A Raving Review
When I was asked to review a children’s cookbook, I have to admit that I was skeptical. I’ve spent plenty of time in the kid’s cookbook section at the book store, and I am consistently disappointed with the selection. I get really annoyed when I see that kid’s cooking often leads to making silly shapes with food or using a lot of convenience items. Quite often, the recipes are not thorough enough for a young cook as well. Not so with the cookbook we’ve been playing with.
DK Publishing’s Quick & Easy Cookbook by Angela Wilkes is a rare gem in the kids’ cookbook genre. With complete pictures for every recipe, kids can learn to prepare a wide range of food, from snacks to desserts, popcorn to carrot cake. The selections take you around the world as well, whether you choose to make Perfect Pasta, Tacos and Guacamole, Turkish Meatballs, or Chicken Curry and Rice.
Each recipe is written out step-by-step with an accompanying picture for each step of the procedure. Your child can see the individual ingredients on the page, and then see a picture of the completed dish, with all the steps in between. The book itself is a great lesson in how foods combine to make different things. There are safety rules, as well as little symbols throughout warning young cooks to be careful when cooking and cutting.
Both of my children, my six-year-old and my almost three-year-old have been paging through this book non-stop. They want to try almost every single recipe, and I can assure you that both the Cheater’s Pizzas and the Fruit Smoothies are delicious and easy to prepare.
My only caveat to this book is that they give equal time to both sweet and savory foods. I would have loved to see less desserts and sweets and more snack and lunch ideas. Overall though, my kids give The Children’s Quick & Easy Cookbook two spatulas up. We are all looking forward to making our way through the entire book, one recipe at a time. Any cookbook that is regularly brought out at story time is considered a winning cookbook at our house.
