Our Family Dinner Book Club selection for the month of September is Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald. Here you’ll find a menu that can be prepared with the help of your children, and will hopefully be a fun and interactive activity for the whole family. Head over to Growing Book by Book for some talking points to get the conversation started, fun crafts, and an idea for a family service project. We invite you to share a picture from your dinner with us anytime during the month on our Family Dinner Book Club Facebook page.
I didn’t read the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle stories as a child, so this Family Dinner Book Club was my first time reading. I laughed a bunch, and so badly want to meet Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and see her upside down how and play around her big chandelier. I must admit, I had a few sad feelings while reading this book because some of her cures seemed a little harsh. Every few pages I would look up at David and say I wasn’t sure how I felt about these tactics. Abby read Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle last year in first grade and loved it. While I was reading this book, Abby kept talking about different scenes and how funny they were. If they love it, I love it, for the most part.
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle knows kids well and knows how to help them. She lets them have sugar cookies and cambric tea at her house everyday. If you haven’t heard of cambric tea before (as I hadn’t), let me tell you what I have discovered. Recipes vary, but the purpose is the same: cambric tea began as a way to let kids feel grown up during tea time with the adults without giving the kids too much tea or caffeine. The recipe ratio that I like the best is: 1/2 milk and 1/2 water, warmed. Add a little sugar, of course. A few drops of tea can be added for color to really make the kids feel grown up.
As I was searching the internet to learn about cambric tea, I came across a story about a woman who grew up drinking cambric tea. Once she realized she wasn’t drinking actual tea she was sad and felt tricked so her dad started drinking cambric tea with her so that they would be drinking the same thing. Now this woman is grown and she drinks cambric tea with her nieces and nephews.
This menu is a comforting Autumn dinner in an attempt to persuade the cooler weather to my home in Southern California. Tomato soup is one of those classic comfort foods that everybody loves… especially when there is something bready and cheesy to dip into it. So we have the pull apart cheese bread to satisfy that craving. Don’t forget to have cambric tea and sugar cookies for dessert! Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle wouldn’t have it any other way.
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
Family Dinner Book Club
Menu
Classic Tomato Soup
Roasted Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts
Fall Farmers Market Salad
Pull Apart Cheese Bread
Cambric Tea
Sugar Cookies
That cheese bread looks amazing!
Betty MacDonald and Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle have fans in 40 countries around the World.
Thank you so much for your great Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle menu.
We love it!!!!
Thank you so much for stopping by! I have a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle themed party in mind that I hope to do soon, too! Check back for that!
Thanks a million!!!!
That’s a wonderful idea. Let’s celebrate a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle themed party.