"COLORFUL COOKING: Healthy and Fun Recipes that Kids Can Make," by Jacque Wick, Front Table Books, $17.99, 80 pages
"Colorful Cooking" is a cookbook geared towards helping children learn to cook and learn what foods are healthy for them using the color of the food as a guide.
The author, Arizona resident Jacque Wick, has geared the recipes so that children make the dishes and learn the necessary life skill of cooking.
"Colorful Cooking" is structured based on a food's color — a chapter each for red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, and brown — with an additional chapter on colorful food and coordinating colored triangles to identify the recipe. However, the recipe titles are located on the recipe and at the back in the index, but not in the table of contents.
In the introduction, Wick explains which nutrients come from each color of food and shares cooking habits, basic skills and safety tips for both children and adults.
Each of the two dozen recipes has several step-by-step photos that provide a general idea of how to make the recipe. In addition to the list of ingredients, each recipe lists what food groups the recipe includes, what cooking tools are needed and the general difficulty level of the recipe — easy, medium or hard — and what adult supervision is needed.
The recipes include drinks and shakes, salsa, desserts, fruit and vegetable dishes, breakfasts and a main course or two and range from Chocolate Strawberry Dips to Colorful Mac and Cheese.
In the chapter on green foods, one recipe is Zesty Edamame and it lived up to its easy rating (adult supervision recommended for microwaving). From the Colorful Foods chapter, Colorful Mac and Cheese had a difficulty level of hard (and adult supervision recommended for microwaving and cutting) and is still well within a child’s ability.
This cookbook is great for families with children who want to help in the kitchen.
*****
Colorful Tortilla Wrap
Serves: 1
Level of difficulty: Easy (adult supervision of cutting)
Kitchen tools:
plate
butter knife
cutting board
Ingredients:
1 tortilla (photo shows green spinach tortilla)
mayonnaise or ranch dressing
2 slices cheese
2 thin slices deli meat
spinach
tomatoes, chopped
olives, chopped
Directions:
1. Put the tortilla on a plate.
2. With a butter knife, spread the mayonnaise or ranch dressing on the tortilla.
3. Add the cheese and meat.
4. Add the baby spinach, tomatoes, olives, or other veggies.
5. Fold the tortilla up from the bottom. Fold it in on each side.
6. Eat up!
— "Colorful Cooking: Healthy and Fun Recipes that Kids Can Make" by Jacque Wick