FamilyFun Cooking with Kids
PreSchool-Grade 4—This visually appealing cookbook presents 300 recipes for adults to make with a child's help, rather than recipes that kids can successfully complete independently. Loaded with tips on making the kitchen and the experience kid-friendly, many of the recipes have an "art project" slant—some as simple as assembling assorted raw vegetables on a plate to look like a cowboy boot in "Rancher's Delight," and others more complex, such as "Edible Eagles," which turns marshmallows, coconut, Oreos, cashews, and black decorators' gel into upright eagle heads. Bright color photos of the finished dish illustrate each recipe, with ingredients and preparation steps clearly presented at the adult's level. "Kids' Steps" note how youngsters can easily pitch in preparing each dish. Rather intricate work with different knives is often called for, and the amount of actual child involvement is often limited. The recipes frequently call for high-fat ingredients including whole milk, cream, half-and-half, butter, and sour cream, with no suggestions for making healthier versions of the dishes. Judi Gillies and Jennifer Glossop'sThe Kids Can Press Jumbo Cookbook(Kids Can, 2000) is a true kids' cookbook that emphasizes healthy, fresh ingredients, and super-simple prep.—Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KSCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.