(Part 2) Best children cookbooks according to redditors

My 3.5 year old daughter loves helping in the kitchen. We started with letting her use spoons and spatulas to "mix" things in bowls. Now we've progressed to giving her butter knives to chop up veggies. She's great at chopping mushrooms, because they're easy to cut.

We also let her use the measuring cups and spoons. She loves doing that, because there are so many different sizes, and they all look the very similar. We also let her decorate cakes, cupcakes, and other deserts that we make using whatever decorating things we have, but she loves using pink or multi-colored sprinkles.

We also make sure to let her taste the things she's preparing so that she has an idea of why combining the ingredients works. I'm not sure she really "gets" that part of cooking yet, but she will given enough time.

Another thing we did was get her a 2nd hand play kitchen. For birthdays and Christmas gifts our friends & family have given her play fruit, veggies, place settings, etc. Mostly Melissa & Doug stuff. We also save our old mac & cheese, oatmeal, cracker, etc. boxes that we stock in her cupboard so she has things to prepare in her kitchen.

Finally, we got her a Sesame Street Let's Cook cook book. She enjoys handing us the cook book like a restaurant menu, asking us what we want, and then she prepares it in her kitchen and serves it. She really enjoys when we ask her to pick a recipe out, and then we actually make it with her in the kitchen.

My wife (and me too, to an extent) enjoy cooking, and it's always been her goal to get our daughter(s) into the kitchen with her.

This was one of the first things I learned how to actually cook from scratch, when I was in college. I had this book called Fanny at Chez Panisse, which is kind of a children's book about growing up in a restaurant and kind of a beginner cookbook. It is lovely, and I highly recommend it to people who love food and want to learn how to make it for themselves.

My mother bought me this book, ironically released 9 days before my sixth birthday. I read through the book and cooked the enclosed Spaghetti and Meatballs dish a few days that birthday, and I'm pretty sure it's been the best thing to ever happen to me. I say it's ironic because I'm pretty sure my life would have taken a drastically different turn had it been released on the 11th of April instead.

This?

http://www.amazon.com/SpongeBobs-Kitchen-Mission-Cookbook-Battle/dp/047063944X

Because it is now.

Try a cook book like this. He'll have fun & it's not a lecture.
http://www.amazon.com/Emerils-Theres-Chef-Recipes-Everyone/dp/0688177069/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260181803&sr=1-3

As others have noted, the instigator was the mother-in-law.

But beyond that, who does most of the cooking & dish washing in your house? What about laundry? The behaviors you and your husband model & live will have a far greater impact than any book, movie or film will ever have. If you really want to modify his perception, you will probably have to swap choirs with your husband and have him do more cooking, dish washing & laundry. This will leave you to do what are considered some of the more masculine tasks such as mowing the lawn, raking the leaves, plumbing, electrical work etc.

Also keep in mind that his identification of masculine & feminine traits are not necessarily a bad thing. Walking into school in a dress would quickly get him beat up. Certain masculine traits will make him more attractive to females as he matures. Of course, it will be difficult to separate those from stereotypes that really don't matter.

Bottom line: How you live will have a far greater impact on his attitudes about gender roles than anything else.

Basic cooking is craftsmanship. A pro only needs a hunting knife and a kettle but I recommend you to buy a book, it's easier to work with in the beginning than scrolling through a website while the cooking water overflows. Here is an example. The book has step-by-step pictures for every recipe

Anyways, here is an easy recipe for a basic tomato sauce:

1 onion

1 garlic glove

2 red chili

2 tomatoes (optional)

1 tbsp (tablespoon) olive oil

3 tbsp tomato mark

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 cans of tomato

1/2 cup instant broth

2 pinches of sugar

1 pound spaghetti

parmigiano

(basic stuff you'll need for many recipes and it's easily stored)

1. Take a sharp knife and cut the chili lengthwise in thin slices. The green stuff and the seeds are not needed. Give them to your cat or throw them away but don't touch your eyes. It will hurt.
   
   
2. Dice the onions and the garlic glove. I hope you don't need an explanation for that, but if you do take a look here: http://youtu.be/WW4r5GW-e7M
   
   
3. Take a pot or pan and heat up the oil over a middle flame. When you feel the heat (or use a droplet of water: when it crackles you're good to go), throw in the chili, garlic and the onion. Go to the next step when the onion turned translucent (it looks like glass then, - but it's not a brownish glass yet).
   
   
4. Stir in the tomato mark until every spot in the pot knows what's coming to it and deglaze the mixture with 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (basically you just throw it in to lower the temperatur real quick but deglazing sounds cooler)
   
   
5. You've almost made it. Pour in the content tomato cans, the broth and the sugar and make sure it doesn't boil to much. 5 bubbles every 1/2 minutes are enough. Season the sauce the salt and pepper. Start with half a spoon and add another pinch until you're satisfied.
   
   
6. Cook the noodles
   
   
7. (optional) Cut the 2 tomatoes into small dices (cut in half and scoop out the giblet)

I have a group of em, especially if you want any! i love love love the penny books. any of these would just make my skirt fly up.

• Mexican Family Cooking
  
  
• Healthy Thai Cooking
  
  
• Cooking the Lebanese way
  
  
• Saved by Soup
  
  
• W&S Soups and Stews
  
  
• W&S Salad Collection
  
  
• W&S Pasta Collection
  
  
• W&S Vegetable Collection
  
  
• Slugs in Love
  
  
• The Jungle
  
  Fun fact, majority of the Williams-Sonoma books have a penny option, and they have a ton! if you like great cookbooks like i do :D i figured i'd give you a big list so you can add anything you like and get yourself something nice :D

Silly Snacks had a graham cracker cabin.

http://www.amazon.com/Silly-Snacks-Better-Gardens-Kitchen/dp/0696208474

Roald Dahl's Completely Revolting Recipes: A Collection of Delumptious Favourites is absolutely charming!

Cook It Together is beautifully illustrated and is a very good starting point.

Good luck! :D

I like Fairy Cooking but it's not really independent-level for her age. The recipes are enjoyable though.

Maybe her show does, but then there's shit like this...