When my kids were little, I did what a lot of parents do on Thanksgiving: I tried to get them to eat some traditional foods, and failed miserably. They would sometimes eat a roll (if it was the correct kind), and maybe a bite of turkey, but usually not mashed potatoes or stuffing—the horror!

A few years ago, after returning home from a Thanksgiving gathering where my kids had, once again, eaten very little, I searched online for “Thanksgiving dishes kids actually eat” and stumbled on the idea of taking inspiration from Peanuts. In A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, from 1973, Peppermint Patty invites herself and a couple of friends to Charlie Brown’s house for the holiday, and Charlie reluctantly hosts a last-minute Friendsgiving. To produce the meal, Snoopy dons a chef hat and orchestrates cooking a snack dinner consisting of buttered toast, popcorn, pretzels, and jellybeans. Is it a healthy and balanced meal? No. But will kids actually eat it? Yes.

That evening, I served my kids the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving dinner while they watched the TV special (they were, after all, still hungry after not eating much earlier in the day). It used ingredients I already had on hand, only took a few minutes to prepare, and it felt like a nice way to wind down after a hectic day of cooking and socializing.