In keeping with this year’s Summer Reading Club theme, Reading is So Delicious, I thought I’d suggest some wonderful cookbooks for kids. Cooking simple meals with your child offers opportunities to bond and teach lessons about nutrition and food preparation. There are also a number of fun summer activities you could plan around the theme of food. Besides who wouldn’t want a budding chef in the house?
I’ve listed some suggestions below:
- Go to one of Pasadena’s local farmer’s markets and let your child pick out some tomatoes and cucumbers…then go home and make My Big Fat Greek Salad (p. 102, The Spatulatta Cookbook).
- Introduce your preschooler to the concept of cooking AND counting. You’ll have to do the actual chopping when preparing the Counting Soup recipe, but they can do the counting as they look at a visual display of the recipe steps (pgs. 46 and 47 of the Salad People and More Real Recipes cookbook).
- If your little princess wants to have her very own tea party, check out Pink Princess Tea Parties for ideas on how to make the event fun, delicious and special. The recipes are easy and will appeal to girly girls. Barbara Beery has created a series of Pink Princess cookbooks – try them all!
- Finally, if you want to increase a reluctant eater’s intake of fruits and vegetables, use some of the recipes in the Kid’s Fun and Healthy Cookbook. Kids tend to eat what they make with their own hands so this would be a good way to get them to eat more nutritious fare. One of the neat features about this cookbook is the Food Facts section on each page. It’s filled with nutritional information on the ingredients used for each recipe. Try the Strawberry Yogurt Crunch for starters (p. 24)…it’s yummy!
Just a few ideas for a delicious summer!