Felicity's Raleigh Tavern Cookies

A trip down memory lane via the oven!

A fun part of starting this blog has meant I've discovered how easy it is to find recipes replicating treats you might have thought you could only enjoy on vacation to places like Disney World or Colonial Williamsburg. These might not always be authentically historic, but I still like giving them a shot because whipping up a batch of Brunswick stew in your kitchen is a lot cheaper than driving all the way to Williamsburg... or hopping on a plane to enjoy Le Cellier's beer cheese soup in Epcot. 

The recipe I'm going to share with you today is a staple of Colonial Williamsburg, and a treat that I always eat at least one or two of on my visits to the museum: Raleigh Tavern ginger cookies. You can smell these fluffy cookies whenever you walk by the bake shop, and Williamsburg even offers to ship them to you via their online store. But if you're hoping to make your own, look no further.

Maryellen's Pineapple Jello Rings & Piña Colada Molded Salad

Two gelatin desserts for the price of one!

It just wouldn't be a trip through the 20th Century without at least one recipe spotlighting the ubiquitous gelatin, right? Well, I've got two for you today: one straight out of the 1950's, and one that's a little more modern. Ironically, I liked the older recipe significantly better than the modern one, enough that I'm planning on bringing it along to my friend's 1970's themed house warming party in a few weeks. Can you guess which one is which? 

Both recipes also feature canned pineapple, and while that treat had been enjoyed by Americans since the turn of the 20th Century when James Dole opened his pineapple plantation on Oahu, it really found new life in the 1950's and 60's. Read on to see how this fruity treat could be adapted to pretty much anything your heart desired.

Kaya's Smoked Salmon Scrambled Eggs

The star of this Kaya inspired breakfast!

Kaya is one of my favorite historical dolls. That may sound silly because I genuinely love all of AG's historical characters, but Kaya has always had a special place in my heart. Her books are great, and she goes through a real journey, learning how to become less selfish and what makes a good leader. Her collection enchanted me from the second I saw her in the catalog for the first time, especially because I'd had to do a major research project on the Nez Perce a few years before she was released! Seeing so much of what I'd studied come to life in doll form was really exciting, and even though I was starting to feel a little too old for dolls (if only middle school me could see me now!), I asked for her for Christmas. 

But something that's always disappointed me is that despite how well researched and crafted her stories and collections were, she missed out on the neat supplemental material the Pleasant Company produced for their historical characters like craft books... and cook books! I'm still slowly working through making the recipes from the Pleasant Company cook books, but had the idea that I'd try my hand at making a Kaya inspired breakfast the way it might have appeared in an official American Girl cook book. 

The main course? Smoked salmon scrambled eggs, of course!

Kaya's Fort Clatsop Salmon Chowder & Sourdough Biscuits

Recipes inspired by a long winter of sitting around waiting for the snow to melt!

So, does anyone remember how back when I started this blog, I said I was going to work my way through The Food Journal of Lewis and Clark? I really did intend on that being a regular feature, but then life happened and I got a job, and then a better job, and so on and so forth, and the cast and crew of the blog kind of... exploded. Which made doing a monthly or even a bimonthly feature on one character kind of impossible.

But I didn't forget about the cookbook, or my intentions to do more of the recipes in it! Actually, the ones I'm about to share with you today I've been wanting to do for a long, long time. When I first got the cookbook and flipped through it, they stood out to me and I always meant to set some time aside to try them out. And then kept putting it off, and putting it off, and putting it off...

Until now!

Kaya's Bison Burgers, with a Berry and Pine Nut Salad

A simple, tasty and healthy meal!

Kaya has been my most difficult doll to find recipes and recipe ideas for, mostly because most of the foods she eats are native to the Pacific Northwest, and I live on the other side of the country. The other issue is that while the Nez Perce diet in 1764 was very restricted by location, there's less possible authentic historic variation, and a limited number of ways you can interpret the dishes in a more modern way, if only because there are simply less ingredients to work with compared to say Rebecca or Felicity, as they both came from cultures that relied more heavily on trade and urban centers for ingredients, and Kaya's doesn't. This isn't to say that there was no trade going on between the Nez Perce and other cultural groups, but it's obviously easier to transport food quickly with things like railroads and more modern ships.

This has meant that finding ways to get her represented on the blog have required a little more creativity and brainpower than some of my other dolls, which is fine by me. It's kind of fun to work without a recipe, or to find ones that have a connection to Kaya without being immediately obvious. Each part of this dinner has some connection to the foods she would have eaten, while putting an East Coast, modern spin on it, because there's just no way I'd be able to get my hands on some of the authentic ingredients.

Kirsten's Fried Pork Chops with Gravy, Biscuits and Root Vegetables

Scene stealing gravy and biscuits!

I've mentioned before here that I am absolutely not a fan of frying things. Don't get me wrong, I love to eat fried things! But hot oil and I have not been friends in the past, and it wasn't exactly something I was excited to try again after my last attempt ended in a smoky house and burns on my hands.

But as I've said time and time again on this blog, I'm trying to get more confident in the kitchen, and that requires doing some things I never thought I'd want to do again. So, without further ado, here's our latest pioneer themed post.

Kirsten's One-Pan Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

The perfect thing for a campfire, or a cold, rainy Labor Day cook "out"

When it came time to pick the first recipe for the blog, I thought it was only fair to let Kirsten go first. I've had her the longest, and warm, comforting pioneer food seemed like a good idea for a cold, rainy Labor Day. Since we were also having people over for a cook out, it seemed like a good idea to find something that would make enough for a lot of people.