Beyond banana bread: cooking with and for kids

Wow! Someone was actually reading my Cooking With Kids series! I could never tell since I never received many comments. So a huge thank you. I had a great time and we're still using the cookbook, feels like we haven't made a dent. I'll be running the series on my blog, crazedparent ( http://www.crazedparent.org ), in about two weeks since I didn't finish the book on blogging baby.

but my latest inspiration has been the garden. we've been growing our own veges this summer and have, of course, enough zuchinni to feed our entire block. my oldest is having fun cooking the blossoms with me.

i've also been playing with new recipes from mollie katzen's children's cookbook, Pretend Soup - it's geared towards preschoolers and it's very cool. i bought if for my son when he was 2 and we just read it because he loved the illustrations. it's a fantastic book to get your kids moving in the kitchen.

charlene prince birkeland
freelance journalist
www.crazedparent.org ( http://www.crazedparent.org )

Sorry, I wasn't clear. Once you freeze and thaw bananas, they'll be in a nearly liquid state that's perfect for baking and pancakes and smoothies ... but NOT for eating, that's for sure.

Alanna Kellogg, The Veggie Evangelist ( http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/ )

Denise, as long as you COOK the bananas it shouldn't matter (but yes, they look like something you'd cough up during a bad chest infection).

I combine children's books and cooking at my ClubMom blog, A Readable Feast ( http://readablefeast.clubmom.com ). I want to recommend two awesome books that I've fallen in love with - The Fairy Tale Cookbook - Fun Recipes for Families to Create and Eat Together by Sandre Moore, and Fairy Tale Feasts - A Literary Cookbook for Young Readers & Eaters by Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple. These are the books I wished I had written.

Usborne Books has great children's cookbooks and Pampered Chef's Let's Eat! Cookbook is terrific too - it stands up making it easy for the kids to use. Of course, the Food Network, especially Good Eats and Iron Chef, is a big inspiration around here. My son dressed up as an Iron Chef when he was three.

(Mir, thanks for mentioning This Mama Cooks! ( http://www.thismamacooks.com ) That's mine too. And use flour tortillas for the muffin tin taco bowls, not corn since they dry out.)

OK I put some bananas into the freezer when Michelle was on her banana bread kick and when we thawed them a couple of weeks later, it was DISGUSTING! Truly. YUK. I'm not sure we'll do that again.

~Denise
( http://feeds.feedburner.com/DailyDoseOfDenise )

Fish Creek House Bed and Breakfast
Making Montana Memories. Come on Inn!
Luxury with a Taste of the Rugged Outdoors
http://www.fishcreekhouse.com

Here at the Fish Creek House B&B ( http://www.fishcreekhouse.com )in Montana, we 're constantly whipping up breakfast creations with bananas from banana muffins to banana fritters. Kid guests love em.. i'll have to try these tho. Thanks

No more chucking those ripe bananas ... unless it's into the freezer! Then you'll have ripe bananas at the ready, when repertoire or kids demand. TIPS: Wash and dry the bananas before freezing. Yes, you're freezing them IN the skins. Double bag, pulling air out of each bag. When ready to use, let thaw in a container so not to lose the yummy banana juices that'll ooze out (when it'll become obvious why you WASHED the bananas). I've also miked them to thaw, no problem. Blackened / then frozen"ed" bananas imbue AMAZING banana flavor.

Alanna Kellogg, The Veggie Evangelist ( http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/ )