Until now, I haven’t given much thought to book and food pairings. Perhaps that’s just because the right book hadn’t come along.

In Clara Morgan and the Oregon Trail Journey by Marty Rhodes Figley, eleven-year-old Clara struggles to make biscuits for her family as they travel on the Oregon Trail. Biscuits aren’t her only challenge on the journey, but they’re my focus today.

This book includes a fun reader’s theater script at the end, which would be a great activity for a group of kids. (Check out the script, sound effects, and more right here—see the “esource downloads” in the right-hand column.) But for just one or two kids, along with a willing adult, making biscuits would be the perfect follow-up to this story.

Need a biscuit recipe? Last night I had a hand in making these biscuits from Joy the Baker and they were fantastic. And while I can’t claim Curried Sweet Potato soup was common on the Oregon Trail, the soup was an excellent accompaniment to the biscuits.

Don’t feel like baking? Marty Rhodes Figley will do it for you! She’ll be signing books and serving up biscuits on February 12 at One More Page, a new bookstore in Arlington, VA.

And if you’re curious to see how this book’s cover came to be, check out illustrator Craig Orback’s guest post over on Marty’s blog.

Happy reading—and eating!