I discovered This Beautiful Fantastic while watching one of my favorite YouTube channels, Darling Desi. It was a rainy day - one where the gloom can either make you feel a bit listless or set the stage for a perfect movie day. I looked for suggestions to capture a spring atmosphere and this movie with the storms and the transformation of the garden from barren to beautiful did it well. The story follows a quirky aspiring writer named Bella as she conquers her overgrown garden with the begrudging help of her elderly neighbor.
So, it's a heartwarming movie about books, delicious food, and gardening? Yes, please. Sign me up!
This movie made choosing a menu easy. One of the characters, Vernon, is a wonderful chef and every dish he made looked delicious. We got a glimpse of how Bella started to shake up her rigid routine when she enjoyed Vernon's homemade Eggs Benedict. A vast improvement on her separated peas and carrots and frozen waffles, I'm sure!
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| Eggs Benedict |
I love Eggs Benedict and my family had it every Easter when I was growing up so it screams Spring to me. This recipe from Ree Drummond is a good place to start, but don't be afraid to make it your own. You'll notice I used thin sliced ham instead of Canadian bacon and I added a few chives on top.
If you're not interested in making a traditional hollandaise sauce, try this Quick and Easy Mock Hollandaise sauce from Allrecipes. It also makes an excellent dip for asparagus!
There were so many egg dishes shown so I figured why not throw in one of Vernon's "simple quiches." This dish was inspired by the quiche that was shown when Bella first ventured out into her garden to attempt to tidy it and the interesting spinach mixture that was shown alongside the Eggs Benedict.
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| Spinach Mini Quiche |
These Spinach Mini Quiches from Pillsbury are a delicious finger food. I added a bit more spinach than the recipe called for and some minced garlic. You can pretty much assume even if a savory recipe doesn't call for garlic I'll be adding it anyway. They were delicious and I will be making them again!
Another stand-out recipe made its appearance toward the beginning of This Beautiful Fantastic. When Vernon handed Bella a cookie he said, "85% cocoa. That's the trick. And I make them with oat bran, so they're not so bad here for his lordship."
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| Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies |
I used this Flourless Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies recipe from Running with Spoons because I wanted to find a cookie that was similar to Vernon's. I was a little skeptical as I was rolling the dough into balls because it seemed a bit crumbly. I was afraid they were going to be too dry or lacking in flavor, but I was wrong! They were soft (a little delicate, but not obnoxiously so) and really chocolaty. I subbed brown sugar for the coconut sugar and added a tiny bit more oil to help them stick together. Everyone loved them and since they contain some healthy ingredients, I enjoyed more than a few. If I were to make them again, I would flatten them into more of a cookie shape. They really didn't spread out much in the oven, but that didn't affect the taste.
Let's segue right into another sweet treat. Vernon threatens to eat one of these outside of Bella's door without a plate, which is quite the threat to a neat-freak considering how many flakes these pastries leave behind!
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| Pain au Chocolat |
This quick and easy Pain au Chocolat recipe from Sugar Salted is easier than a traditional recipe because you use store-bought puff pastry instead of making your own croissants. These were good, but I think it would have been fine just using one sheet of puff pastry instead of stacking two. It took a long time for the centers to cook through and in my personal experience Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheets always puff up perfectly so using two sheets just throws off the chocolate to pastry ratio.
Finally, to wash it all down you could choose one of the many beverages shown throughout the movie. There was lemonade and wine, but I'm going with a hot cup of tea.
"Don't worry. Tea's on its way." (Milly, the doctor)
There's no recipe required, but I did include the type I used in the picture because the Honey Vanilla Chamomile went especially well with the sweets and the box has those adorable chamomile flowers that fit so well with our garden-themed movie.
I hope Spring gives you the most peaceful rainy day for you to cuddle up and enjoy This Beautiful Fantastic and I hope this menu helps bring the story to life.
See you next time!
I love those croissants
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