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Good enough to eat: My favorite kids' books that contain recipes

These book are not only long-time favorites of Bunny and Wallie and magical reads in themselves, but they also include delicious recipes that you can make with your kids. These books inspire conversation and cooking and that's just the way we like it around here.

Two Old Potatoes and Me by John Coy—This book is heartbreakingly beautiful. Themes of divorce and family and ecology are woven together seemlessly to create a magical story. "While at her father's house, a girl discovers two old potatoes that have begun to sprout in the rear of the cupboard. She throws them away, but he suggests that instead they try to grow new ones from them. The story details how they prepare the soil, weed, water, and protect the plants from potato beetles. In September, their patience and hard work are rewarded with a brimming bucket of new potatoes." (Excerpted from Amazon editorial review) Includes a recipe for mashed potatoes embellished with nutmeg. Yum!

Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco—Bunny will tell you that Patricia Polacco is one of her favorite authors. (I will admit that I had a little to do with that since she is one of MY favorite authors as well.) If you also have an emotionally intelligent (high EQ) kid, chances are she or he will enjoy Polacco's themes. Her books have inspired some deep conversations and always leave us thinking about the stories long after we finish reading them. "In Thunder Cake, a grandmother helps her granddaughter overcome her fear of thunder by baking a special cake while a storm threatens." (Excerpted from Amazon editorial review) Includes a fascinating recipe for cake which includes a tomato.

Three Cheers for Catherine the Great by Cary Best and Giselle Potter—Another beautiful story about belonging and giving. "It's Sara's Russian grandma's birthday, and she has made a proclamation: "I have music in my Russian bones, and laughing in my heart. I have the day and the night, and I have all of you. That's why for me the best presents will be no presents." No presents? Sara is baffled. Her amazing grandma gives so much to everyone. How can they have a birthday party for her without gifts? Sara realizes that any "no present" for Grandma has to be pretty special. And the "no present" she finally gives is the best kind of all." (Excerpted from Amazon editorial review) Includes a recipe for borscht that is superb.

And of course, Dumpling Soup by Jama Kim Rattigan—This story could have been written in my Korean-American family's Hawaiian kitchen. "A large, loving Hawaiian family gathers to celebrate the new year with Marisa making mandoo, or dumplings, a traditional holiday feast. Told from the seven-year-old child's breathless point of view, the event is also a tribute to diversity. The Yang family, like much of the population of Hawaii, includes members of Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian, and haole (white) descent. And everyone loves mandoo, especially the funny-looking ones that Marisa makes." (Excerpted from Amazon editorial review) Includes a recipe for mandoo aka Korean dumplings.

Do you have any more to add? Please share them below. (Here's another list.) We are always on the lookout for books we can read then cook from

Cooking with Kids: Thin Crust Pizza

Bunny was delighted to learn that her new first first grade teacher was known throughout her school as "The Cooking Teacher." Never mind that her school has all sorts of really wonderful fringe benefits (like science classes taught at the science museum; drama, music, and poetry classes taught by resident members of the local community theater; music; afterschool chess, sports, French, and Spanish; a perceptual motor skills class in addition to P.E.taught by a real Ph.D.) that make us bite a huge financial bullet to live where we live. It's a charmed public school with so much to offer students, but nothing compares to the fact Bunny has a teacher that loves to cook.

And sure enough, on Back to School night, her teacher outlined how she uses cooking in her classroom: it not only teaches an important life skill, but requires reading, math, and time-telling knowledge. As I perused her three-page grocery list of ingredients that she hoped parents would donate (15 lbs each of flour and sugar, chocolate chips, every spice, extract, and herb imaginable) I knew Bunny was in for a memorable year. 

My girls, ages 4 and 6 love to help in the kitchen, and I encourage it at every turn. Bunny will be champion chef in her class because she has so much hands-on opportunity at home. One of my girls' favorite meals to make is homemade pizza. This is something even little kids truly can do themselves from start to finish (aside from putting it into/taking it out of the oven).

I was recently sent a couple of tubes of Pillsbury Pizza Crust Thin Crust version to try. It's not unlike the dough we buy from Trader Joe's except that it's much easier to deal with. It rolls out nicely and really does crisp up but remains tender. I would definitely recommend it for times when you don't have time to make your own dough but still want homemade pizza. (Would be nice to see it in a whole wheat version.) We thought the dough was a great success. See for yourself!

Start by stretching the dough to fit a cookie sheet:

Cooking with Kids: Yes, they can cut things, even almost 4-year-olds

Yesterday Bunny and Wallie cut up all the chicken for our chicken salad.  I helped them get started by cutting the chilled, pre-grilled breasts into long strips and they went to town with their own knives: a plastic knife for Wallie, and a butter knife for Bunny. Once the chicken was cut, Bunny helped me to rip butter lettuce into bite-sized pieces and then she rinsed the black beans and dumped them into the salad.

Bunny loves to cut and everytime she helps me she says, "Can I help you with dinner tomorrow night?"

You'd be suprised at how much can be cut with a really dull knife, so go on. Take the help where you can get it. Let your kids cut things!

Sunday Night Dinner: Pumpkin-basmati-coconut laksa soup

A squeeze of lemon and a scattering of dried chilis made mine perfect.

Sunday night dinner after a long, long day away from the house. Two girls fresh from a bath. A pot of soup. And silliness.

The recipe is from Jamie Oliver. (P.S. Soon we have to discuss his new show which I adore.) As I was frying the fragrant mix of fresh garlic, ginger, chili pepper, lemongrass, and lime leaves with a little cumin thrown in, J. noted, "Our house smells like a hippie house."  Which in J.-speak is a compliment. I would make this again, but would definitely add more broth next time. I also used brown basmati rice which was delish.

Yes, they did gobble it up...

...both of them...

...and Pooh, too.

Braise the roof

beautiful ox tails

Nothing ruins dinner plans faster than forgetting to take whatever you were going to cook out of the freezer. Or maybe that's just me. My back up in this situation is usually eggs or PB&J's, but I am always disappointed with this option because—while my kids don't care—I'm never satisfied when dinner isn't what I planned it to be. Then I spend the whole evening grouchy and/or digging in the cupboards for something, anything to snack on.

Today, in a rare moment of clarity, I had my act together and defrosted not one, but two items: 3 lbs of ox tails and a package of chicken legs. Since today is cold and drizzly, I'm cooking up both, making two dinners at the same time. Boy does the house smell delish. (Photos to come as soon as everything is cooked.)

"Spag Balls" or another stoopidly easy pasta sauce

I'm half-way through making the carnitas enchiladas when the kids go, "Noooooo, we want spaghetti and meatballs." I guess they're being extra cute today because I wasn't immediately inclined to say, "Are you kidding me? No way."

So I finished up the enchiladas and started the spaghetti sauce and my girls showered me with hugs and kisses, the little stinkers. By the time the enchiladas were covered and tucked into the fridge for tomorrow night's dinner (I'm still making the soup cuz I've been thinking about it for a week), I was done with the sauce. The girls like it because, well, it's full of "balls." Seriously, it doesn't get any easier than this.

SPAG BALLS

A play on "spag bol." Which reminds me, I need to post my recipe for that, soon. This sauce is chunky.

Note: I didn't think any additional salt was necessary since the tomatoes + olives + meatballs + the pasta cooked in lightly salted water + the cheese made it salty enough. I did apply a liberal amount of dried chilis (broken up) over my serving, however.

• 3-4 glugs of olive oil
• 1/2 a large yellow onion, diced
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
• a splash of white wine
• 1 large 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes + their juice
• 1 can of medium black olives, drained (olive-haters can just pick em out, it's not that hard)
• 1 package of Aidell's sun-dried tomato meat balls (turkey or veggie meatballs are fine, too.)

In a saute or braise pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and let it do its thing. When it starts to go goldeny-brown, splash in some white wine and scrape up any brownish bits, then let it cook off. Dump in the tomatoes and let the whole thing simmer on medium-low uncovered for about 20 minutes until it reduces some. Dump in olives and meatballs, warm those through according to package directions, about 10 minutes. Do not over cook the meatballs or they get mushy. Serve over al dente spaghetti with plenty of grated parmigiano or pecorino romano cheese.

NaBloPoMo Recipe #28: Chicken Tortilla Soup (perfect for a soup party)

Get out your big pots, we're making soup! Lots of it!

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, we had a soup party, one of my favorite ways to entertain. I made two soups, the Chicken Tortilla Soup below and a lighter Kale, White Bean, and Sausage Soup (topped with shredded parmigiano) made with two beeyootiful bunches of kale I got at the farmer's market that morning.

My sister helped me set out platters of cured meats, cheeses, and a big bowl of crusty bread (also from the farmer's market), and a salad rounded out the meal. Set out bowls and spoons and a couple three bottles of wine and you're done. It's seriously the easiest party you will ever throw.

We invited two families and my brother and his family arrived from Oregon just in time for dinner. My pal Mary—who I always bump into at the farmer's market and finally thought to invite for dinner—brought gingery cupcakes for dessert that were so good they should be illegal.

My thoughts on Jessica Seinfeld's book...not that you asked

Well, actually, someone did ask...

There's been a lot of hype this week over Jessica Seinfeld's new book Deceptively Delicious where she discusses ways to hide veggies in foods kids love in order to get them to eat more vegetables. I've not read the book, but apparently she advises parents to hide spinach in brownies or butternut squash puree in macaroni and cheese. These ideas and recipes may or may not be her own, but that's for her lawyers to sort out.

I'm just going to say it: I think this is a bad, bad idea and I think parents of my parents' generation are all rolling their eyes thinking, "Parents today are soft. Grow a friggin backbone already."