Top 5 Cookbooks for the Impossible Child

I pride myself on being an experimental chef – I rarely make the same thing twice, and I frequently don’t need recipes. I inherited this trait, in part, from my mother. Growing up, she would experiment with all kinds of exotic, healthy foods. I grew up eating tofu, drinking soymilk, and knowing that whether you called it a chickpea or a garbanzo, it was disgusting. This early level of experimentation, however, led to some unforeseen backlash. I went into culinary withdrawal when I was about five years old, and for two full years, refused to eat anything other than peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I don’t pretend to be a nutritional expert, but I do believe this must have had adverse effects on my physical development. Perhaps that is this why I stand an Amazonian 5’2” with bare feet. At the very least, it put me off peanut butter for what may prove to be the rest of my life. Which is why it is so important to have your kids eat healthy foods – but also to teach them to love them. Our staffer Eve – resident mom and children’s expert – submitted the following list of some of her favorite cookbooks to get kids eating right.

Top 5 Cookbooks for the Impossible Child

1. Deceptively Delicious, Jessica Seinfeld

2. The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids’ Favorite Meals, Missy Chase Lapine

3. DK Healthy Cooking for Kids: 50 Fun Recipe Cards

4. Healthy Lunchboxes for Kids, Amanda Grant

5. One Bite Won’t Kill You: More than 200 Recipes to Tempt Even the Pickiest Kids on Earth, Ann Hodgman

-Rachel