Paula Deen's Cookbook for the Lunch-Box Set [Spiral-bound]

Paula Deen (Author), Susan Mitchell (Illustrator), Martha Nesbit (Contributor)

Book Description

Pool party, bake sale, lunch-box treat --
PAULA DEEN has a recipe for every
school occasion.

From the bestselling team that brought you Paula Deen's My First Cookbook comes a cookbook for the busiest families. When the school and work days end, what better way to connect with your family than by cooking in the kitchen? And when the school bake sale calls for volunteers or you need ideas for your sleepover party, Paula Deen's Cookbook for the Lunch-Box Set has the simplest, most delicious recipes for the fun activities that happen all school year long.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3–6—This colorful and slick offering is divided into nine chapters, most focusing on dishes for specific events like bake sales, family picnics, and sleepovers. Brief general cooking tips are also included, along with advice on manners relating to various foods (as Deen notes in a foreword, "In the South, manners have always been important…."). This old-fashioned tone prevails, and Deen's many fans will eat it up. Recipes range from easy (German Chocolate Pies involve no more than assembling ingredients in a prepared pie shell) to difficult (Pumpkin Roll with Cream Cheese Icing involves carefully rolling a thin baked cake). Many of the savory dishes are hearty and rich, like the Bacon-Cheddar Meatloaf. This book excels at having wonderfully complete safety precautions. Each recipe is accompanied by a pictured list of ingredients and utensils needed, but nutritional information is not provided. The illustrations show a multicultural cast of characters, yet Deen suggests wearing Santa hats for a "holiday bake sale," with nary a mention of Hanukkah or Kwanzaa. So while this won't be for everyone, it will go over well in many communities, especially where the author's TV show is popular.—Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Paula Deen is the bestselling author of twelve books and an Emmy Award–winning Food Network television star. She was born and raised in Albany, Georgia. She later moved to Savannah, where she started The Bag Lady catering company. The business took off and evolved into The Lady & Sons restaurant, which is located in Savannah’s historic district and specializes in Southern cooking. She also co-owns Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House with her brother. Paula publishes a bimonthly magazine, Cooking with Paula Deen, and is a regular guest on QVC, where she sells her books and food products.

Martha Nesbit is a cookbook writer and food columnist for Savannah Magazine. She has been featured on HGTV's "Thanksgiving Across America" special and on Food Network's Food Nation with Bobby Flay. She lives on the beautiful Isle of Hope in Savannah, Georgia, with her husband, Gary, her sons Zack and Emory, and her dachshund, Lucy.

Susan Mitchell is originally from Scotland, where she studied drawing and painting at the Edinburgh College of Art. In 1993, she moved to Montreal, where now lives with her husband and son while working as a freelance commercial illustrator. (Susan has designedmore Christmas cards than Santa has whiskers.) She also illustrated Paula Deen's My First Cookbook.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 192 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers; Spi edition (September 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141698268X
• ISBN-13: 978-1416982685
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #407,273 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paula Deen was born and raised in Albany, Georgia. She later moved to Savannah, where she and her two sons, Bobby and Jamie, started the Bag Lady catering company. The business took off and evolved into The Lady & Sons Restaurant, which is located in Savannah's historic district and specializes in Southern cooking, as well as Uncle Bubba's Seafood, which co-owns with her brother. Paula is the author of Paula Deens Kitchen Wisdom and Recipe Journal, Christmas with Paula Deen, Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin', Paula Deen & Friends, The Lady & Sons Just Desserts, The Lady & Sons Too!;and The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook. She publishes a bimonthly magazine, Cooking with Paula Deen and is a regular guest on QVC, where she sells her books and food products.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even if you've never seen Paula Deen's show you'll love this cookbook!, September 29, 2009

By 

Gwynne C. Spencer (Mancos, Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paula Deen's Cookbook for the Lunch-Box Set (Spiral-bound)

From the eye-popping end papers of this lay-flat (internal coil bindings are pretty spiffy if you ask me) cookbook, kids will savor each page right up to the index at the end. Every double page spread has a graphic border that will entice young cooks to sample the recipes with their eyes while cooking up delicious treats. From the same team that produced Paula Deen's My First Cookbook, this handsome hardcover volume is sure to get lots of use. Starting with Cooking Tips, and a Glossary (how sensible to put it at the front of the book!) and a nifty section on how to measure different kinds of ingredients (sounds trivial but the little pictures are really great instructional tools to show kids how to deal with liquids, spices, flour, brown sugar and butter) the chapters each include seven or eight recipes. Chapter One: Morning Muffins encourages kids to make different kinds of breakfast muffins to swap and enjoy. Chapter Two: The Bake Sale has best-selling goodies most kids will be able to manage. Chapter Three: Pool Party is a Mexican fiesta with salsa, enchiladas, chili, even sopapillas. Chapter Four: What's New for Lunch features salad, pasta primavera, wraps, quiche and sandwiches. Chapter Five: A Sleepover offers fondues, smoothies, and breakfast cheesecake. Chapter Six: The Family Cooking Night introduces a new tradition that Deen feels very passionate about. Chapter Seven: Christmas Cooking Party includes cookies, truffles, breads. Chapter Eight: The Family Picnic Menu features deviled eggs, potato salad, sandwiches, brownies and cookies. Chapter Nine: Mother's Day and Father's Day offers popovers, meatloaf, biscuits, frittata and more. Every chapter starts with a section on Manners because Deen feels that kids want to know how to be the best they can be. Each chapter also includes a cooking lesson of some kind. Best of all in this terrific cookbook, the ingredients list on the left hand page of each two-page recipe has little pictures of the ingredient as well as the measure needed. Never again will kids confuse baking soda for baking powder! Deen also uses brand names in the ingredients list when it seems sensible, which I find refreshingly forthright. The index concludes this highly recommended cookbook that not only would be a great classroom activity guide for teachers brave enough to cook with kids, but a treasured gift for kids of all ages. It never speaks down to them or attempts to be cute and chummy (like the Sandra Lee cookbook for kids) but offers youngsters the honest opportunity to enjoy cooking and try new recipes. Readers can Meet the Author and illustrator and get activities at [...]

