My girls love to help in the kitchen. Sometimes I think they love to help too much. I know I am controlling when it come to the kitchen and I need to let them help out more so that they will have the chance to learn to cook. If I never let them do it themselves, they will never learn. That is why when I was asked to review a kids cookbook I jumped at the chance. I knew it was the perfect chance for me to let my guard down and get the girls in the kitchen cooking.

Kids Cooking Made Easy

Kids Cooking Made Easy is by Leah Schapira and Victoria Dwek. It is filled with over 60 recipes, each with a color image for the kids to see what they are making. It has helpful tips, step by steps, and before & after cooking instructions to help the kids on their way to learning to cook. It even ha a page that shows them how to set the table before dinner.

photo courtesy of: The Official ArtScroll Blog

I decided to let my girls go through the book and pick out a few of their favorite recipes to make a dinner. It was a fairly painless process considering they wanted to make almost everything. We settled on Grilled Chicken Sticks, Roasted Dijon Potatoes and Ice Cream Razzle for dessert. The meal was great but some of the pictures didn’t come out very well (I guess I need to get a kids photography book next).

Here is a picture of our Roasted Dijon Potatoes. They were delicious. The girls were skeptical at first because of the “Dijon mustard” that is used in the recipe but in the end they loved the potatoes so WIN! Plus they tried something new that now they know they can enjoy in the future.

First they washed and cut the potatoes. Mixed them in the “secret sauce”.

Then they roasted them in the oven for an hour. I had the girls do all the work and I just supervised and gave hints. The only thing we did differently from the recipe was add some parsley for color in the pictures. When I ate mine I added a smidgen of sour cream and mixed it all together. Yum! The potatoes wee roasted to perfection!

When the book came for me to review there was a recipe for me to share with all of you.

Teriyaki Beef Sticks

Yield:8 sticks

Ingredients:

• 1 & 1/2 lbs sandwich steak
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 & 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Equipment needed: 8 skewers

In a medium bowl combine pineapple juice, soy sauce, honey, and garlic powder. Mix well. Add steaks. Pres the meat down so it is completely covered. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.

When you are ready to cook remove steak from refrigerator and thread onto skewers.

Using a grill or saute pan heat over medium-high heat. When pan is hot add skewers and grill for 2-3 minutes per side. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

We made this last night for dinner (I know skewers two nights in a row!) and the we all liked them. They were easy and fun for the girls to make.

If you are looking to get in the kitchen and get your kids cooking this is a great way to start. The recipes are easy, they have step by step guides in the book to help, and the kids really can do everything by themselves (with a little supervision). So get in the kitchen and let them start helping. Before you know it they will have dinner ready for you after a long day of work.

*I received Kids Cooking Made Easy for free in exchange for a review. As always all opinions are mine alone (and in this case my girl’s opinions are included too).