Tags
chick peas, cookbooks, cooking the hungarian way, cooking the north african way, honey, jennifer mccann, no bake, vegan lunch box
They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I look up and I look down and I see that is true in many ways.
I love to read cookbooks. It’s a favorite past-time. I have taught myself so much by reading and re-reading recipes, tips, techniques. I owe my cooking education to cookbooks, TV cooking shows, and most recently – food blogs.
It looks like my daughter is following suit…each week when we visit the library she makes a beeline directly to the kids’ cookbooks.
If she doesn’t have a borrowed cookbook out, she’s looking at one of mine. I don’t buy many books, but I do buy many cookbooks (not an area that I’m good at practicing minimalism). I think for those of you who have this affliction, surely you can understand my thrill of owning more recipes than could ever be cooked.
Anyhow, back to the girl…and her cookbooks.
One day, she decided to choose the cookbook Cooking the North African Way.
It’s a wonderful book for kids of all ages and part of a series that features countries (and regions) all over the world. (The next book she wants to take out is Cooking the Hungarian Way so she can cook something for her uncle’s Hungarian girlfriend.) She reviewed each recipe in this book before choosing a chickpea dish that we made last night.
It was fabulous. A hit, indeed. And certainly, a “make again.”
See that smile? She is so proud of her dinner choice! (And, this is one picture I will treasure as her front teeth are loose preparing to fall out, changing that smile forever.)
Another cookbook that she picked out is Vegan Lunch Box. She found a recipe for Honeybee No-Bakes that she wanted to make herself. While the little guy was napping (sometimes the 1:1 time is best for projects like these!), we measured, poured and formed our little honeybees!
We started by gathering all the ingredients.
Measured…
Mixed (by hand, the best way – hee hee)…
Formed into balls, then made indentations for wings…
Added the sliced almonds and voila!
After a short time in the freezer, they were ready. They are adorable, don’t you think!? My kids were big fans of these little treats, as well as some of our friends.
Please tell me…do you read cookbooks, too? What cookbooks do your kids like to use?
I like the new look for the blog! My daughter has recently become interested in cooking by herself – we’ll have to check out that international series. We don’t have any kids’ cookbooks that I’d recommend. I’m feeling the need for some new cookbooks for myself, too.
Thanks, Valerie! That series is great. The book starts by showing a map, then explains the culture and ingredients. It was in the children’s section of our library, but I’m not sure why. Good luck on your cookbook search…if you ever need any suggestions, you know where to find me!
Okay, this is pretty cool!!! You are so lucky to have someone help you with your site!!! It looks fabulous!!! This would cost someone thousands of dollars if they had to hire someone!! Very nice layout, clean and not cluttered….I love the header and simplicity of the design!!! AWESOME!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have been very fortunate to have help where my techie side falls short.
I agree that the blog looks great. I just told my 11yr old daughter last night that it is strange how much I enjoy food blogs – I actually only like to cook that which is super simple, fairly fast and easy. So, I like to read about food more than actually doing the work. My middle daughter also likes cookbooks.
Thank you, Kika! I always wonder if I post something that I think is simple, fast and easy, is it to other people, too? Cooking can be so subjective, based on availability of ingredients/skills/etc. For instance, we made homemade lemonade yesterday (which I will post soon)…there were just three ingredients, but I had to squeeze the lemons. Would everyone want to take time to squeeze the lemons? Not sure. I would love to hear what would fall into the simple/fast/easy category for you.
No, I don’t think the squeezing of lemons is too much work exactly… but I am pretty lazy
My preference for suppers are meals like hm.made soup/cornbread (or biscuits/buns); salad (with lots of greens/seeds/berries/avocado) and potatoes (maybe some meat once in a while for the meat-eaters in my house); tofu/veg stirfry on quinoa or rice bowls… things that aren’t ingredient specific so that I can use up whatever veg I have on hand or that is easily available to me and meals that don’t require much fuss or too many dishes. I like snacks that I can make with 5 ingredients or less (mudballs, smoothies, stove-top popcorn…). I am not a great measurer, either, and regularly make modifications and take short-cuts with recipes which works out fine for us but I will never be a gourmet cook 
Oh, this blog looks beautiful, Jennifer. Those precious curls of your son, that sweet smile of your daughter!
I have an obsession with cookbooks, too. I love to lay in bed and read them, just like I would a novel. I’m starting to purge (donate to the thrift store) many now that my philosophies are changing. It feels good. I have a stack from the library that I’m looking forward to going through. This week’s stack: Sunfood Cuisine, The Raw Food Gourmet, Vegan Planet, and An Ecological Kitchen. So much goodness, so little time. Vegan Lunchbox is always checked out every week I’m there. You’re inspiring me to put a hold on it with those cute little cookies. I love that your daughter helped. Just see how proud she is!
I’m so gung ho with sprouting. I’ve got three trays going, I sprouted some almonds last night and they are now in the dehydrator, and for breakfast, I made a raw sprouted buckwheat porridge that we served with berries. Oh, my gosh, that was so good. Think I’ll be blogging about all this soon.
Thank you so much for the kind words, Emily. I am also starting to purge my cookbooks…slowly, but surely, for the same reason. I will check those titles out. I am really into Robin Robertson these days. We’ve had some stellar meals from her books; her recipes are tasty and easy. I also love Dreena Burton and just worked my way through Students Go Vegan (lots of easy recipes with short ingredient lists). I love that you are sprouting! Did I tell you I am, too? I have been primarily growing alfalfa, radish and broccoli. The best place I’ve used them so far is in our choco-banana pb smoothies – YUM. I would love to read about all your wonderful sprouting. Isn’t it so much fun – and easy!