Cooking & Baking books for kids!

 

“I’m always looking for fun new kid friendly recipes to cook with the kids”, says Unye the Unicorn. I absolutely agree, says me!

Kid Chef Every Day-The Easy Cookbook for Foodie Kids crossed my path so, of course, I had to pick this one up!

“Hi! I’m Unye!!!”

The contents are straight to the point. Part One: Cooking Class with Your Kitchen and Everyday Kitchen Skills, followed by Breakfast, Snacks & Small Bites, Soups, Salads & Sandwiches, Main Dishes and Desserts. There is also a cool bonus in the back:  Measurement Conversions (very nice)!

Photo by Unye

Lots of great tips and easy to follow instructions for successful cooking! I also like how they include equipment icons with descriptions. Author Colleen Kennedy also goes in to cooking eco-friendly!

Here is an example, using Lesson 1. It goes into Reviewing the Basics, Chef Lingo, Measuring Skills, Organization…all super great going over with the kids, before they get in to some habits that they may have to unlearn later.

Photo’s by Unye 

Fun and playful!  Helpful hints throughout!

Photo by Unye

I also like the recipes the author chose, for this particular book. They seem to flow well together. Maybe not ALL the recipes are kid friendly for my own kids, but they certainly found this recipe to make for us…

Ravioli Lasagna.

Note: This was the only ravioli I could find at our local grocery store. Also thought we’d give this three cheese spaghetti sauce from Trader Joes a try.

Kitty approves!

 

A kid friendly SUCCESS!

Ravioli Lasagna photos by Unika

 

Fun fun! I highly recommend this cookbook for kids, especially as a gift- maybe along with an apron and a cooking tool! Enjoy!!!

Available at Amazon.com/KidChefEveryDay https://amzn.to/2CRF4EY

Colleen Kennedy’s Blog Soufflebombay.com www.soufflebombay.com

*** I received a review copy from the publisher.

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My kids and I are really enjoying this one! I appreciate the straight forward good basic baking skills, basic baking ingredients….and each recipe is organized by TOOLS/EQUIPMENT then INGREDIENTS. The photos  throughout the book are fun too, giving kids a simple example of what the end result could look like!

Photo by Unye

I’ve baked plenty enough on my own, and I can already tell my kids will find this a pretty easy enough baking book to follow on THEIR own, which means….

Photo by Unye

We’ll definitely be using this for our home school science classes….for sure! Hey, it’s science you can eat! Woohoo!

Photo by Unye

My kids favorite recipes so far: Pull apart cheese bread, Strawberry-Oatmeal Breakfast Bars, Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake and the various individual frostings that follow…there are so many recipes for almost every mood and theme…

Photo by Unye

…even recipes absolutely perfect for serving with afternoon tea, like Thumbprint Jam Cookies, Mini Blueberry Hand Pies, Fruity Cereal Cupcakes, Brown Sugar-Pecan Scones…oh the list goes on and on..and should be for your own surprise, at this point! 😉

Definitely a keeper, this one!

Available at Amazon.com/SuperSimpleBakingForKids

Find out more on author Charity Mathews at Amazon.com/CharityMathews

*** I received a review copy from the publisher.

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Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to set up your Amazon account to Smile.Amazon.com, where Amazon will give back to your favorite charity!!! 

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Big Bad Breakfast, indeed!

And it’s a Big Bad Breakfast for ANY time of the day!

My rock-star Husband got a hold of this book before me and he immediately LOVED it! LOL! Now THAT’S confirmation that this could be a FABULOUS book for the man in your life (friend or otherwise).

As for me, I LOVED the idea of this book, simply based on the cover and it’s title. Breakfast is not a course I usually tackle, but I was willing to take on a dish in this book- only because everything in this book looks worth making!
Reading through this cookbook the first time through, my eyes and my mind felt pure delight! The stories and the recipes have great themes to them. The pictures do a great job alluring the reader to want to attempt them all….well, in my world!
I also noted that the author really appreciates cooking from scratch as much as possible-which is something I usually cut corners in. Still, I feel many of the recipes in this cookbook are approachable for anyone who loves to cook, and there are so many highlights on flavor, via spices and fresh ingredients.
For our cookbook recipe taste test, I chose to take on a less traditional (and less ingredient) “breakfast” recipe called Shakshouka-a dish well known in the Middle East.

SEE VIDEO HERE
SHAKSHOUKA RECIPE TASTE TEST VIDEO

The challenges I faced while making this recipe were the cooking times. The times of cooking listed in the instructions of the recipe were pretty much three times longer for me-each and every time! Maybe because I don’t have an industrial kitchen. Either way, the description of what the cooking should do FOR the ingredients were explained within the recipe-that was what I was going on at that point.
The end result was my presentation looking more like a fifties or sixties retro dish with my eggs more cooked than the recipe and the cheese more cooked than the recipe-hmmm…

As far as the taste of the dish-IT WAS AMAZING! It was still very flavorful (nothing tasted burned) and the food didn’t feel heavy at all! It was more filling, than anything else! Made a great lunch for the next day!

So….

Would I attempt another recipe from this cookbook? HECK YES! There are some FUN and more traditional/southern-style dishes going on in this book that caught my eye (and tummy) that I feel are worth attempting for breakfast, brunch OR dinner -egg bakes, Benedict’s, quesadillas, salsa/sauces, enchiladas, migas, scrambles, specialty brunch beverage favorites (with their own twists), all kinds of pancakes, breads and cakes…actually there is much more than that, and it’s NOT overwhelming at all. Just enough of everything that would look great on a restaurant menu.
I rarely eat meat and there were plenty for me to choose from, in this book. These are the kind of recipes I’d cook for beyond my own family-these are recipes I’d WANT to invite friends over for….a Big Bad Breakfast!!!

***I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.***

Big Bad Breakfast Cookbook available NOW on Amazon.com
John Currence Website: http://chefjohncurrence.com/
John Currence Restaurants: http://chefjohncurrence.com/restaurants/