Cookbooks to get you cooking with kids

Jacquelyn Buchanan is a big advocate of cooking with your kids. With two stepsons in their twenties whom she helped raise, Buchanan knows first-hand how important it is for children to learn about food by cooking at home with family and friends. Before coming to COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts as Julia Child Director of Culinary Programs, she spent eight years as chef supervisor at George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch. She calls COPIA an amazing resource.
    “We’re a great discovery center and we’re finally planting our feet on the ground. COPIA is a new venue for me with a different feel from Sonoma County, where I live. I’m having a really good time here.” Buchanan designs the curriculum, teaches classes, writes all of the food programs and interfaces with the food professionals who teach at COPIA. She says she chose cookbooks with healthy recipes that were also user-friendly. She suggests three kid-pleasers and one for parents who want their kids to play a role in entertaining at home. Here are her recommendations.

---

 

 

 

Ages 9-12

Buchanan says, “If you’re going to give a kid a cookbook, it’s got to be fun. C is for Cooking: Recipes from the Street (Wiley, $16.95) definitely makes food fun.” Registered dietician Susan McQuillan and the stars of Sesame Street deliver 50 kid-friendly recipes that are simple and straightforward. Each recipe has at least one step a child can do. Buchanan says the book starts out with food handling and safety. “What may seem like a small mindless task can be a huge responsibility for a child in the kitchen. The language is simple and the photos are filled with Sesame Street characters. Kids will have lots of fun with this cookbook.” Packed with jokes, tips and food trivia from Grover, the Count, Big Bird and others, C is for Cooking serves up kitchen fun.

Buchanan also loves Georgeanne Brennan’s Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook (Random House Books for Young Readers, $16.95). “Georgeanne came to COPIA to cook from this book for our Dr. Seuss Day. She told me that a lot of people wanted to write this book but the Dr. Seuss Foundation went with her because of her healthy approach to food. This cookbook is so whimsical. It really captures the essence of the Dr. Seuss books with good food that kids can do with help from Mom or Dad.” Dr. Seuss drawings and photos filled with hilarious props make this fun for kids to read. Each recipe is accompanied by the original verse that inspired it. Spiral-bound pages are laminated to protect against splatters made when preparing Cat in the Hat Pudding or Pink Yink Ink Drink.

Kids Cook 1-2-3 (Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books, $17.95) by Rozanne Gold offers 125 recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, healthy snacks, side dishes and desserts. Buchanan says this cookbook is very pretty graphically. “This book has an upscale look, very Martha Stewart. It’s definitely for kids whose parents are knowledgeable about food. Best of all, every recipe has three ingredients. Kids Cook 1-2-3 also covers cooking safety and kitchen basics, plus equipment and measuring. And there’s an excellent paragraph about flavor and taste that explains how your taste changes as you grow older. Being introduced to that concept as a child is very important. Gold also explains how to follow a recipe, how to set all your ingredients in front of you before you begin—what chefs call mise en place. That’s also a great concept to teach children who are yearning to cook.” Gold’s recipes combine sophistication, healthy food and a kid-friendly approach, but many kids will need adult guidance with this book. The lack of photos of the finished dishes might also limit the book’s appeal for younger children.

Buchanan praises Kitchen Playdates: Easy Ideas for Entertaining that Includes the Kids (Chronicle Books, $24.95) by Lauren Deen because it teaches parents how to host events that include children in the kitchen. “You don’t want to stop socializing just because you have children. This book tells you how to have food events and what you can do to include your kids—what kids can and can’t do while you’re doing the complicated preparation. She provides lots of cute ideas that are very grounded from a culinary standpoint. I especially love how photos show interaction between adults and kids. I’ll be giving both my nieces this book for Christmas.” Kitchen Playdates proves that it is possible to cook and entertain with your kids. This handy cookbook includes “Kids in the Kitchen” notes with age-appropriate tasks to keep danger low and the mad scientist experience high. This book will show you how to engage your kids in the kitchen while you entertain friends—without resorting to pizza.

Do you like what you read? Subscribe to Solano Magazine »