Southern Living Kids Cookbook

Southern Living has published another winner with their Kids Cookbook. Recipes are divided into ten main sections: Snacks and Beverages; Breads; Eggs & Cheese, Main Courses; Soups, On the Side; Sweets; Voyages; Fun Food; and Party Time.

The cookbook begins with some basics about cooking tools and equipment.  Color photographs show such kitchen basics as measuring cups and measuring spoons, a colander, electric mixer, dutch oven, rubber spatula, and tongs. Directions on how to follow a recipe and what a proper place setting should look like are also covered. Terms such as chop, mince, slice, cube, dice, and julienne are masterfully explained and are accompanied by full color photographs. 

What I loved best about this book was the full color photographs of every recipe. I like to know what the end product should look like. I am basically challenged in the kitchen so photographs are really important to me.

I had the opportunity to test may of the recipes from the book with a budding eight year old chef.  The first  recipe we tried was Ranch Snack Munchies from the section on Snacks and Beverages. This recipe took just six ingredients and it was so tasty.  There is a secret ingredient in this recipe that makes it so much better than a packaged mix!

Who doesn't love the smell of fresh baked bread coming from the oven? The Cinnamon Raisin Bread that we made from the bread section was so easy to make and everyone who came into the kitchen could hardly wait for it to cool before they cut into it. This recipe makes a such beautiful loaf that it would be the perfect gift for anyone.

There were so many good recipes in the Eggs and Cheese section that it was difficult to chose just one. There was my all time favorite food macaroni and cheese (Better-Than-The-Box Mac and Cheese) but my child chef decided that we should try the Bacon-Cheese Cups.  The cups, or child size portions, are just the perfect portion perfect for children. This was a really unique variation of a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit but it was so much tastier!

I think that one of the most fun recipes that my young chef and I found was the recipe for Doggie Treats in the section on Fun Foods. Several interesting ingredients went into this recipe and my Bichon Frise, Paddington, never left the kitchen while the biscuits were baking.  Paddington gave this recipe a resounding Woof!

I am not sure who had more fun with the recipes in this book - my young chef or me.  Children will definitely love this cookbook.

Includes a glossary of important words and a recipe index.

You can find this book at your local public library.  If you have young children you will definitely want to add this book to your cookbook collection.

ISBN: 9780848731786

Compiled and edited by Elizabeth Taliaferro

Oxmoor House, 2007

Southern Living Comfort Food - A Delicious Trip Down Memory Lane

What is the first thing that comes to mind when someone asks  you what you favorite comfort food is?  Mine is baked macaroni and cheese that is just a little bit crunchy.

I love to eat, so when the book Southern Living Comfort Food  came across my desk I just had to check it out.  After skimming the index I read the foreward which is almost as good as the recipes! 

Most of the 150 comfort food recipes are accompanied by full page color photographs.  Illustrations or photographs are particularly helpful to cooks like me who are curious about the final presentation.

The book covers:  comfort food classics, breakfast anytime, fresh from the garden, casseroles & beyond, soups & stews, desserts, and holidays & special occasions. 

My favorite comfort food, macaroni and cheese, is the first recipe in comfort food classics.  Macaroni and cheese takes on a whole new meaning with the Three-Cheese Pasta Bake.  This recipe is followed by more of my favorites including Gonzales Meat Loaf, Buttermilk Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Lemon-Garlic Roast Chicken With Sauteed Green Beans, The Perfect Burger, French Fries, Chicken Pot Pie, Classic Barbecue Ribs, Chicken-Fried Steak, Pork Chops, Cabbage, and Apples, and Mama's Fried Chicken. 

Farmers Market Scramble, Pimento Cheese Biscuits,   Hash Brown Casserole, Buttermilk 'n' Honey Pancakes, Cinnamon-Raisin Rolls, Waffles Benedict, and Carmel-Nut Pull-Apart Bread are just a few of the recipes featured in breakfast anytime.

Fresh from the garden includes such mouth watering recipes as Homemade Applesauce, Corn Pudding, Crunch Fried Okra, Summer Squash Casserole, and Fried Green Tomatoes.

You will be the hit of the party when you arrive with any of the dishes in casseroles & beyond.  My favorites include Chicken-and-Rice Casserole, Scalloped Potatoes With Ham, Saucy Manicotti, Taco Casserole, and Twice-Baked Mashed Potatoes.  A novel approach to comfort food to go!

Sops & Stews includes two variations of chicken soup:  Chicken-and-Wild Rice Soup and Chicken Noodle Soup.  Recipes for "Baked" Potato Soup, Black Bean Soup, 30- Minute Chili, and Easy Brunswick Stew  are also among the soups and stews featured.

Memories are made of Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies, Giant Oatmeal Cookies, Double-Chocolate Brownies, Mississippi Mud, Million-Dollar Pound Cake, Banana Pound Cake, and Peanut Butter Pie.  The are just a sampling of the mouth watering recipes in Desserts.

Thin Holiday Ham, Birthday Cake, Root Bear Baked Beans, Popcorn Balls, Roast Turkey and Gravy, Cornbread Dressing, Pumpkin Chess Pie Peanut Butter Fudge, Mrs. Floyd's divinity, and Walter's Pecan Pie and you have a recipe for almost any of the holidays & special occasions.

You will find this book at your local public library but you may want to spend $29.95 and buy it at the local bookstore.  I think it is well worth the investment.

286 pages

Oxmoor House

ISBN 9780848732660