broiler to make it extra golden brown and crispy.

Enjoy immediately!

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