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Much Better Than Her Other Kids Cookbook, December 31, 2009

By 

Scarlet Harlot "Scarlet Harlot" (New Hampshire) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Paula Deen's Cookbook for the Lunch-Box Set (Spiral-bound)

After getting her other cookbook, "Paula Deen's My First Cookbook" and finding it rather ho-hum and blah, I really expected very little from this cookbook. However, many of the problems with the first cookbook have been fixed making a far better and more clearly defined cookbook. While there are still flaws and frustrations, this cookbook is far more enjoyable.

The first cookbook had recipes that varied from overly basic to fairly complex (Ants on a Log followed by a bread recipe requiring yeast... Stone Soup and then a few pages away a recipe for sirloin beef kabobs and grilled pineapple) making it hard to figure out what the age range was the book was trying to appeal to, and while a few of the recipes were pretty creative, most were homestyle standards that don't really require recipes to complete and can become boring. This cookbook, however, the complexity of the recipes are all about the same so the book appeals to a standard skill set, which is really nice. It makes the book less choppy, easier to use, and frankly more appealing to read. And by shortening the recipe instructions which, in the first book were overly detailed to the point of being too complicated, it's just a far easier read. The overall creativity of the recipes is far better than in the first book, reflecting more the style of Paula Deen and giving the book a personality that the first one just didn't have, making this a cookbook you're actually likely to refer to far more often because the recipes are something to get excited about. It also is a great way to get kids who are eager to cook to think "outside of the box," putting together flavors and meals that are more interesting to make and eat than Sloppy Joe's and Vegetables with Magic Cheese Sauce. Like the first book, the recipes included aren't "throw away," or busy recipes to keep kids out of the way... The foods are all mostly things that you can serve at any dinner and have it be an actual part of the meal, just like a "grown up" recipe, and like the first book there is a good range of cooking techniques and styles for each recipe. Basically, all of the good things about the first cookbook are still there, though by clearly defining the age group the book is for, making the recipes more unique, and making the descriptions for how to make the recipe far less wordy, the book is just far more practical and fun.

The only problem I have with this cookbook is that they still rely on the hand-drawn pictographs for the ingredients used in the recipe, along with every last little tool and gizmo needed to do the recipe, with no illustrations or pictures on the techniques used to make the recipe. Since this cookbook is clearly aimed towards grade school and school aged kids, I think it'd be far more useful to include pictures on what chicken that's fully cooked looks like, or what a properly cooked popover should look like, or now to fold a wrap, or even a picture of the final product of each recipe, as opposed to drawings of bags of sugar, butter knives, pot holders and spoons. The kids who use this book are going to know what a potholder looks like, or that you'll need a bowl to mix dough in... They really aren't going to know though how a well formed frittata looks or a properly filled muffin cup should look. To make the book more age appropriate, I wish the recipe format was more the cookbook standard, the illustrations were reduced or taken out and replaced with photos of the recipes and cooking techniques. And I really wish they'd stop including every tool and item needed for the recipe, from pot holders to butter knives and paper plates... While that's great for the younger kids, for this age group you don't really need it at all. School age kids don't need special "you will need" instructions for using a spoon to scoop dough or a pot to boil water in. It's just a little babyish and modeling the book after a simplified adult cookbook would make it far more practical and useful, not to mention something a child is less likely to grow out of. This book would easily appeal to the preteen and young teen set (especially with the variety of recipes and creativity and theme of the cookbook) if it was just a little more adult, but as written I have a hard time seeing a young teen pulling out a cookbook that reminds them they need a knife to cut, a paper plate to put cookies on, and watercolor drawings of a family playing in a field at a picnic.

But that said, i like this book much more than her first and I would certainly say if you were to pick one over the other, this is the one you should choose. It feels more like Paula and it's just more fun to use. The less wordy instructions along with the creativity of the recipes included and the clearly defined age range and skill set the book is appealing to makes it far easier and enjoyable to use and it makes it a far more useful cookbook for far longer than the other one. It may not be the best out there for the younger kids, but this book is almost a must-have for parents of school age kids who have an interest in cooking.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific book for kids, October 5, 2009

By 

J. Kennel "marriagefanatic" (Terre Haute, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Paula Deen's Cookbook for the Lunch-Box Set (Spiral-bound)

This is a delightful book that will help make cooking fun for kids. It is beautiful, easy to follow, full of fun recipes that children will like. Another gift you can buy for any holiday that will be enjoyed by kids and parents alike. It definitely won't just sit on the shelf.