The Dessert Blog

Great Cook Books For Kids
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Some popular Kid’s cook books help parents and children learn to interact in the kitchen. Kids love to cook and these cook books describe simple ways to cook nutritious meals with children in mind.

1) Burning Down the House, Cooking with Kids
This cooking with kids cookbook is a simple, easy to follow cookbook - containing recipes that allow a child’s mind to explore the wonders of cooking. The kid friendly cook book features recipes for breakfast to to bedtime. Recipes include Lemon Pancakes, Jazzy Popcorn, Peanut Butter Spaghetti and more.

Burning Down the House, Cooking With Kids (English)
Price range: $9.35 from 1 Seller
Publisher: T C Pub
Format: Paperback
MSRP: $ 9.95

2) Someone’s in the Kitchen with Mommy : 100 Easy Recipes and Fun Crafts for Parents and Kids
This cook book has more than than 100 easy kid friendly recipes and some fun craft projects that parents and children will enjoy together in the kitchen. The cookbook includes recipes for nutritious, low-fat, tasty snacks and meals for holidays, rainy days, or any day.

Someone’s in the Kitchen With Mommy (English)
(More Than 100 Easy Recipes and Fun Crafts for Parents and Kids - ISBN: 0809231425)
Price range: $5.75 (Refurb) - $23.95 from 7 Sellers
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Format: Hardcover
MSRP: $ 15.95
Adults and kids can enjoy creating nutritious, reduced fat, and yummy snacks and meals for holidays, rainy days, or any day! Someone’s in the Kitchen with Mommy contains 100 recipes that are not only fun to make but also look great too.

3) Kids In The Kitchen: 100 Delicious, Fun & Healthy Recipes to Cook & Bake
This is a kid approved cook book that has over 100 tasty, fun & nutritious recipes showing children the fundamentals of nutritious baking and cooking.
Fun & Healthy 100 Delicious Recipes to Cook & Bake - ISBN: 0806904461)
Price range: $2.95 (used) - $33.13 from 3 Sellers
Edition: Kids in the Kitchen : 100 Delicious, Fun & Healthy Recipes to Cook & Bake
Publisher: Sterling Pub Co Inc
Format: Paperback
MSRP: $ 13.95

The book has clear directions and color photos of ingredients and finished products in addition to the photographs of children hard at work.

4) American Heart Association Kids’ Cookbook
The American Heart Association Kid’s Cookbook (1 Release)
Author: American Heart Association

For more awesome kid approved ideas log onto http://www.kidapprovedmeals.com or visit Free Kid’s Recipes

Many of us are time pressured. We want to cook healthy meals for our family but, between working long hours and spending time with our partner and kids, we just haven’t got time to cook, have we?

Actually, there is time. By changing your methods, looking through your recipe collection for quick healthy recipes or searching online for free recipes, you can cook healthy meals for your family and do everything else that your busy lifestyle requires. Ultimately, its all about ‘efficiency’ - in much the same way as business managers use time and motion studies, you can refine your kitchen techniques to be time efficient and sitll produce great cooking.

Here are 14 quick cooking tips to help you:-

* Plan ahead and use shortcuts - buy ready chopped vegetables and prepared salads.

* Read through the recipe first and then gather together all of the ingredients and equipment you will need before you start.

* If you are chopping onions, peppers or herbs, chop twice the amount and freeze - this will save time in the future as they will be on hand for healthy recipes and vegetable recipes.

* Keep ingredients you use frequently on hand and within reach.

* Don’t be put off by recipes that seem to take a long time. If you read the instructions carefully, you will find that many recipes involve just 15 minutes preparation and 45 minutes cooking in the oven. These are great for a busy lifestyle as the allow you to do other things during the ‘oven time’.

* Have a plastic bag or container on the work top for rubbish so that you don’t have to keep going to the rubbish bin.

* Ask your children to help by laying the table, washing up and grating cheese etc.

* Multi-task - while one thing is cooking prepare the next step. Its surprising how much time is saved if you can manages this.

* Use the microwave - speed up grilled chicken by microwaving it first on medium high until it starts to turn white and then grill.

* If you are making a sauce, make double and freeze a batch. If you freezer is big enough, you can keep months worth of tasty sauces available at a moment or two’s notice.

* Build a collection of recipes - keep a file on your computer or a ring binder file of favourite healthy recipes which are quick to prepare and cook. Choose a range of recipes - diet recipes, vegetarian recipes, dessert recipes and low carb recipes.

