Book Review: Kitchen Garden Cooking with kids by Stephanie Alexander

I've been eyeing this book off for a while, so when I spotted it in the library the other day, I grabbed it.

The website explains it better than I could:

"Stephanie Alexander's philosophy is that there is no such thing as special food for children: if food is good, then everyone will enjoy it regardless of age. In Kitchen Garden Cooking with Kids, Stephanie gathers together 120 recipes, all specially written for children, with simple instructions, a colourful layout and lots of fast, fun facts for curious minds. But while all of these recipes can be negotiated by a couple of eight-year-olds in aprons - with a bit of adult supervision - the dishes are anything but standard kids' fare: alongside the muffins and slices are homemade pastas, Indian curries, Asian tea eggs and vegetable rich winter soups.

Kitchen Garden Cooking with Kids also tells the story behind the recipes - the inspiring tale of the Kitchen Garden at Collingwood College. In 2001, Stephanie initiated a garden and cooking program in a large inner-city Melbourne school. Since then the program has given hundreds of primary school children the opportunity to plant, grow, harvest, cook and eat the very best kind of food - freshly grown, organic, unprocessed and delicious.

In the same way that The Cook's Companion changed the culinary habits of a generation, Kitchen Garden Cooking with kids will challenge the way we think about the eating habits of our children."

It really is a wonderfully inspiring book. The first section talks about the way they set it up, and walks through the first few years of the gardening and cooking program. Then comes the gorgeous looking and sounding recipes! The recipes have got lots of instructions and even little tidbits of information that I found intriguing! I especially liked the way the recipes are set out by season.

It's now been added to my "purchase" list for sometime in the future, and it's given me the push to allow Billy more of a role in the kitchen. If you have kids, and like gardening & cooking - I definitely recommend it!