Member Reviews
So much fun trying these recipes. Great book and highly recommended. Very colorful and easy to follow recipes.
As a toddler mom, I LOVE THIS BOOK! Whether or not I cook these recipes with my son as the books suggests, I am just looking forward to exploring these mostly-healthy meal ideas for my little dude.
Really enjoyed this cookbook by Heather Staller. It had some yummy recipes and can't wait to try out more with my kid. My son liked the: "Green Ham and Egg Cups" (yay for Dr. Seuss!), and "Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies", and the no bake cookie dough bites so far. He has pointed out other ones he is willing to try, so I'm glad!
Review Title: Treasury of Recipes for All Ages (Review of Little Helpers Toddler Cookbook by Heather Wish Staller)
Reviewer: Janice S. Garey
***** 5 Stars
This cookbook may become a favorite for all who use it because it offers what people want and need regarding nutritious, quick, and simple foods to prepare for the family. These days with all the takeout foods and microwave meals, many have never learned the art of cooking. This book is a treasury for all beginners and the variety of recipes and combinations will appeal to accomplished cooks, too.
The informational tips for teaching young children to cook are excellent for training in safety, creativity, processing from start to finish, team work, staying on focus, and waiting for the finished product. The recipes, although selected with the interests of preschoolers in mind, will certainly whet the appetite for all people. Organizationally, the recipes are grouped by meal times, including snacks and desserts, for ease in selection. Also, the level of difficulty is indicated for each recipe so no one should get overwhelmed by trying something too difficult to begin learning to cook.
The book in ebook format has lovely photos of some but not all of the completed recipes. Everything offered in the book seems doable with easy to follow instructions. The book does not promise picky eaters will want to try some of all the recipes, but often, being part of the production crew heightens interest in at least having a small portion. One really nice feature is an area at the end of each recipe for journaling the date it was made and the results.
As a former preschool teacher who enjoyed cooking with children as part of their learning experience, I highly recommend this book for use by preschool staff. Of course, allergies are always a concern for a classroom of children so some adjustments may be needed for the recipes. The author has given some helpful alternatives for common food allergies.
I received this book free from Net Galley for reading and review. I have read the book and plan to use recipes from it. This is my honest review of a book definitely worthy of 5 stars.
What a fun cookbook! I have two boys, 5 and under, and they love to help me out in the kitchen! This was such a cute cookbook with kid friendly recipes inside. We especially enjoy the homemade ranch dressing. Thank you! :)
I love you, Heather! I agree that children should be allowed to help in the kitchen as soon as they show interest. My 1 year old helped with chores (bring out wast baskets that needed emptying, dusting , taking sheets off beds...little things. I wasn't a slave driver!) And began simple kitchen chores at 1 and a half. She could use a measuring cup and spoons at 2. Children truly are little sponges! We baked cookies to start. As her confidence grew, she'd suggest changes to recipes and we'd try them (zucchini bread with bananas? Chocolate chips? Sure! and now they are everyone's favorites! ). I still have a hard time convincing parents that their young children can help out in the kitchen. And it's such a shame as the children really enjoy the experience. She also helped out making soups and stews and pizza's. It was much harder to find kid friendly cookbooks back in the 1970's and 80's. This book is going to be a keeper for parents of young children as it has a journal section which I think could turn the book into a family keepsake. Lovely recipes that grow with the child from very simple to more difficult. Great book, with loads of recipes and photos!
This little cookbook is so sweet! My kids were super excited to see all the cute recipes and we have already planned a ton.
I also love the little section where you can rate the recipes and write what you enjoyed about it.
Little Helpers Toddler Cookbook is a tutorial how-to cookbook specifically aimed at getting kids from toddler age up to help prepare food and gain skills with cooking. Due out 25th June 2019 from Rockridge press, it's 156 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats (ebook available now).
When my own kids were small, I was often so busy and tired that they didn't get very many chances to help me cook. Though they're young adults now, happily one of them has discovered that she enjoys cooking, the other two definitely don't. I have lingering regrets over us not having much time together in the kitchen when they were small. It might not have made any difference to their enjoyment, but now that they're moving on to the adult phases of their lives, I wish we'd had more time together making memories and good food. That's what this book aims to facilitate.
It's arranged in chapters with a good solid introduction and discussions about kitchen safety and food prep techniques. The author has a lot of experience teaching kids to cook and it shows. I liked the helpful tips on knife safety and use, as well as the food safety tips (hygiene, egg safety, food storage, etc).
The following chapters are arranged around mealtimes with breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and desserts each getting their own chapter with recipes.
I really liked that all of the recipes have a space for making notes at the end. There's room for adding a date when the dish was made, what the readers enjoyed, a star rating, and personal notes about the recipe. I also love the author's encouraging and upbeat philosophy about messes. She provides good tips for minimizing safety risks, but has a very down-to-earth attitude about messes in the kitchen.
The electronic version of the book has a handy interactive table of contents including hyperlinks in the text.
There aren't a lot of books aimed at getting the youngest kids (2-4 years) actively involved in cooking, and this is a really good one.
Very helpful book geared toward cooking with kids ages 2-4+. Recipes all have colorful, enticing photos that will interest kids. The chapters are breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks/sides, and desserts. It is all foods that are appealing to kids, but also includes quite a bit of fruits, veggies, and tweaks that make the food more interesting to the whole family. Steps are broken into things for kids to do and adult steps, and recipes are broken into 3 levels of difficulty. The end of each recipe also has a space to indicate date made, what was enjoyed, star rating, and notes. I think this is a great book to get kids involved in the entire cooking process from as soon as they show interest. Ill be using this with my son!
I received an ebook ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Ah, what can I say about this cookbook? I was always too busy in the kitchen to have any of my four kids helping me to cook a meal, the kitchen is pretty limited for anyone but one person at the counter and it still is. I was always concerned that my child/ren would get hurt. I never had kid-friendly recipes either. Then the kids grew up with no interest to do anything in the kitchen.
That said, I wish I had had a cookbook like this one, this cookbook makes it easy to cook with kids. Easy recipes labeled by difficulty, tips, and guidance on how to keep your kitchen kid safe. The recipes have kid-friendly steps so you know how and what the child can help with. You can also record your experience with your fun times cooking with your child.
There are a lot of safety tips in the front of the book, having a safe kitchen, knife safety all important before you start cooking with your child. Now for the recipes, there are sections for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and sides, and desserts. Smoothies, breakfast pizzas, tomato soup, chicken parm pasta bake, chunky monkey bars, and chocolate pudding 'dirt' cups to name a few. Look good?? I thought so too. I really like the colorful pictures, easy to follow recipes, minimal ingredients so that the child does not get bored.
I think this is the perfect cookbook for the parent, grandparent or other adults to have for cooking with your child. I also think that a child should learn how to cook at an early age so that they know how to do it as they get older and are not afraid of the kitchen.