Back to School: Mollie Katzen's Salad People

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Looking for that perfect back-to-school family cookbook? Well, "Children love to cook," says Mollie Katzen (on p. 9) in her new, fun book, Salad People and More Real Recipes (Tricyle Press 2005). I couldn't agree more, having been a helper at my mother's cooking school for children and now after watching my own four-year old as chef. With kids heading back to school this week and next, Katzen's book is a terrific way to celebrate food and share responsibility with them. What is so marvelous about Katzen's approach is that every recipe comes with instructions for children with step-by-step illustrations. Besides the 1980s hit The Moosewood Cookbook, Mollie is the author of two previous books for little kids, Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes and Honest Pretzels and 64 Other Amazing Recipes. Her new book has only 20 recipes, but each is fun to make and eat for preschoolers and up. The best recipe is for Counting Soup (pp. 44-8) in which the vegetables and noodles are cut up separately and placed in different bowls. Then each child follows the recipe and adds: one (1) spoon of tofu, two (2) spoons of carrots, three (3) spoons of peas, and so on to a bowl to which hot broth is added. Children can understand the pictures and figure out the words written below as they practice counting. Each recipe starts with three sections, first "To the Grown-ups," second "Cooking and Safety Tips," and then the recipe for adults. Only then is the illustrated children's recipe presented. Each recipe uses healthy ingredients, and many encourage children to eat vegetables (as one would expect from "Ms. Moosewood"). The only real sweet is Raspberry-Yogurt Swirl (p. 92-5), though there is a recipe for granola (pp. 24- 7) and Chewy Energy Circles (pp. 84-7) that are a great replacement for energy bars. Mollie's recipes are simple but most work for adult palates, especially recipes like Corny Corn Cakes (pp. 64-7) or Miso-Almond Dipping Sauce (pp. 60). The title of the book refers to a recipe (pp. 16-9) where kids make people out of vegetables, cheese and fruit, name their creation, and then devour it. What would Giuseppe Arcimboldo think? Go ahead, play with your food! Book details: Publisher Amazon.com Previous articles: [Cookbook Reviews - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, super chef, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, cookbooks --> back to superchefblog