"Bug Juice" from Pooh Cookbook

Today's cookbook combines two of my favorite "Mom memories" from the early days when my boys were small. As preschoolers, all three of them enjoyed Winnie-the-Pooh books and impromptu picnics.

Every season of the year there would be some opportunity to have a picnic lunch (before nap time). We would keep a cooler and plastic table cloth in the back of the van and anyplace was fair game as a potential picnic spot. There have been lunches in the park (near the swings); the gazebo near the library; on the Capital lawn (near Daddy's office); at FMC Swim Club; on our back deck; and during enclimate weather, on the family room floor or under the dining room table (a pretend camping spot, also).

Just as many little girls enjoy Alice in Wonderland because of the tea parties, my boys' fondness for Winnie-the-Pooh at the ages of 3-5, I believe, spoke to Pooh and his woodland friends' sense of outdoor adventure and fun, along with the idea that lunch could be eaten outside and on the run! Of coarse, during the eating of lunch-on-the-run, the boys at various times have shared parts of lunch with a group of outside friends including: squirrels, pigeons, ducks, chipmunks, geese, dogs and turtles! This experience was a bonus and well-worth packing some extra bread-crumbs!

If you have small children, or are a Winnie-the-Pooh fan like me, you should look for this book. It's a small hardback copy called Winnie-the-Pooh's Picnic Cookbook published in 1997 by Dutton Children's Books; the ISBN is 0-525-45533-7. My boys found this copy for me as a Mother's Day gift and I treasure it!

Throughout this picnic-themed book are illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard and excerpts from Milne's series of books about the famous bear and his friends. All recipes seem to be kid-friendly and picnic-ready to me. Here's the recipe for a jug of refreshing drink to carry along in case you spend the whole day on your picnic and wait to catch lightening bugs!

Page 12 Bug Juice

1 quart prepared fruit punch
1 quart ginger ale
juice of 1 lemon
1 jar of maraschino cherries

Combine fruit punch, lemon juice and ginger ale. Chill well. Stir in cherries. Makes approximately 2 quarts.

***Lawton-Fort Sill's Armed Forces Day Parade kicks off at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow***

I will be at these swaps today:

Lifeasmom
DesignabyGollum
Grocerycartchallenge
Momtrend
AnnKroeker
Finerthings