* Don’t rush - Rushing around can cause mistakes and accidents and therefore add more time to cooking.

* When you have found some healthy recipes or low fat recipes, read through them and choose ones that have fewer steps or ingredients. Some free recipes online will give preparation and cooking times to help you plan.

* Use a magnetic, erasable shopping list board on the fridge to note down items as you run low on them. That way you will never run out of vital ingredients.

Remember, although preparing quick meals is a great idea to help manage your busy life, it is also important to ‘cook with love’. Fast cooking does not have to be ’shoddy’ or cut corners, you are, after all, cooking for those you love the most and they deserve your best. Remember to pay full attention to any recipe you are preparing, no matter how quickly it is prepared - one moments loss of focus can result in a meal that is virtually inedible, and nobody will enjoy that experience.

I hope you find these quick cooking tips useful, and that you are able to maintain a healthy time/family balance in your lives.

Roger Wakefield is an author and publisher who writes content for for the Recipe File site, one of the most authoritative recipe cookbooks on the internet. The Recipe File website includes in excess of 40 thousand recipes which range from canning recipes to game recipes. Preparing wonderful meals for your loved ones can be simple and entertaining if you use the right cookbook. The Recipe File guarantees that you are never short of a terrific recipe whenever you want a change.

Most people have a sweet tooth and it’s this sweet tooth that can be the downfall of many a diet. As soon as we’re on a diet or a healthy eating regime we feel restricted and all of a sudden we have cravings for chocolate, ice cream and chocolate fudge cake!

The secret of healthy eating is not to restrict yourself but, instead, to have a balance - everything in moderation. You need to cut down on fats and sweets but you certainly don’t need to ban them. Look through your recipe collection and online for low fat dessert recipes to use instead of your usual high fat favourites.

Even if you are unfortunate enough to be diabetic, you can still indulge your self a little. There are alternatives to sugar, such as sucralose, that can be incorporated into your favourite dessert recipes with wonderfully tasty results. You still need to watch the total carbohydrate content, but as long as you are careful, you can still have the desserts that you long for.

Here are some top tips for enjoying low fat and low sugar dessert recipes:-

1. Look for dessert recipes which contain mainly fruit.

2. Layer fresh fruit with fat-free or low fat ice cream or whipped cream substitute to make a tasty ice cream sundae.

3. Use sugar free jelly.

4. Make trifles with sugar free jelly, fresh fruit, fat free sponge cake, low fat custard and a low fat cream substitute - a tasty treat.

5. Enjoy fruit sorbets and look for dessert recipes for sorbets

6. Mix berries or sliced fruit with fat-free yogurt and sprinkle with cinnamon.

7. Grill half a grapefruit sprinkled with brown sugar - great for breakfast or as a dessert.

8. Enjoy a pineapple - buy a special pineapple corer and slicer to make preparation easier and pour Malibu over pineapple slices for a yummy dessert.

9. Sauté banana or pineapple with a little brown sugar until caramelized.

10. Slice into the skin of a banana and pop a couple of squares of dark chocolate into it, wrap in foil and bake until banana is soft and chocolate is melted.

11. Treat yourself to an ice cream maker and find dessert recipes for low fat ice creams.

12. When baking muffins or cakes, replace half the fat content with mashed banana or pureed prunes.

13. Use egg whites instead of whole eggs in baking.

14. When buying canned fruit, buy fruit in juice rather than in syrup to cut down on sugar.

15. Look for dessert recipes for fruit that is in season. Fruit always tastes better when it is in season.

16. Share desserts with your partner instead of having one each.

17. Check food labels on commercial desserts to check fat and calorie content.

18. Instead of pouring cream over desserts use cream substitutes or puree fruits to make a sauce.

19. Meringues - Meringues are low in fat. Make a meringue sandwich with berries or strawberries and a fruit coulis.

20. Melons - A slice of melon is a great starter and a great dessert. Experiment with different types of melons.

You will be able to find plenty of healthy dessert recipes online and in books and you might even be able to adapt your favourite recipes to make them more healthy.

Remember, desserts do not need to be unhealthy - in fact, if you plan it our carefully, the dessert could be more healthy than the main course!

Roger Wakefield works for for the Recipe File site, which ranks amongst the most authoritative collections of recipes around. The Recipe File website includes over 40 thousand recipes which cover recipes as diverse as dessert recipes to nut recipes. Preparing wonderful meals for your loved ones can be simple and enjoyable if you have the right recipes. The Recipe File makes sure you will never have trouble finding a scrumptious new recipe in minutes.