THE KIDS ONLY COOKBOOK: SUE QUINN

This week we reviewed some of the recipes in the Kids Only Cookbook by Sue Quinn.  It’s a book aimed at 7+ (which ensures that your little ones can actually read the recipes) but as Baby Dragon and Our Little Adventurer are so active in the kitchen, it was a very welcome addition to our collection.

Each recipe is rated according to difficulty level with stars and the book begins with a great section for little ones called, “The Bits You Must Read First” which includes handy cooking terms that children can reference throughout their culinary journeys.  A double spread then follows which illustrates common kitchen equipment which is simple but brilliant.  The number of times that I’ve assumed Our Little Adventurer has known which utensil I’ve told him to use and when he’s looked at me like I’m an alien from Mars, I’ve then spoken to him as though he’s one too, repeating the name over and over in the obvious hope that somehow repeating it seven times will shed light on it.

As a primary school teacher responsible for educating over 60 seven year olds per year as to the correct way to cut vegetables and fruit in design technology, the next two are my favourite pages.  Entitled “How Not To Chop Off Your Finger (and other cool tips)”, it diagrammatically demonstrates the use of the claw and bridge methods for preparing food, peeling and grating…and separating an egg.

The book is then divided into chapters covering different types of food, my favourite of which (and which the book predicts) is Edible Presents.  We’ll be exploring these this week (and closer to Christmas)!

We love the book; the photos, the colours, the fonts ~ all fresh and bright, exciting for little ones embarking on their adventures in the kitchen.  As a grown up assisting (which of course I won’t be in the future) the only thing which I wasn’t fond of was the layout.  It’s a little busy for my liking. I need clarity when I’m cooking, to be able to read a recipe over and over quickly, especially when working with short-attention spans and so this was a little irritating for me.  But, as the book isn’t actually for me, it really is none of my business!

There were some brilliant ideas in the book, especially the kick-can ice cream  (featured in their video below) and flowerpot bread which we will definitely try soon.

This week we’re making orange chocolate truffles but for our review today we’ve chosen a recipe that the boys could do without any assistance whatsoever… Fairy bread.  Our truffles video will be up on YouTube and Facebook next week.