Customer Reviews

Bean Appetit: Hip and Healthy Ways to Have Fun with Food

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bean Appétit is packed with creative ways to make healthy foods not only delicious but fun. The dishes are so bright, colorful, and creative, they're more like art than meals. Like the "High Note Nibbles" sandwiches, for example, that look like a piano keyboard. Or the "Bug Bites"--dragonfly-shaped pitas sandwiches made with fruit, turkey, and a pickle. The almost florescent-purple "Starry Night Bites" are made from berries and sticky rice and adorned with cheese stars. But my favorite was "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" which looks like the character from the book by Eric Carle. Chicken-and-vegetable-stuffed spring rolls form the body with a big tomato as a head and pretzel sticks as legs. It's so cute and sounds really tasty. There are many more fun creations for parents and children to make together--with lots that don't even require any cooking.

The recipes and language in Bean Appétit are appropriate for the preschool crowd. Directions to "Shake your hips and get ready to mix:" or "Roll around on the floor while chanting `Go bananas' will be fun for young children, but may turn off older kids. Interspersed between the recipes are silly conversation starters, such as "Who do you know has the silliest singing voice?" or "Would you rather share your sleeping bag with a bat or a bear?" There are games like "Flash Dance" (a flashlight dancing game) and food related trivia like "Table Manners from Other Countries." The book is bright and appealing with whimsical illustrations and colorful photographs. This would be great for parents of preschoolers and preschool or kindergarten teachers.

Bean Appetit: Hip and Healthy Ways to Have Fun with Food is more than just a bean and pea cookbook - it's packed cover to cover with whimsical, creative, and fun ways to style one's food, especially as a way to get children interested in the kitchen (or even entice a sick child to eat). Full-color photography illustrates fun projects ranging from a pear and chocolate treat designed to look like a penguin, to a tomato half with Parmesan cheese and spaghetti arranged to look like a face ("Mama Mato!"), to delicious domino cookies and much more. A great way to stimulate creativity as well as promote nutritious foods (virtually every dish is vegetarian, and many are vegan), Bean Appetit is highly recommended especially for parents and child-care providers interested in getting children involved in the preparation of a healthy diet.

Basing their collection on favorites from Bean Sprouts, the acclaimed café and cooking school for kids, these authors have filled 192 pages with irresistible, healthy yet fun recipes plus food-themed games, crafts, and activities. So, Moms and Dads invite the small ones into the kitchen and have a ball!

Breakfast time is more than special with Stick Stacks - mini pancakes, strawberries, kiwis, and blueberries on a skewer then dipped in maple syrup. Along with this yummy way to start the day comes a suggestion to begin each morning by saying something positive to your family, such as "Today is going to be the best day ever!" And there's a "Pea Brain" hint: how do you tell a hard-boiled egg from a raw egg without cracking them open? "Just spin them. The one that spins longer is hard-boiled!"

That's just a sample of what's in store for your young ones in this inventive, merry encouragement to eat healthy and bring the family together to make mealtimes fun.

In addition, there's a different challenge in every chapter of BEAN APPETIT. For every challenge completed a youngster cuts out the square provided on page 193 and attaches it to his/her diploma. The diploma can be downloaded at www.beansproutscafe.com.

This is one cookbook that won't just sit on a shelf but be enjoyed over and over again by all. (A favorite of ours is Mama Mato with spaghetti hair!)

- Gail Cooke

I got this expecting to find fun ways to get veggies into my little one but unfortunately I never find myself using it. It just sits in a drawer. Maybe it is because the ideas are a lot of making the food cute. Reminds me of bento box creativity. That just doesn't cut it for my 4 boys. I could make it cute all day long, and the younger ones may play with it, but it wouldn't get them to eat it. If you want cute and decorative, then maybe this is a good book for you. I really didn't. I wish I would have looked at it at a bookstore or something. I would not have purchased it.
It does get 2 stars because it does have some good ideas. There just aren't enough of them that I would personally ever use.

The two authors opened a cafe filled with healthy and fun meal choices for children, called Bean Sprouts. Now they also also have a cookbook, Bean Appetit, that includes recipes from their restaurant. Bean Appetit is full of brightly colored illustrations, "Table Talk" conversation starters and entertaining activities for kids, in addition to delicious recipes.

I really enjoyed the ideas in Bean Appetit for helping kids to become mini-entrepreneurs, from lemonade stands to selling bags of muffin mix or potted herbs that they started themselves. All of the meal ideas are creative and easy for kids to be a part of assembling them. The Mama Mato is a cute little mama made from tasty items like a tomato, olives, basil, cheese and spaghetti. The Pumpkin Pie Milkshake with vanilla frozen yogurt, pumpkin puree and cinnamon was one of the yummy dessert suggestions. And Campfire Crunch takes the standard snack foods -- grapes cheese, carrots and pretzel sticks -- and transforms them into a delightful snack!

Bean Appetit is not only a cookbook, but it also gives plenty of engaging ways to build a healthy culture and environment for children, starting right at home!

This book has lots of cute and healthy ideas for things for kids to eat. Even if you don't make the recipes the same way, the presentation style is great and easy for kids to eat. Some of the fun tips along the way are better for kids 5 or older, but the foods are great for any age!

Bean Appetit is the perfect guide for grandparents. What a great way to connect with the little ones. The book combines healthy food, tasty treats, and creative and entertaining activities to create lasting and loving memories for years to come. It's got my Grandma Seal of Approval big time!!!

I was disappointed with the number of actual recipes in the book. There are lots of ideas for kids and conversation starters, but not as many recipes. The recipes that are available are good. If I had known, I would not have purchased this book. My recommendation is to go to your local book store and look through the book before purchasing.