Honest Pretzels: And 64 Other Amazing Recipes for Kids

by Mollie Katzen

Many a bowl of pretend soup later, Mollie Katzen is once again stirring up the pot for Tricycle-sized readers. Her first cookbook for little chefs (PRETEND SOUP) has been a best-seller and kids' favorite since 1994, and her new book for slightly older cooks shows every sign of being another winner. This isn't gimmicky kid stuff, this is honest food made with real techniques. And of course, it's 100% kid-tested. And 100% vegetarian.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Childrens, Food, Nonfiction, Picture Books, How To

192 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

Educated at the Eastman School of Music, Cornell University, and the San Francisco Art Institute. Although her formal training was as an artist and musician, she exhibited natural cooking inclinations from a very early age, and cooked professionally - in restaurants and as a caterer - for ten years. In 1973 she was one of the founders of the Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York, and during her five years of cooking there, she compiled, illustrated and handlettered the Moosewood Cookbook.
In addition to her writing and illustrating, Mollie is a committed student of classical piano.

Reviews

[Kellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new favorite cookbook! Officially this is a kids' cookbook and it has made making meals a family affair at our house. The oldest takes the lead and the younger girls can help with mixing, pouring, etc. It is laid out very well and is easy for my second grader to understand and follow. The best part is that the recipes are very healthy, whole foods and the cooking is done from scratch - which is unusual for kids' cookbooks which usually utilize pre-packaged food. It also appears to be vegetarian as I can't recall seeing any meaty recipes.

The only drawback is that they tend to be a bit time consuming, but with some prep work (doing the chopping, shredding, etc ahead of time) some of that can be cut back on. I have been using this cookbook for nearly all our dinners this week, even when the kids aren't helping :)

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute, and I have marked several things to make with my youngest son this year. The recipes are neatly marked off in little incremental steps, set aside in boxes--easy for children to follow.

[Meggers222 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Family favorite, reintroduced today to my seven year old

[Victoria Roberts]

This book has easy to follow recipes. The artwork adds to the charm of the book itself. I like how the cookbook list the ingredients but diagrams the steps in pictures.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's nicely illustrated, with easy-to-follow instructions. Unlike a lot of other kids' cookbooks, there are no gaudy, painful-to-look at colors, and the layout is neat and straight-forward (instead of cluttered).

It's vegetarian, which means new cooks don't have to worry about handling meat, which I think is nice. All the ingredients are common stuff, so I have no problems telling my kid to pick out whatever he wants to make.

But perhaps the best, and most surprising part, is that the food is *delicious*. I'm usually meh about baked potatoes, but topped with their red bell pepper sauce, yum. We've found a lot of new family favorites.

Simple, clever, tasty. Really, it would make a good cookbook for anyone learning to cook, or anyone short on time for cooking.

[Nelly Paulina · Rating 5 out of 5]

my daughter didn't really tackle this one (its 8 and up) because there is a hefty amount of reading for her and she would much rather spend her time in Pretend Soup and Salad People as she needs little to no assistance for those.

i haven't made any recipes from this yet, but they are all accessible, easy and fairly quick. i gave five stars because the recipes are modifications of Mollie Katzen's adult cookbooks with some slight changes in process for the sake of speed and safety.

we are keeping a copy of this one for my budding cook (and me).

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful cookbook for older children - and all the recipes are vegetarian, although I didn't really notice that until I read the introduction. While our girls aren't quite ready to do all of the recipes in here, we did collaborate on a lovely minestrone soup and they have helped me make peanut butter, guacamole, chili, bread rolls, and many other items for which there are recipes contained in this book.

[Lynnea Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this for my 11yo son to learn cooking. He loves it. It is simple to follow and no fancy schmancy ingredients. We have been spending time in the kitchen teaching him to cook and I this has been an invaluable tool in that regard.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

These recipes are much more involved than those in Salad People or Pretend Soup. Definitely for the older kid crowd - probably 6 or 7 and up. More of the recipes require actual cooking using the stove or oven.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the illustrations and the steps of the recipes are very clearly laid out for the children to be able to use many parts of this book independently, the recipes became lengthy. That was a bit of a turn-off for my kids.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet cookbook for parents to use with kids. Instructions are simply written *and illustrated* so it's a delight to use!

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is even better than Pretend Soup! It's a great second step into cooking independently for children. Mollie Katzen has the best children's cookbooks.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good introduction to cooking with your kids, especially if you are not a big cook yourself--kind of walks everyone through the classic kid recipes

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter adored cooking from Pretend Soup and after reading this I am ready to let him move from peanut butter sandwiches to really independent cooking.

[Dina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. I cannot wait to go to the store and pick out the ingredients so I can let my little dears start cooking. Simple easy to follow recipes.

[Moniquelfp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book. Kids like to browse through the recipes and the ones we have made have turned out well.

[Leviatheninutero · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember this book from when I was a kid.

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this book!