What are Easy Meals for Kids to Cook

Illustrator Esther Coombs and Button Books come to the rescue with this new Kids Can Cook recipe book for budding chefs.

#Gifted

June 2020 • RRP £12.99 • ages 4 - 11

About the book:

Help your child develop good eating habits by teaching them how to cook.  In this brilliant book, beautifully illustrated step-by-step recipes show children how to make delicious and nutritious food.  As well as finding out how easy it is to make lots of scrummy things to eat, they’ll practise skills like measuring, weighing and counting without even realising it.

Adults may take it for granted but if you’re going to cook you’re going to have to learn how to crack and beat an egg, how to chop an onion and how to squeeze an orange properly.  Kids Can Cook gives plenty of instruction on cooking safely, from handling knives and the oven hob to correct hygiene for handling food – this is a foundation step for a lifetime of food preparation so it’s vital to instil the important concepts well and early.

Packed with ideas for everything from pizzas to pancakes, including breakfasts, snacks, main meals and sweet treats, there’s plenty to keep kids busy in the kitchen.

My thoughts on Kids Can Cook

What a great book!  I do love a recipe book as cooking does not come naturally to me.  I've mentioned before that my mum wasn't a keen cook and therefore spent little time in the kitchen and as a result, didn't really want us under her feet.

I remember having a child's cookbook when I was younger and would look through the pages longing to make a recipe, but as I never got the chance, I really missed a trick there to read the book anyway.

This is where Esther's Kids Can Cook book really stands apart from my old book, it has fantastic illustrations all the way through to help children see what is being made, what utensils are needed and what the finished product should look like.

We chose to make flapjack as we had everything to hand, this is not aways possible coming out of lockdown, as I'm not one for queuing for 3 hours to get Golden Syrup.

My son likes Golden Syrup on his fish finger sandwiches (bet we won't see THAT in a cookbook!) so I knew we had that in the house at least!

Max read the instructions out and I supervised, he wasn't keen on stirring the syrup mixture in the pan so I did that part whilst he ate syrup off a spoon!  He's 8, there is no need for this behaviour but we've been shut in the house for over 12 weeks and he's basically gone feral.

The instructions are to cut the flapjack when cool into nice squares for all to share, this believe it or not was done by a knife....

Why have square flapjack when you can have all sorts.

My son has already marked out for us to make fishcakes next, so watch out on Instagram for that one!

About the Illustrator

Esther Coombs is a professional illustrator based in rural Kent. Her work often starts with observational black drawings, embracing a slightly wobbly quality of line, with a view to creating a polished but unique end result. Esther’s other illustrated books include Plant, Sow, Make & Grow, New York Activity Book and London Activity Book (all published by Button Books).