Recipes for young adults, 13 years old?!


Question:

Recipes for young adults, 13 years old?

I am a single father of two girls and my oldest, 13, loves to cook. She loves watching cooking shows, especially Rachel Ray and Paula Dean, but she wants to cook every day meals for all three of us. Is there any web sites or cook books that she can get to help her make some simple meals?
Thank you very much!


Answers:

I very recently purchased some cookbooks for my granddaughter, who is about the age of your daughter and also loves to cook & watch Foodnetwork shows. (She likes Good Eats best.)

I did buy the "Kids Cooking - Scrumptious Recipes for Cooks Ages 9 - 13" that another poster mentions. It is certainly nicely done and perfectly acceptable, though the page format is a little bit crowded. "Kids Cooking" does have a superb section featuring photos of various kitchen implements rather than the more commonly seen line drawings usually included in a book intended for children. It was not my favorite, however.

Two others that I bought were "The International Cookbook for Kids" by Matthew Locricchio and "Emeril's There's a Chef in My World! Recipes That Take You Places" by Emeril Lagasse. Both of these are wonderful books that I cannot recommend highly enough. Neither of them "talks down" to youngsters and they both strive to teach good basic cooking skills that will stay with them throughout their lives.

Locrichhio concentrates on food from just four countries - France, Italy, China and Mexico. Emeril goes much farther afield and presents dishes from all over the world. In either case, this is real food for real people. There are no mixes and very few prepared food items. Both chefs put emphasis on food rather than desserts & sweets. That was very nice to see.

All in all, I don't think you would go wrong with any of these three books. I'm delighted that I purchased all three and so is my granddaughter. She prepared dinner for us last night all by herself and it was delicious. If I could choose just one, though, it would have to be "There's a Chef in My World!" Some of the illustrations are a little kitschy and you'll see Emeril's smiling face on every page, but the recipes are solid gold. Each and every one is for something that most kids love to eat - or would, if they had the chance. Many of the recipes are nearly identical to ones I've used in my own kitchen for decades, so I know they work. Best of all, Emeril includes bread recipes. My graddaughter loves to bake bread.

You'll find more information about these three books here:

There's A Chef in My World - http://www.amazon.com/emerils-theres-che...

International Cookbook for Kids - http://www.amazon.com/international-cook...

Kids Cooking: Scrumptious Recipes
http://www.amazon.com/kids-cooking-scrum...

You will also find some good resources for your daughter at the Foodnetwork site. There is a special section for children at http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/lf_kids/...

Be sure to check out the video demos of various cooking techniques.




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