This cookbook combines favorite brand name recipes with cooking for kids. (Favorite Brand Name Recipes, 2001, Publications International)

Most of them are quick and easy which is a good thing when you have little ones. The recipes would be good for kids and they would have fun learning. Cooking is a great way for children to bond with their family, learn math, creativity and teamwork.

Fun Food for Kids starts with breakfast and lunch recipes. I loved the berry dip or spread idea where they add fresh fruit to cream cheese. I see flavored cream cheese on the shelves at the grocery store now but it’s not the same.

Also included are cinnamon buns but they speed up the process by using premade frozen bread dough. Other yummy meals are banana pancakes, muffins, burgers, wraps, pizza, sub sandwiches and hotdogs with macaroni and cheese. I remember as a child decorating macaroni and cheese with hotdog slices and being quite proud.

• The dinner selection includes some traditional fare but some things have fun twists. I have not tried homemade fish sticks but it looks easy enough so might give it a go. (Standard dip in egg & then bread crumbs) The meatloaf is very traditional with the familiar breadcrumbs, egg and tomato soup. I made one with ketchup, breadcrumbs and a taco seasoning package and it was the best one I’ve made yet.

There are plenty of sweets and snacks to choose from as well. I love the smoothie combo that includes dream whip, yogurt and fresh fruit. I bet they would also make good popsicles.

Pizza Pockets & Biscuits

• My favorite party food is the picnic pizza biscuits. They used biscuit dough, shaped them into muffin pans and added the toppings/fillings. The possibilities are endless and it would be a fun way to use up leftovers.

Another easy recipe is the pizza rollers. Fill half a small circle of pizza dough wth sauce, pepperoni, cheese, fold, seal and bake. They would be so fun to fold up together and you could bake a bunch ahead of time for school lunches.

For more recent cookbooks made for kids, see Readers Digest kids cookbook section.

Photo of child eating spaghetti, copyright Richard Sweet.