Batter Up Kids: Sensational Snacks

Batter Up Kids: Sensational Snacks
Barbara Beery
Gibbs Smith
ISBN: 1-58685-798-3
Children’s Cookbook
Reviewed by Tanya Boudreau

Children and teenagers are always hungry! Batter Up Kids: Sensational Snacks would be the cookbook to pull out in order to satisfy that void. Children can grab an assistant; slip on the white cloth chef’s apron included in the book; read over the safety rules of the kitchen, and try to decide on a recipe to make.

It won’t matter if they choose Puff the Magic Pancake, Star-Shine Strawberry Muffins, Pizza in my Pocket, or Armadillo Potatoes, all the recipes are healthy. Reduced fat buttermilk, yogurt, and sour cream are used in some of the recipes. Rolled oats, honey, whole wheat flour, seeds and nuts appear in others. Hola! Granola Bars, which has most of these ingredients, looks tasty!

For after-school snacking, there are dips. There is a Groovy Grasshopper Dip that could be scooped up with vegetables or crackers (serving suggestions are written below the recipes) and a Chill-Out Cheese Dip for the more dairy-inclined. Yogurt, cream cheese, and cheddar cheese combined with spices and pimientos result in this 78 calorie per serving (1/4 cup) snack. The author has provided nutritional information about each recipe. Cholesterol, sodium, calcium, saturated fat and some vitamins and minerals can be found under the picture of the recipe. The photographs of these snacks make everything look so tempting! Children will want to turn again and again to this cookbook and parents won’t mind as the foods are nutritious and easy to make. And even though the recipes can be eaten as snacks, they can also be used in suppers, as desserts or for breakfast. Tutti- Fruitti Popcorn Balls can be a dessert; Sky-High Chicken Potpies can fill you up for supper, and Itsy-Bitsy Bagel Balls could be eaten with breakfast.

Just like the author’s other children’s cookbook Batter Up Kids: Delicious Desserts, this book includes extras in the back. This time children can add cooking school secrets, more dictionary terms regarding cooking, and a chart about serving sizes, to their store of cooking knowledge. Children are guaranteed to have fun making and eating these recipes; especially with a little help from their parents. Parents who let them be hands-on in the kitchen! The author loves to see children in the kitchen; so much so she started a cooking school for children in Texas. Luckily, you and your child can recreate the atmosphere of a cooking school right in your own kitchen. Have fun! And be creative!