Something I’ve come to realize when doing Disney dinners is that everyone connects differently with movies. Everyone has parts that really speak to them. It’s great to feel out your audience and see what parts they really like, what they might like to learn more about, and even see if they might have any ideas to contribute to the fun! Activities, food, decorations, props….all these things contribute so much to these fun nights, and everyone can contribute in their own special way.
I often ask our guests to contribute by bringing a dish, a beverage, dressing up, or even bringing props and decor.
One small, but effective “extra” that I picked up from a friend, is to build our dinners around the seasons and weather! I shoot for warm weather movies in the warmer months, and cold weather movies in the winter months!
One of our favorite summer movies is Lilo & Stitch! We try to pair this movie with fruity summer drinks, swimming in the pool, and fun Hawaiian outfits!
One of my ALL TIME FAVORITE FOODS comes from Hawaii! I am always STOKED when I have an excuse to make it! I have to admit that the first time I heard of this, I thought it sounded terrible….but being an adventurous eater, I tried it. What is it you ask??? SPAM MUSUBI!
I must admit that prior to trying musubi, I had never even tried Spam. The sound of Spam just didn’t do anything for me. A bunch of processed meat in a little loaf and packaged in a can? No thanks. However I learned, that during the war years a LOT of packaged meat made it’s way to Hawaii. The locals incorporated Spam into the cuisine, and now it is a staple in their diet.
Just what is Spam musubi? It is basically sushi, but with fried Spam & seasonings in place of the fish wrapped in roasted seaweed. Its salty, sweet, briny, and delicious. It was the perfect starter dish for our Lilo & Stitch Hawaiian dinner night!
SPAM MUSUBI RECIPE
- 1 pack Roasted Nori (Seaweed sheets)
- 4 Cup Sushi Rice (cooked)
- Furikake rice seasoning to taste
- 1 can Spam (sliced into 8 pieces)
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sugar
- Musubi mold
Directions:
Cook sushi rice per instructions. Keep warm and set aside.
To amp up the flavor, I like to quickly toast my sheets of seaweed before assembling my musubi. I turn my gas stove top on medium and quickly run my pieces of nori over the flame a few times. The nori will get a bit more crunchy and fragrant. When you’ve finished toasting your sheets of nori, set aside.
Warm a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the spam slices and fry until crisp and lightly browned on both sides. (2-3 minutes) Pull the spam slices out of the skillet and set aside.
In the same skillet, add the water, soy sauce, and sugar over medium-low heat. Stir to combine. When the mixture is warm and the sugar has dissolved, add the spam back to the skillet and coat both sides of the browned spam pieces. The liquid should be a bit thick and coat the slices once warm.
Using your musubi press, push your warm sushi rice down into the mold. I generally fill mine about 2/3 full of rice before using the press to squish it down.*tip- coat your hands often with cool water to keep the rice from sticking to your hands.* After pressing the rice down, remove the rice from the mold and sprinkle on a few pinches of furikake to your taste. Place the coated spam on top of the furikake rice and finally roll in a strip of the toasted nori. (I personally prefer to use a strip of nori that fully covers the length of the musubi, but many people prefer smaller strips.) Use a small line of water to seal the nori in place.
You can enjoy while warm, or wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate. (I prefer to eat mine cold)
For our main course we had poke bowls. For the kiddos I used sushi rice as the base and put some grilled shrimp and tuna on top along with poke sauce, fried wonton strips, nori, green onions, and sesame seeds. For the adults, we elected to have our tuna raw (traditional) and over salad greens.
We had some fresh pineapple and even made a copy cat version of dole whips at home! This is one of our ABSOLUTE FAVORITE TREATS at Disney World and I was absolutely THRILLED to find a recipe for home! I’ve seen a few different recipes for home use, but this is the one that we used:
Disney Copycat Dole Whips
- 2 cups Frozen Pineapple
- 4 oz. Pineapple Juice
- ~3/4 cup Vanilla ice cream
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor and blend until smooth. To get the iconic swirl shape that you get at Disney, you can freeze the mixture for about 30 minutes. Place the frozen mixture in a piping bag with a star tip and pipe into cups.
We couldn’t wait that long for ours, so we ate them directly after mixing!
You can also turn the frozen mixture into a dole whip float by adding additional pineapple juice!
Along with our delicious food items, we dressed in luau attire. One of my Mom’s sweet employees even made Neyland a lei out of fresh flowers to wear during dinner! We even tried our best at copying some hula dancing! Most importantly, we had an amazing with with ohana! In case you missed it, ohana means family!
Overall, this Disney dinner has been one of my all time favorites! It was PACKED with amazing flavors, colors, and fun! If you guys give this one a try, leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
The Southern Yankee Mom 