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Cookbook Reviews:

Ready Steady Spaghetti:
Cooking For Kids and With Kids

Ready Steady Spaghetti: Cooking for Kids and with Kids, by Lucy Broadhurst, is a gorgeous book.

Right from the front cover it is a delight for the eyes.

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Eye candy is one thing, but does this cookbook for kids deliver?

I think it does.

There are many recipes that younger kids will love to eat and older kids will love to help make.

Most of the recipes in Ready Steady Spaghetti: Cooking for Kids and with Kids seem quite kid friendly and often come in shapes and colors that will really appeal to young ones. Jello turns into a day on the beach in Beach Baby Jellies, burgers go mini and spinach gets hidden in cannelloni.

My only question about this cookbook is that a couple of the recipes have ingredients that I think would suit a more mature palate. Passion fruit on the pavlova as an example. But that is an ingredient that you can simply leave out if you wish.

Overall, I think this book is great for those looking to cook for and with young ones.

Here is just a small sampling of the recipes you will find in this beautiful cookbook -

Fairy Wands (cookies)
Hash Browns
Crisp Battered Fish and Wedges
Mini Burgers
Orange and Ginger Chicken Stir Fry
Lasagna
Frozen Fruit Kabobs
Beach Baby Jellies
Animal Crisps
Lemon Butterfly Cakes
Rocky Road (Marshmallow Dessert)
Muesli Bars
Fruit Jelly
Fresh Fruit Slushy

The publishers have given us permission to place 3 recipes from the cookbook on the site. Here's what we have -

Chicken Spaghetti

Cupcakes

Pavlova

Here are some comments from Amazon from actual customers who purchased Ready Steady Spaghetti: Cooking for Kids and with Kids:

J.L. Halas writes:
This is going to be a two part review. First I will review it and then I will ask my daughter for comments on the book to get a kid's perspective.

The first thing I noticed about this book was that it is total eye-candy. The photographs and layout are really beautiful! I like that the dishes have simple flavors combined in a sophisticated way. They appeal to children and also encourage them to expand their food horizons instead of taste-talking down to them. We have only made a few of the dishes, but we really want to try them ALL! It has been fun cooking with my children and the instructions are so clear and easy to follow that they can make some if the dishes with minimal assistance from me! We LOVE this book!

"I think this is a really good book. The recipes make good food and I love cooking them. The name of the book is silly and fun. I would like to have friends over and cook this food for them. I know they will love it!"

From H.O. Woodruff comes this comment:
This beautiful cookbook is not only appealing to the eyes, but to the stomach as well! Ready, Steady, Spaghetti is a lovely cookbook that made me want to share it with all of my friends. We actually sat down at the dining room table and planned which recipes we wanted to try first. The bright pictures and step-by-step directions were very attractive to the reader.

Sharon wrote:
I love the idea of this book. My kids are 2 1/2 (so likely young for the target audience) but love cooking so I want to get them more involved. I really appreciate the photos, particularly the recipes that have photos of multiple steps, kind of like the kids' version of pioneerwoman.com. I like the variety of recipes, both in terms of types of food (e.g., dinner vs. dessert) and the variety of cultures represented. On the negative side, there are occasional inaccuracies (e.g., pumpkin soup has butternut squash, not pumpkin, as an ingredient). There also sometimes could be more detail, particularly for children (e.g., sometimes it doesn't say what level heat to use on the stove).

I've now made 4 recipes. Vegetarian chili was a hit. Grown ups and kids all loved it. Chicken and leek risotto was our least favorite. I loved it in theory, but it had very little flavor. I might try it again with 3 or 4 (instead of 1) leeks and more seasoning. Tofu with greens and noodles was also rather bland (and my kids love tofu). The biggest hit was jam thumbprints. The recipe was super simple and tasty. But more important, it was really fun for the kids to make. There was measuring, pouring, mixing, rolling dough, making the thumbprints, and adding the jam, and of course, eating cookies. Ours looked nowhere near as pretty as the photo, but no one cared!

You may also want to look at these cookbooks by the same author: