Tired of books that tell you how to hide the broccoli in a pan of brownies? Need a fresh approach to making healthy food fun for the kids? Check out “Bean Appetit.”
The book, from the founders of Bean Sprouts cafe in Madison, Wis., offers goofy, eye-rolling chapter titles — “Let it Bean” and “Peacasso” — and kid-friendly recipes the little ones can make for themselves.
Some of the recipes rely on gimmicks — tomato faces and spinach-and-chicken palm trees — but most present a full-frontal view of fruit, vegetables and whole grains.
A spinach-and-cheese omelet becomes a finger-friendly “Ready to Roll-Up” and the apple-sweet potato “Snuggle-Up Soup” gets served in a hollowed-out apple. “Pinwheel Pot Stickers” flaunt carrots, edamame and avocado.
Part activity guide, part cookbook, “Bean Appetit,” by Shannon Payette Seip, also includes skill-building challenges, such as how to crack an egg and how to use chopsticks. Tips on table manners are supplemented with conversation-inspiring questions (“If your family were to form a band, what would you name it?”).
Once they’ve eaten all their veggies, you can treat the whole family to a work of art for dessert. “What’s New Cupcake,” by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, a sequel to the best-selling “Hello, Cupcake,” makes pastry artists out of even the most butterfingered parents.
Malted balls, M&M’s, candy corns and marshmallow peanuts transform ordinary cupcakes into fish, suns and lobsters. Jellybeans masquerade as flower petals and butterflies.
The beautiful photos and easy-to-follow directions (diagrams included!) help even the cake-mix challenged create cupcakes that look like lattice pies and critters from ducks to moose to flamingos.
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