Cooking breakthrough

It is time for a book review! This time, though, I chose a cookbook, the Better Homes and Gardens New Junior Cook Book.

I remember my mother had one of these when I was a little girl, and I learned to cook out of it! I even think it was a Better Homes and Gardens one. However, I don't think it required so many convenience foods as this one does. That is the one reason I have not bought a Junior cookbook before now.

Simply put, I don't buy very many convenience foods. I buy staples.

For example, the Leaning Tower Pizza recipe calls for refrigerated pizza dough, pizza sauce, and pizza cheese. I have no idea what pizza cheese is so I fall back on cheddar, mozzarella, and colby jack which I try to keep on hand anyway. Refrigerated pizza dough, to my knowledge, has never graced any residence I have ever lived in. And pizza sauce? I have spices and other seasonings as well as tomato sauce.

So why do I like this cookbook? The really cool, bright pictures. I can ask my kids what they want for dinner and they can flip this open, and see something dazzlingly delectable to eat. Then we cook using my recipes.

Of course, there are also recipes like Rock-n-Roll Smoothies that gets them excited about having a smoothie because of the cartoon Elvis on the page. The recipe is even one they can follow step by step.

The Salad Bowl has 3 good options that they will probably be able to make, and so it goes. (One of them saved my bacon when I had to come up with a summer salad for a women's meeting. It got rave reviews!)

I'm looking forward to having my kids make Rodeo Chili, Hula Stir-Fry, and a repeat of Fast Fixin' Fajitas. The fajitas were awesome! We bought steaks and cut them up rather than buying packaged beef stir-fry strips. Oh, yeah, the Ham Cannon Balls (meatballs) were really good too although I skipped the ground cooked ham because we didn't have any. And so it goes.

For someone like my kids and I that are visually oriented, this cookbook is totally awesome!