We live in a time when the odds of growing into a healthy adult with healthy attitudes about food and an ability to cook well are stacked against most kids. There is so much attention being given to making children healthier than ever before with TV shows, cooking classes and cookbooks designed just for kids. I feel the best way to get children to love healthy foods is by introducing cooking early on.
My boys have been helping me in the kitchen since they could walk. I would be in the kitchen looking through my cookbooks trying to find the best recipe and they would like to look too. Most of my cookbooks are not exciting enough for them so I wanted to gather a few that they might like. Regardless if they can read or not when looking at the pictures they would be able to tell whether or not they wanted to make that recipe. Hey anytime my kids want to make foods, especially healthy ones it’s a win in my book. Here are some of our favorite cookbooks that we’ve used personally and others that are on our list to try.
The Silver Spoon for Children includes about 40 recipes from the original which have been re-written with young cooks in mind.
Cooking Class is a cookbook for kids ages 6 to 12 explains basic cooking techniques in kid-friendly language and offers recipes for making dozens of favorite foods from scratch.
The Star Wars Cookbook features healthy snacks, delicious dishes, sweet treats, and easy main courses no Rebel can resist.
Betty Crocker Kids Cook provides the same blend of teaching and creativity, helping today’s kids learn to cook and have fun at the same time. We have the older version of this book and the kids love it.
Deceptively Delicious is filled with traditional recipes that kids love, except they’re packed with veggies hidden in them so kids don’t even know! When my kids were very young I would sneak healthy foods into recipes, now the kids can sneak them in as they make the foods. They don’t care what’s in it as long as it taste good.
What are some of your favorite cookbooks to use with your kids? Bottom line, it doesn’t matter what cookbook you use what matters most is that you get your little in the kitchen teaching them where food comes from and how important it is to eat a balanced diet. Yes, we all love sweets and junk food but we need to eat mostly REAL foods to keep our bodies healthy.
Trina O'Boyle is a Drexel Hill, PA mom of two boys. This post is adapted from her blog, O'Boy Organic.
