Review by Barb & Ron Kroll

Cookbook Title:

Yum-o! The Family Cookbook
(Clarkson Potter) ISBN 978-0307407269 0307407268

Theme:

Yum-o! The Family Cookbook helps families eat healthier and affordably with easy and fun recipes that include vegetables, grains and whole foods. Rachael Ray solves the problem of picky eaters by encouraging kids to help parents prepare healthy meals.

Sample Recipes:

Apple flapjacks. Asian veggie spread. Banana nut oatmeal. Apple-Jack quesadillas. Cacciatore soup with turkey sausage meatballs. Greek goulash. Tortilla and tomato toast. Pretzel-crusted chicken fingers and zucchini sticks with cheddar spicy mustard dipping sauce. Turkey sweet potato shepherd's pie and cran-applesauce sundaes. Cornflake crusted tilapia with sweet and spicy watermelon salsa.

Notable Elements:

Tips for Picky Eaters provides suggestions on tasting healthy foods, substitutes for junk food, grocery shopping, opinion gathering, role modeling and other ways to get kids to eat nutritious food.

In each family recipe, The Itty Bitties Can sidebar identifies preparation activities for kids, like shredding cheese, measuring ingredients and whisking sauce.

A one-page sidebar describes how to build a better salad. Rachael Ray lists ingredients under the headings, Good, Better, Best and Use Sparingly.

Tone / Style:

Yum-o! The Family Cookbook recipes have playful names to appeal to children. Ingredients are simple and easy to find. Comments and cartoon illustrations are light and humorous.

Kid 2 Kid submissions, made by families to Rachael Ray's website, are recipes that parents and kids can make together.

Family recipes for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner list ingredients, instructions and serving size. Rollover supper recipes create additional meals with minor ingredient additions to the leftovers.

Visuals:

The 224-page cook book has many full page color photos that depict kids making recipes and eating the meals that they prepared. A cartoon dog adds humor and illustrates many techniques, tips and recipes.

Contents:

• Introduction
• A Note to Kids
• Rise and Dine!
• Lunch Boxes That Rock and Snack-Attackers
• It's All in the Numbers
• Dinner Time!
• Index

Author:

Rachael Ray

Claim to fame:

Rachael Ray is the author of 14 other cookbooks and hostess of three cooking shows.

 
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More Rachael Ray cookbooks:

Rachael Ray's Book of 10

Just in Time!

2, 4, 6, 8 Great Meals for Couples or Crowds

Rachael Ray's Big Orange Book

Rachael Ray Cooking Lessons with Photos