By Jolene and Lily Mae Cox
Nine Bean Rows £25
ISBN: 978-1-7384795-4-2
There used to be an advert that went something along the lines ‘It does what it says on the tin’ and that’s what you get here. I could just leave it at that , but will delve into this more in depth.
At nearly 190 pages this is a mother and daughter contribution that is aimed at the 5-12 age range (Lily Mae was 11 at time of writing).
As stated on the cover there are 70 recipes and it follows a two page format with a full colour pic on one side and the recipe on the other. But you might find a few tips such as how to make perfectly cooked pasta as well.
As expected the early pages before diving into the recipes are devoted to basics which kids will have to get to know such as dealing with ovens, blenders and hobs, how to weigh things, lining baking trays etc. There is a picture of the basic tools referred to as the kitchen kit and obviously quite a bit on knives. This is before you even get onto kitchen rules.
The recipes themselves are divided into seven sections. since this book covers kids we looked at the most important thing of the day – The Lunchbox! Here there are ten recipes. They all look great and who can resist mini cheese scones or turkey nugget ciabattas. We tried out the Jambons with our daughter, one of many that caught her eye. It took only 30 mins to cook in the oven once the preparations are complete and the results were incredibly tasty. Better still is that there were no out of the ordinary ingredients as most kitchens will have the ingredients in stock.
The other sections include breakfast (Cinnamon French Toast Hugs anyone?), after school (check out the Four fold Pizza Wraps) and epic eats (Movie Night Nachos) to name just a few.
At £25 this is at the expensive end of most of the cookbooks in our library (and we have many in all shapes and sizes) however it did bring fun and enjoyment and therefore ticks all the boxes. It also encouraged our daughter to concentrate, follow instructions and appreciate the care, and love, that goes into creation.