Kids in the Kitchen Cookbook

I'm a huge fan of cooking in the kitchen with my girls.  I have great memories of them as little toddlers in the kitchen playing with the pots and pans while I would cook.  I loved having them in there and to make them feel ''at home'' they had a special cupboard within their reach to get out their supplies.  I would give them a dash of flour and some spices here and there!  We also had the ABC magnetic letters for them to play with on the fridge.  These were a staple in the kitchen and became a wonderful learning tool.  We would spell out names or words used in the kitchen for them to see.

This early kitchen play is important as well as letting them see you following a recipe.  Soon, too, they will be doing the same!  I love to teach in the kitchen!  Besides reading, math is also a skill that gets baked in the kitchen!  If your young one is having a difficult time with fractions, the kitchen will help give hands on practical lessons!  To go along with the actual cooking, take your child to the store and let them get the ingredients to their recipe.  This will teach them how to shop, find/match the right items, reading the aisle markers,  reading products on the shelves, addition, money counting,etc. 

Thanks to Gooseberry Patch for offering a review copy of Kids in the Kitchen: Recipes for FUN!  My daughter had a fun time following the recipes to make some new creations for us!  The recipe book is just the right size for a kid!

The spiral binding makes it easy for them to flip the pages.   Each recipe includes a little pictures describing when to make this recipe (dinner, snack,etc), how many it serves and how much time from start to finish.

(My daughter took a picture of her first time making this dish)

My daughter  made Texas Straw Hats!  The recipe was very easy to follow and included picture ingredients as well as written out words.  A tool kit list is included with each recipe so they know what to get out for the recipe. The book also included very cute tips to make it an extra special meal.  The tip with Texas Straw Hat was to line a cowboy hat with napkins and fill with the corn chips needed for this recipe!!!  How fun is that?

(My updated picture! We used melted cheese instead of shredded.)

Texas Straw Hat

Ingredients


1 lb ground beef
1 onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons taco seasoning mix
1 tablespoon water
15 oz. bag corn fritios
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup lettuce, chopped
1/2 cup tomato, chopped
1/4 cup sliced black olives
Garnish salsa and sour cream
Melted cheese

Directions


1) Crumble ground beef in skillet.  Add in onion.
2) Cook beef until no pink remains and onion is soft. Drain.
3) Return beef to skillet, add in seasoning and water.  Simmer for 5 minutes.
4) Cover the bottom of 4 plates wiht corn chips.  This is the bottom of the HAT.
5) Scoop out seasoned beef and onion mixture with a small ice cream scoop and place on a plate. This is the top of the hat.
6) Divide cheese, lettuce, tomato and olives equally between all 4 servings.
7) Serve with salsa & sour cream.

What I was most impressed with how easy it is for a kid to make this recipe.  The directions were very easy to read and follow.  She showed a lot of pride in her work because she did it all herself.  This book is perfect for beginner readers and up!

Here is my lil' chef preparing her dish!

While the meat cooked, she chopped up the lettuce, tomatoes and olives! She has great cooking skills for being 10 years old.  It is never to late to get your kids in the kitchen to cook and read! I strongly suggest this book for you to use in the kitchen with your Lil' chef!  It is oh so much fun!