Great book for families, i enjoyed making recipes with my kids and they loved combing through to find what challenge we'd be experimenting with next. Easy to follow and tons of fun

Enjoyable recipes and beautiful photos. Easy to make recipes. My only criticism is the same one I have across most cook books and that is that there are several ingredients you wont find in most people's kitchen.

New Favorites for New Cooks: 50 Delicious Recipes For Kids to Make by Carolyn Federman utilizes easy techniques and recipes to teach basic cooking skills to budding chefs through simple dishes for children as well as adults. Recipes such as Savory Scones with Fresh Herb Butter, Black Bean Taco Bar, Two-Minute Guacamole, Meatballs and Tomato Sauce, and Yogurt and Berry Compote Parfait showcase healthy, seasonal ingredients and engage every sense with bright colors, fresh flavors, and exciting textures. Packed with information about kitchen science (like making pickles), garden ideas (like planting seeds from kitchen scraps and starting a compost bin), and heavily illustrated (every recipe is photographed), this cookbook makes being in the kitchen fun for everyone.

New Favorites for New Cooks: 50 Delicious Recipes For Kids to Make is a nice, well organized cookbook for fairly simple recipes. I like that kitchen safety, techniques, and science are regularly focused on- letting even the youngest chefs work safely and know when they will, or won't, need help. Reminders of how to read a recipe, check the pantry and refrigerator before staring, and the explanation of key vocabulary words further aids chefs of all ages have success in the kitchen. Some of the recipes are basics, and things everyone should know how to do before they leave home and need to fend for themselves. Some are very nutritious and fun to learn. Other recipes are very trendy and current- things my picky eaters would not be willing to cook or eat. The pictures and instructions are great, easy to understand and follow. Terms that might be new to readers are in bold, and the book encourages readers to look up cooking terms, ingredients, and other words that might not immediately recognize up to help them understand and follow the recipe. I also like that the author assures readers that sometimes recipes just do not work out perfectly, especially the first time we try them. The encouragement to try and have less that perfect results, and to be okay with that, is important and a great aspect of the collection.

Pretty photographs, but I was not able to download the book properly. I don't think I got all of it.

A Parent / Picky-Kid Friendly Cookbook!

This is a perfect cooking book for my under 10 year old daughter and I to use together! My children are pretty picky when it comes to food, and these recipes we absolutely approve of! They are exciting enough to keep my attention, and simple enough to keep my daughter interested.

Our faves so far have been the Sweet and Salty Candied Walnuts, Piece-Of-Cake Lemon Cake, Meatballs with Tomato Sauce and Spring Pasta with Butter Sauce! We are very much looking forward to trying so many more recipes we have not gotten to yet!

I highly recommend this kid friendly cookbook for your own family or as a gift to another family!

This is a great cookbook to get children interested in the kitchen. Good illustrations and some well placed safety instructions make this an ideal gift for kids. The recipes are easy to understand and sound delicious. The chapters cover basic breakfasts, lunch and dinners as well as some simple deserts that are baked. The basic skills are covered and get slightly more advanced. Composting and gardening get chapters as well as incorporating science into the cooking procedure. This one is a winner.

I've been so excited to write my review of this cookbook in advance of its publication this week. It is everything I would have wanted in a cookbook as a kid. It's fun, eye-catching, delicious, and gourmet. It demystifies cooking for newbies but doesn't talk down to them. And for someone who is relatively new to cooking (as in I didn't learn how to cook until the end of college), there were quite a few recipes in here that I bookmarked to make myself, even though I'm not a kid!

It's clear from even a cursory glimpse of this book that Carolyn Federman knows how to select, adapt, and write recipes for kids. There's sweet potato fries and chocolate lava cakes. But there's also things a lot of kids might not have tried before, like hummus and pesto. The pesto, by the way, is presented in a slightly more grown-up grilled cheese, with mozzarella and actual chiffonade of basil. Yum! Not only are the recipes things that kids would actually eat, but they're also relatively nutritious too. They're definitely not the gut-buster, grease bombs that kid's meals usually are.

The best part for me is the little tutorials with photos that are sprinkled throughout the book that break down the skills involved in the recipes into clear steps. They're just occasional enough to make the book feel like more than just a technique book. Another plus--there's a gorgeous color photo for every recipe in the book, which got me excited to get in the kitchen and cook every new recipe I came across.

Everything from the font to the recipe key (there are little icons at the top of every recipe that indicate whether knives or stoves are involved) says "fun and approachable", and I can see this book appealing to both children and parents alike. This is a very well-thought-out book from beginning to end, and it would make an excellent gift for both children and newer adult cooks. I have friends who only ever eat out but aspire to more, and they will love the unintimidating approach to cooking that this book provides. Thanks to Carolyn Federman for putting together a wonderful beginner cookbook!

Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Carolyn Federman, who is an advocate for teaching food education in schools, has released an excellent cookbook geared to kids. New Favorites for New Cooks: 50 Delicious Recipes for Kids to Make not only has great recipes, but also methods and helps for kids to learn to do basics like How to Wash and Dry Lettuce, and How to Dice an Onion. It also illustrates How to Crack an Egg, as well as How to Separate an Egg; adults may think these are no-brainers, but if we haven’t seen it before, it needs to be taught. There is a section on knife skills, halving an avocado, and peeling a mango – all necessary for beginning cooks.

