snacks straight from literature

I love reading books I grew up with to my boys. One book we finished recently was the first book in The Boxcar Children. I loved that book as a child. In the book, the "boxcar children" had a job picking cherries for a doctor. After they picked all day, they were rewarded with cherry dumplings, made by the doctor's mother. Everytime I'd read the words "cherry dumplings", Wyatt's little ears would perk up and he'd say "Mom, can we please have cherry dumplings someday." A few days ago I finally gave in and came across a recipe for Boxcar Children Cherry Dumplings. The recipe itself is very simple, only calling for a couple of cans of crescent rolls and a can of cherry pie filling. I know, I know...crescent rolls go against everything I believe in for healthy eating. I normally avoid them but tis the season, right? I know there are much better recipes out there, but this was easy, one my kids could help make and quick. If you make them, I'd suggest to not overfill the dough with cherries. You'll have some cherry pie filling left over so I would top the finished dumpling with more cherries and whipped cream or ice cream.

After reading The Boxcar Children we started Farmer Boy, the childhood story of Almanzo Wilder (Laura Ingalls Wilder's husband). In the first part of the book, Almanzo's family has an evening snack of popcorn, apples and apple cider by the warm fire. So the other day when the boys were asking for a snack, we had...you guessed it...a "Farmer Boy" snack of apples, popcorn, and apple cider by our fire. It's the little things you know!

Alright, I'm on to make a swiss chard pizza tonight for dinner. For dessert...Pioneer Woman's chocolate sheet cake! But, more on Pioneer Woman later.