Night At The Museum History Unit - Civil War Supper

Continuing with our glimpse at the Civil War, I decided to try out a recipe for Johnnie cakes from Mason-Dixon Line's Civil War Recipes, found at www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Barracks/1369/recipes.html?20096 . I served them to the children with bacon (that's as close as we get to salt pork in this house), and some fried apples.

I gave the serving in the skillet to our oldest, since he's closest in age to what the soldiers might have been. It gave us a chance to tell the kids the story of old Ebenezer Johnson, the children's great-great-great grandfather. He ran away from home to join the Union Army. We have an old newspaper clipping from an interview with him in his old age, recounting the story from his youth.

We decided it would not have been much fun to be a young boy, outside in the cold and sleet we had today, trying to cook a dinner for himself with meager rations. And, as to our attempt at Civil War cookery, we decided Johnnie could keep his cakes, and we'd stick with peanut butter and jelly.

It's great to be a homeschooler (especially in 2009, with fast food at our fingertips)!