Customer Reviews

Kid Food: Rachael Ray's Top 30 30-Minute Meals

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

 

 

If you want bang for your buck, pick up Rachael's 365 book instead of this one. The recipes here are mostly found in that book as well. These recipes really aren't all that innovative, as far as kids recipes go (you already know how to cook hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches, right?), and the Rachael Ray 365 book has lots more information about altering recipes to suit your needs and other really helpful hints.

This title and three others like it by Rachael Ray in the 'Top 30 30 minute meals' series are, for the content, relatively expensive and inconveniently sized volumes of recipes reprinted from Rachael's previous books. Looking through two of the titles I recognize every recipe I see from earlier books. While Rachael is the nominal author of these books, I fully believe they were assembled by her publisher and a copy editor with maybe a day's input from Miss Rachael for all four books together.

This is becoming a common practice among major cookbook authors, with Mark Bittman's re-releasing his 'How to Cook Everything' in three volumes, cumulatively more expensive than the original book.

One may for a moment equate these books with the music world's 'Best of' releases, but the experience is simply not the same. A 'Best of' album's tracks are based on a genuine audience vote with their purchases and air play. These recipes are simply Rachael's opinion and that of a few of her colleagues. The parallel also breaks down in the sense that listening to, for example, 'The Who's top twelve hits introduces you to a whole new experience of listening to 'My Generation', 'I'm Free', and 'I Can See for Miles' on the same album.

My 3 star rating is not based on the quality of the recipes. It is a warning that these volumes are, in fact, reprints and not new recipes. So, if you already own many or most of Rachael's books already, you may be disappointed if you buy these books.

One other consideration if you do NOT own any of Rachael's books is that for not too much more money, you can get 10 times as many recipes in her 'No Repeats' book of almost all new recipes.

In every way, this is a better purchase than one or all of these minibook samplers. With this kids book, you would also do much better in getting the similarly priced but larger 'Cooking Rocks' book.

I got this book a week ago and tried two of the recipes (tomato/basil soup and the 4 cheese grilled sandwich) they were great! So far the book has lived up to it's name. My daughter is 15 months and LOVED the soup and sandwich. This was the first soup that she would eat without spitting some of it out. She kept wanting more and ate 1/2 a sandwich as well. I can't wait to try the other recipes.

It is true that most of these recipes can be found in Rachaels 365( highly recommend ) but the true charm of this book is that it's kid friendly. Some reviewers say who needs to know how to cook hot-dogs and cheese sandwiches? They are missing the point of this book, it's meant for the young-ones and my children
(ages 8-11) love the simple recipes and really enjoy preparing their own meals. For the children I would rate it a 5, but for the adults looking for something new from Rachael they should look elsewhere. So my rating is a 3 taking these factors into consideration. Thanks...

I can't believe this is supposed to be a book dedicated to kid food!? It's dedicated to all those picky eaters out there.... hmmm. This book contains mostly recipes that will not fly on my 3-1/2 year old's plate, and the rest are repeated recipes from her other books. I'm glad I just took this out from the library. I think these recipes would work well with 8 year olds on up, but that's just my opinion. As always, check your library first before wasting your money.

Getting kids to eat food other than peanut butter & jelly, and chicken nuggets is a struggle for many parents. In this cookbook of kid food, Rachael Ray has tried to enliven children's' repertoire of foods to include eggplant, succotash, and lots of yummy green plants. As other reviewers have noted, however, be aware that this cookbook is a compilation of some of Rachael's previous recipes from other cookbooks. If you are a collector of her recipes, be sure to peruse this book prior to its purchase.

Some of my kid's favorites include: Homemade Chicken & Stars Soup, Broccoli & Bow Ties, Sesame Noodles, Cashew Chicken, and Supreme Pizza Pasta Salad. Enjoy!

How many Rachael Ray cookbooks do you own? That's an important question when considering this book because you may already have some of these recipes in other cookbooks (such as Rachael Ray: 365) by this delightfully speedy provider of zesty dishes.

Here's another question: How much "fixing up" will your kids tolerate? My four were always on the conservative side. Here's an example. Our oldest would go into a restaurant and order a grilled cheese sandwich as follows (and this was before he ever saw Jack Nicholson's famous scene in Five Easy Pieces): "Here's how to prepare my grilled cheese sandwich. Put American cheese slices on plain white bread. Do not toast or grill the bread. Do not add tomatoes, ham, or anything else. Put a small container of mayonnaise on the side, but not touching the bread."

Almost all of these dishes are too adventuresome for what our kids would have tolerated with a few exceptions: cheesy popcorn, chicken cutlets, chicken and stars soup, chicken and dumplings, stuffed potatoes, and fettuccini all'Alfredo. So if your kids groove on Kraft macaroni and cheese and see vegetables as evil, they may not be ready for these dishes,

However, if you enjoy kid favorites . . . and would like a more adult version, you'll be pleased very much by this book and its recipes. The ingredients are well chosen, and the herb and spice selections are inspired. Consider the quesadilla recipe. Most people put in some American cheese, diced chicken, and perhaps some cut up tomato bits. Ms. Ray adds a little finely chopped onion, a palmful of chopped cilantro leaves, a Serrano pepper, coarse salt, a half pound of chorizo (smoked sausage from Spain or Mexico), a touch of barbecue sauce and a blend of Mexican cheeses. As you can see, that's a novel and interesting dish. Not all the dishes are upgraded as much, but there's always at least a little element of sophistication added in time-efficient ways.

Be aware that this book has only 30 recipes in it (along with some side dishes). But it's quite compact. You could easily fit it into a purse or pocket to take along to cook at an event where you've been asked to prepare food away from home . . . or when you are on your summer vacation if you prepare meals sometimes.

One of the beauties of this little gem can be found in the close-up photographs of the dishes. With these visual images to stimulate you, the food presentation will undoubtedly be improved. It just made my mouth water to look at these luscious images.

Dig in!

At first glance, I laughed. All of the recipes list several ingredients, and many have a bunch of things that I didn't think my 3-year old would really be interested in...but I was SO wrong! First, and most importantly -- the food is awesome! Second, it really does take 30 minutes or less for her meal plans. (I timed it!) And third, my 3-year old has eaten everything (even though some of them I leave out certain things) that I have made from the book. It's a MUST have for your collection of books that you will use regularly.

I was so disappointed with this cookbook that I returned it. The recipes are not kid friendly and include abnormal ingredients that we would not normally have and that kids often don't like. As an alternative, I stumbled across a fun cookbook that my kids love called "Gross out Cakes."

I thought this book had some great recipes but most didn't strike me as very kid friendly. There were a few but not that many.