In the introductory pages, there are suggestions for parents, such as helping kids with safety in the kitchen. And for kids, basic information like reading through a recipe to the end and gathering ingredients before you start. Nowadays, a lot of parents are too busy to cook, and dinner consists of frozen dinners and fast food, which means that children are never taught kitchen and cooking basics. This book will help children (and inexperienced adults) learn the basics of cooking so that they can prepare family meals, breakfasts, and after-school and late-night snacks.

While there are only 50 recipes, the 50 are good recipes that children will want to eat and prepare. They are simple, and Federman has made them easy to understand and follow. Pictures are a must for a good cookbook, especially a children’s cookbook, and this book has excellent photographs and drawings. Also included are fun quotes.

It’s very important for the recipes to turn out, and the Sweet Potato Fries were perfect. The Avocado Toast (a very trendy dish) is easy and yummy, and the Spring Pasta with Butter Sauce is simple enough to appeal to even the most picky of kids. There are some simple vegetables, a skillet chicken dish, and even meatballs in a red sauce. Kids love snacks, and this book has some excellent ones.

If you have children who need some hints on cooking, this is an excellent book. It would make a great gift, and adults who are culinarily challenged may get some help here, too.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

This is a great book for beginning cooks. My grandchildren absolutely love going through it and choosing what they want to make. It makes for wonderful grandma bonding time and there's always lots of laughs and giggles. Well done!
Thank you to Net Galley for providing me with an arc in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely love cooking and this has become one of my favorite cookbooks! I am not necessarily new to cooking but I am always looking for new tips and tricks to improve my cooking! And this was the perfect book for that! It taught me things that I didn't know and things I knew that only reinforced my love for cooking! I hope that you will pick this book up even if you are a novice at cooking!

New Favorites for New Cooks by Carolyn Federman empowers young chefs in training to cook a single dish or a whole meal on their own with minimal assistance. The introduction at the beginning of the book and the quotes on the side encourage kids to try something new and to keep on practicing to expand their cooking skills. I like that there are a couple of important skills primers accompanied with color photographs in the book, like basic knife skills, how to crack and separate eggs, how to open an avocado, etc. It is very helpful that each recipe lists the ingredients and all the cooking utensils needed. The recipes in the book appeal to children and grown-ups alike. This enables kids to cook not only for themselves or with friends, but also to prepare a meal for the whole family. Overall, I can only recommend this books for children up to around age 13.

New Favorites for New Cooks by Carolyn Federman
Blog post after February 20, 2018
Here is a cookbook designed for students who don’t have much or any experience in the home kitchen
Starting with great photography and eye catching graphics, New Favorites for New Cooks delivers a basic course in getting started in the kitchen.
Recipes are categorized by time of day: breakfast, lunch, after school snacks, drinks, dinner, and sweets and treats.
At the start, Federman runs students through the basics of food measurements, knife handling, various cuts they’ll use (from chopped to minced, and Julienne and Chiffonade),
Asides offer readers interesting information about the foods they’re preparing, such as that strawberries absorb more pesticide than any other produce -- so it’s worth it to buy organic.
The photographs are enticing, and might help inspire students to try some of the recipes simply because the food in the pictures looks so good.
There are a number of how-to sections that can teach experienced home cooks a thing or two, such as how to peel an avacado or cut a mango.
The recipes range from fairly simple, like a parfait, to somewhat advanced: summer rolls with peanut sauce and a melted cheese sandwich with freshly made pesto are among my favorites in this refreshing collection.
This is a wonderful cookbook that belongs in middle and high school libraries, and I highly recommend it as a gift for students who will have to cook for themselves -- either at home in high school when the parents are away, or when they head off to college.

New Favorites for New Cooks gives step by step instructions to make super delicious foods. I love how the recipe for White Beans was followed by a onion dicing tutorial for timely help. New Favorites has tons of recipes to look through and try out, like Meatballs, Lava Cake, Ginger Ale, and Cheddar Cheese Frittata, that give kids an idea of more than the basic PB&J or chicken nuggets.
With great photos and interesting side facts, this will be a great addition to a young person's kitchen shelf.

I really liked this cookbook, however I think it may be for children who are bit more mature in their palate and cooking skills than my 5-year-old niece :) The photos, layout, and tips & tricks are all nicely done for readability, and the recipes are simple and interesting -- Brown Sugar Polenta, Spring Pasta with Butter Sauce, Summer Rolls with Peanut Sauce, etc. I think this would make a great book for all ages really; there's something for everyone. Including tips on how to crack an egg -- which will completely help me with my niece.

New Favorites for New Cooks looks cute and fun, laid back and helpful. The recipes are easy popular favorites, and cooking techniques are explained effectively and sometimes whimsically.

Some of the dishes look difficult, but are easily achievable, and will boost a young cook's confidence from all the oohs and ahhs they hear when they serve <b>Summer Rolls With Peanut Sauce</b>, or <b>Three Minute Guacamole With Fresh Chips</b>. These are dishes that they will want to cook AND eat.

The book is filled with helpful tips that beginning cooks need to know, but might not know are important to effective recipe completion. Importance of pan size, knife skills, don't let the garlic get too browned, etc.

One negative, I did not like the drink section, per personal preference that we should not drink our calories, we should eat our calories. I grew up with water, and I think that is the best beverage for children. The drink recipes could be used for special occasions, but I think they are excessive for everyday use.

Recommended for an older child or teen who wants to start cooking on their own, or who needs help with techniques and some good ideas for dishes.