Barbara Beery: Green Princess Cookbook

By JULIETTE ROSSANT There is nothing wrong with being a very pink, very princess-y little girl AND wanting to save the planet. To help little girls throw "green" parties and save the planet with other like-minded friends, Barbara Beery's Green Princess Cookbook (Gibbs Smith 2009) is just what is needed. Barbara quickly gets down to basics: definitions. She not only defines organic, buying locally, she also adds definitions for the 100-mile diet, without using the word "locavore". She encourages kids to go with their parents to farmer's markets, buy grass-fed beef, and use vegetable-based food dyes. But don't get the idea that there are recipes for main dishes in the book – princesses, it seems, live on sweets, a few sweet breads, dips and one vegetable soup. This is a party book, with frilly, colorful food that may be organic, but not necessarily healthy. Most of the recipes are simple enough for kids to make with parents' help. Solar-Power Strawberry Lemonade (p. 7) using sunlight to extract flavor from macerated strawberries. There's Sunshine Sorbet (p. 12) made with coconut milk, mango, ginger and orange juice. Barbara adds a Green Cuisine Tip at the bottom of each recipe Instead of serving in a bowl, serve Sunshine Sorbet in hollowed-out orange, lemon or lime halves. Then save those rinds to compost in your garden! The dips range from Vine-Fresh Veggie Queso (p. 23) to bright red Dig-That-Earth-Day Hummus (p. 24) made with beets. Why not make Hooray for Homemade Butter (p. 40) at a party? The kids can shake Mason jars until they get butter – or very tired and you get to do it. Then serve the butter with Off –the-Vine-Zany Zucchini Muffins (p. 35) – or skip the work and go for Baby Butterfly Cupcakes (p. 48) decorated with pink and yellow frosting and jellybeans. The Green Princess Cookbook, the Spa Princess Cookbook, and Barbara's other princess and fairy cookbooks (see Barbara Beery: Fairies Cookbook) may not save the planet, but they will go very well with all the tutus, fairy wings, and pink sweaters that your little cook is collecting. Previous articles: Barbara Beery: Fairies Cookbook [Children's Cookbooks - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, cookbooks, cookbook reviews, Barbara Beery --> back to Cookbook Reviews --> back to Super Chef