If you think French food is complicated, decadent, and heavy, think again! If you think learning and exploring another language is difficult or boring, think again! And if you think cooking French food and learning French at the same time is impossible, teacher and home cook Elisabeth de Châtillon is here to prove you wrong. It might sound too good to be true, but The Hands On French Cookbook is full of healthy, simple French recipes that you can make for friends and family while you learn not only the French language but also a little bit about French culture in a relaxed, fun, tasty way.

Author's Note: I chose 10 recipes especially for your cooking as well as language lessons. Cooking the recipes will help you actively learn the language: "What the hand does, the mind remembers..." My favorite quote from Maria Montessori. That is why this book has been inspired by TPR (Total Physical Response), a fun, hands-on teaching tool that allows you to learn a language by incorporating specific physical tasks with commands. It's the same way you learned your native language through looking, listening, responding and doing. You can make this cookbook your own. Learn actively some French at your own pace while cooking simple and easy recipes to follow. By the way, since it is a bilingual book in French and English, French readers will also learn English words and phrases.

Some main dish and dessert recipes include:

Crustless Quiche with Yellow Squash, Ricotta and Parmesan

Buckwheat Crepes with Salmon

Potatoes Gratin

Silky Chocolate Mousse

Yogurt Cake

Kings' Galette with Almond Cream

Last but not the least, I wanted readers to hear how to pronounce the French words and phrases, so I recorded myself reading the main recipes in French. To listen to the recordings that go with this book, please visit www.handsonfrench.com. This will help you practice the French pronunciation as you read this book at your own pace.

The Hands On French Cookbook makes a wonderful gift for holidays and birthdays.