So to explain how I came up with the themes for all these Cooking with Kids programs, what I did is pretty much list all the books that I thought I could pull recipes from (or knew already had recipes). Then I started grouping them together in whatever way I could to squeeze a theme out of them. Sometimes it was easier than others. Farm to Table wasn't hard, but most people would argue that you don't exactly "farm" bananas anywhere in the US. Fair point. It pretty much should have been called Fruits and Vegetables, and we probably would've gotten the same amount of attendance. Which is to say, hardly any at all. Actually, I only had 2 grandmothers and their grandchildren. Why the sudden drop-off in attendance? I HAVE NO IDEA. Maybe all the parents knew their kids were WAY pickier than I realized and they wouldn't try what we were making. *shrug* On to the books!
Carrot Soup by John Segal. This is a story about a rabbit who LOVES carrot soup. He plants the carrots, waters them, etc. When it comes time to harvest them, they're gone. He asks all the animals, they all deny taking them and say he should ask someone else. At the end of the day, he goes home dejected and carrotless to find that his friends harvested the carrots, made the soup, and have thrown him a surprise party. There's a recipe for carrot soup in the back of the book, and while I was unsure how it would taste, we went for it. OMG! Have you ever had carrot soup before? It was so good! It was basically carrots, onions, and celery sauteed together and simmered in chicken stock, then blended together. All the adults in the building liked it.
Apple Farmer Annie by Monica Wellington. I talked about this book in my post about apple-themed story time. Simple book about an apple farmer harvesting her apples, making baked goods, and then selling them at the farmers' market in the city. There are several recipes using apples in the back, but we decided to keep it simple and make the applesauce. No, the library does not have the resources to do this kind of cooking, so both my coworker and I had to go home and do this. Applesauce was a little easier to convince the kids to eat. Both this and the carrot soup were almost impossible to do a cooking demonstration on though, so instead we focused on the next book and recipe.
Gladys Goes Out to Lunch by Derek Anderson. Again, another book I've talked about in another post. Gladys the gorilla loves bananas, but goes in search of something else to eat when she smells the most delicious food. She searches high and low, and finally she finds it - banana bread. There is a recipe for this in the back of the book (so convenient!), and since I *can* make bread in a toaster/convection oven that's what we did.
I had two 6 yr olds helping me, so needless to say, it was an adventure. I set one to cutting up the bananas with a butter knife, while the other helped me measure out the ingredients. I have to state at this point that we had slightly green bananas because dummy me didn't buy them far enough ahead of time. Multitasking with two kids is certainly interesting, but I try to do it when I can to show that it *can* be done! (Though I'm sure most moms already know that). Their bread may not have been as uniform as mine was, but it still tasted great. The kids loved it of course because it was sweet.
We always have handouts of the recipes, and when possible, other books that fit the theme. Here's what we came up with for this one:
Farmer Will Allen and the growing table by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Green beans, potatoes, and even tomatoes: what is in the vegetable group? By Brian P. Cleary
Growing vegetable soup by Lois Ehlert
I eat a rainbow by Bobbie Kalman
The vegetables we eat by Gail Gibbons
Apples grow on a tree by Mari C. Schuh
Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming
The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin
Eating the alphabet: fruits and vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert
Gregory, the terrible eater by Mitchell Sharmat
A fruit and vegetable man by Roni Schotter
Pick, pull, snap!: where once a flower bloomed by Lola M. Schaefer
Tap the magic tree by Christie Matheson
How are you peeling? by Saxton Freymann
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