One of the nice perks of blogging here is that I’m sometimes asked to read and review books. [Full disclosure: I'm usually given my review copy for free.] Over the summer I received two cookbooks designed for use by kids and then my son was given a third as part of the cooking class he took a few weeks ago. (More on that here: “My Son Learns to Cook, But Who Is Teaching the Rest of Our Kids?“) So each Monday for the next three weeks I’ll be sharing my kids’ cookbook reviews here.
Today’s book is The Do It Myself Kids’ Cookbook, by Laurie Goldrich Wolf, which promises on the cover “Nothing Sharp, Nothing Hot!” That means means it’s an ideal cookbook for even the tiniest chef in your house.
Understanding its audience, the book has some thoughtful features for very young kids, like a table of contents that uses photos of the food instead of text, and ingredient and equipment lists that include little drawings as well as text so kids can easily see what they need to gather up beforehand and do it by themselves.
The recipes, as promised by the cover, involve no actual cooking. So there are lots of interesting sandwiches, like Peanut Butter, Banana, Strawberry and Coconut on Cinnamon Bread, and entrees served at room temperature and made with pre-cooked ingredients like Shrimp Tacos with Avocado and Corn, Sesame Noodle Salad and a brown rice salad “with Raisins, Berries and Other Good Stuff.” As those recipes indicate, even though the book is meant for little kids it doesn’t assume that they won’t try potentially more challenging foods – something many parents will appreciate.
Two things that you might want to keep in mind, though. The book does ask kids to cut up various foods such as cucumbers, peppers and the like, but expects them to do it with a plastic knife. I could see that instruction resulting in more than a little frustration and if I were using this book with young kids I might just do the chopping for them, like a dutiful sous chef. Also, if you try to avoid highly processed foods in your home, be warned that some of the recipes do make use of ingredients like Ritz crackers, canned chocolate frosting, and instant pudding, especially those found in the Desserts section.
But most of the recipes are quite nutritious and wholesome, and if you’re in the market for a cookbook that lets little ones really take the lead in the kitchen, The Do It Myself Kids’ Cookbook is definitely worth a look.
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I’ve seen this book in a store a week or 2 ago. I was curious, looked at it. I wasn’t enthusiastic by the recipes so I put it back on the shelf.
However yesterday, my 4.5 YO daughter told me she wanted to cook our dinner by herself (holy cow! Does she secretly read my mind or TLT?). I immediately thought about your post, so we drove to the closest B&N to get it and no luck = out of stock ! I ordered the book and it should arrive tomorrow…
I’m sure my daughter will love it ! I will let TLT know our impression about this book and the recipes.
Karen – do let us know, and stay tuned for a few more reviews of kids’ cookbooks in the coming weeks!
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