I'm sure there are a few of us who remember a time when there was no "President's Day." Instead, we celebrated Lincoln's Birthday on February 12th and Washington's Birthday on February 22nd.
When you add Valentine's Day to the mix, February was a golden month for elementary school students.
I'm not sure our teachers were all that thrilled, though!
But back in those days, we learned all about Abe Lincoln growing up in a log cabin, and how George Washington chopped down the cherry tree. Do you remember how we were all taught that little George admitted the deed to his father, saying, "I cannot tell a lie"?
Whether that event actually happened or not, we all grew up knowing that honorable, trustworthy and truthful people could grow up to be president.
And, as a result of that little anecdote, cherries became the food of the day on Washington's Birthday.
I'm definitely one to help tradition along, so I scrounged around and found a recipe that is probably as old as George himself.
One way you can tell this is an oldie, but goodie, is it's simplicity. No fancy ingredients - just what a farmer's wife would have on her pantry shelves in the middle of winter.
Cherry Drop Dumplings with Fruit Juice
serves 6
Ingredients:
Sauce:
3 cups cherries, canned with water or juice
2 cups water
Dumplings:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
For the sauce, bring the cherries, sugar, juice and water to a boil in a large saucepan (mine is 3 quarts) over medium high heat.
Meanwhile, make the dumplings. Stir the flour, sugar and baking soda together. Cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Add the milk and vanilla, stirring until the dough resembles a soft biscuit dough.
Drop the dough by spoonfuls into the boiling cherry mixture, then lower the heat to medium and continue cooking for 20 minutes, or until the dumplings are done.
Serve with milk or cream.
In spite of the odd name, this was a delicious dessert! You'll have to try it.
Let's celebrate President's Day with a fun game - what presidential trivia can you share with us?
Can you believe I've ever had dumplings of any kind before? This looks delish...and pretty simple to make. Not sure if I can find the canned cherries up here though. I have a black forest crepe recipe that I can't make any more because I just can't find canned cherries up here.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I don't know much about president trivia -- though I had heard about George Washington and the "I cannot tell a lie" story. We learned it in school too.
You can use frozen cherries instead of canned - let them thaw first, and you'll be fine.
DeleteHow about Prime Ministers trivia, Kav? :)
I've never seen canned cherries either other than the pie filling but can't say I've ever really looked since I only bought frozen for the occasional smoothie...sounds good though. is this similar to apple dumplings? I remember that movie called The Apple Dumpling Gang and at the time the only dumplings I was familiar with were the regular chicken and dumplings and I kept picturing apples mixed in with those (gag!)
ReplyDeleteSusanna
I found the canned cherries on the shelf in the grocery store with the other canned fruits, so you might look there.
DeleteAnd this is kind of like an inside out apple dumpling, but with cherries. For an apple dumpling, you fix the apples like a pie filling and then wrap them in a square of pie dough. The dumplings are put in a baking dish and baked.
These dumplings are cooked more like chicken and dumplings, except for the sugar. Don't put chicken in the recipe, though!
Susanna has a Blogger ID!!! No more anonymous!! :) :)
Delete(I may be a day behind. I missed Saturday. So maybe you had it already. Sorry if I'm late to notice.) :)
Wait! I didn't miss Saturday. Never mind that last comment. :)
DeleteSuzanne let the cat out of the bag one day last week. She's a sneaky one!
DeleteOh, I can't believe I spelled her name wrong! Sorry, Susanne!
DeleteHow did I miss that?? I guess I have to claim SNOW DAYS and my daughter at home all week. LOL
Deleteha my 'blog' is boring and not kept up...and I only have an ID on this computer - can't remember my password LOL and the computer at work wont' let me change from my google ID to this one for whatever reason...sigh...
DeleteSusanna
YUM!!! I've never seen this before and it looks so good!! I can't wait to try it. My family loves cherries!
ReplyDeleteI'm drooling at the thought of dumplings with sugar in them! :)
I wondered about the dumplings with sugar...but they're DELICIOUS! And smothered in that cherry juice!
DeleteI hope you enjoy them, Missy!
Jan, this is such a fun thing to do for President's Day!!! I love it! I have frozen sour cherries and I think this would be a great day to break some out and have some presidential fun.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so on your pics the "crosspost" arrow shows up. Do you put in your post in IE, Foxfire or Chrome? I'm just wondering which one interconnects with the blog so well, because I'm on Chrome... and it doesn't happen with mine. And Chrome and Blogger are brothers, so I'm curious!
Must go defrost some cherries!
And you live in the land of presidents! I can't even imagine seeing that beautiful monument all the time, it's got to be so amazing.
I think you're munchkins would love this. You can call it "Cherry Soup" or something fun :)
DeleteExcuse us, dear readers, as we discuss cafe business:
I always use Google chrome to post - it seems to like blogger better. And today is the first time I've seen the "crosspost," but I also see the "pin it." Could it be something new for blogger?
Now back to our regularly scheduled discussion :)
YES, YES, YES, I LOVE living this close to that amazing monument! We haven't been up there since last fall, so I'm getting a bit twitchy. It's impressive in pictures, but up close and personal? Awe inspiring.
And there's still at least one guy who worked on it who is still around. He shows up at the Monument every so often to sign books and answer questions. How cool is that?
This picture of Mt. Rushmore is from last April, with a bit of snow still hanging around (which is what those streaks are on Lincoln - snow melt).
My internal editor just won't let this slide.
DeleteEveryone: in the first line of my reply to Ruthy, substitute "your" for "you're."
Thank you very much. You may now go back to your regular reading.
:)
Doesn't this look absolutely yummy.
ReplyDeleteThe only presidential trivia I know is that President McKinley was assassinated at the Pan American Exposition in my home town. Buffalo, New York. Terrible.
That was such a tragedy - but no one even mentions it. Lincoln and Kennedy overshadow McKinley, I guess.
DeleteWhat's tragic is that there are people who don't even know McKinley was a president, let alone that he was assassinated.
For those who don't know: William McKinley was our 25th president, from 1897 to 1901. He was succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt.
Ooo...this looks like something I must try. I love cherries. I love dumplings. Sounds like a match maid in confectionary heaven. I can't wait to taste it.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I forgot about McKinley being assassinated. Guess he wasn't as popular as Kennedy or Lincoln. I remember a time when I knew all the presidents in order. That's long gone now. Wouldn't hurt to brush up though. Hmm...just might have to do that. :)
You said it Mindy - it's delicious. Sweet. Fruity. Cherry-sourish. And those dumplings are so...so...pillowy soft....
DeleteI'm trying to ignore the fact that there is more in the refrigerator calling my name!
And there was a time when I knew all the presidents in order, too. We memorized them for school when the boys were in about 9th/10th grades. I know I can do the first one, but I'd get bogged down after that. You're right - I need to brush up!
YUMMY!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou betcha!
Delete