Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals for Kids - Cooking Rocks!

I love Rachael Ray. I love her enthusiasm, her moxie, just her good 'ole zest for life. She is fun to watch and gets you really involved in the meal at the same time urging you to try new things.

She should not have published this cookbook.

The ideals in it are nice. Cook with your kids, teaching, learning etc. etc. Create some wholesome family time etc. etc. ABSOLUTELY.

Great ideas, great concepts.

HORRIBLE RECIPES.

Seriously, just plain bad.

I am an uneducated semi-gourmet cook. Meaning, I am an excellent cook, everyone has always loved my food and I can cook just about anything under the sun (with or without recipes), BUT, I have not been to culinary school.

Even so, these are terrible recipes!!!!!

They not only taste terrible, they don't make alot of culinary sense.

I am not bashing Rachael. Just this cookbook.

Don't waste your money folks, look elsewhere, but continue to cook with your kids, it is time well spent!

`Cooking Rocks' continues in print a Rachael Ray / Food Network theme of cooking with kids, a strong theme already championed by Emeril Lagasse in two recent books and several `Emeril Live' episodes. So, the most obvious comparison on which to evaluate Rachael's book is to compare it with Emeril's efforts.

The premise of both authors' kid's cookbooks is that cooking is fun. While it has been a very long time since I was a kid, I have vivid memories of my attempt, at around the age of 9, with my 6 year old cousin, to make a cake from scratch with our elderly grandmother able to not much more than be an adult presence for two very inexperienced bakers. My mother's reaction upon returning home from work to our efforts, which featured using granulated sugar in place of confectioners sugar, and creating an ungodly mess in the kitchen did nothing to encourage further culinary attempts until I stood for the cooking merit badge in Boy Scouts. I really wish she had Rachael's book and attitude when I was a kid.

The best thing about Rachael's book is her advice to parents and kids about cooking. This is because she was never actually taught how to cook. In the kitchen, there was never the question `Can you do ....?'. It was always put to her to `Please do ....'. Little Rachael would then proceed to figure out how to do it, or ask for help if she did not know or could not work it out herself.

Another good thing about Rachael's book is that recipes are presented by age. There is one chapter for 4-6 year olds, another chapter for 7 years old and up, and a section for 12 years old and up. There are other chapters on beverages and snacks and on submarine sandwiches (sammies in Rayspeak).

The recipes for 4-6 year olds may not appeal to adult tastes. They are offered to both appeal to young adolescents and be doable with a minimum of hot liquids, sharp knives, and electrical appliances other than the stove, wrangled by a GH (Rayspeak for grownup helper). I confess some of the dishes may violate the sensibilities of an adult aware of the evils of additives in commercial preparations, but the recipes may still be a good source of ideas.

The recipes for 7 years and older take a big step up in complexity and palatability. They start to fit the typical Rachael Ray template, and, she claims they are suitable for grownups' tastes as well as for kids. One thing which appeals to me and which I hope appeals to kids is that the book does not dumb down the language. Sushi, paninis, and crudites appear undisguised with any Rayspeak pseudonyms.

There is a fair amount of kid talk that may or may not work. As soon as I reached the third grade, my greatest ambition was to graduate to the adult stacks of our city library, which denied access to all who were less than 12 years of age. This is probably what led me to start buying books, as the material in the children's room simply did not satisfy me after the age of nine. I worry that the more precocious cooks to whom this book is addressed may be impatient with the aspects of the book clearly designed to interest young readers. If you have an especially bright kid who shows a great interest in food and cooking, neither Emeril's nor Rachael's book will be as good as Jamie Oliver's third American book `Happy Days with the Naked Chef'.

All the recipes after this show little difference from material in Rachael Ray's earlier '30 Minute Meal' books. I am happy that although the '30 Minute Meal' trademark is in the title, Ms. Ray doesn't belabor this point in the text, as you do not want to rush things with kids in the kitchen with the abundance of heat, electricity, water, sharp edges, heavy metal, slippery surfaces, and germs.

The biggest difference between Rachael's entry and Emeril's `There's a Chef in My Family' and `There's a Chef in My Soup' is that `Cooking Rocks' addresses three different age groups while Emeril's first book addresses the youngest chef candidates while the second addresses teenage and sub-teenage student cooks who would have no trouble reading the entire book on their own. Another big difference is in the way the authors present themselves and their audience. It is telling that Emeril appears in photographs while his audience is present as cartoons. In Rachael's book, her students appear in photographs while she and her sidekick dog Boo are present as cartoons.

While I am really inclined to prefer Rachael's book, I think Emeril's second book has a lot more substance. Rachael's biggest original contribution to the dialogue is the lecture to adults on how to approach kids and cooking. Rachael also does a great service to the grownup helpers (GH, remember) by giving kid friendly directions to help find many of the ingredients in your favorite megamart. I am of two minds about Rachael's Rayspeak, the most famous example of which is `evoo' standing for extra virgin olive oil. I would have no objections to this if it were a general culinary term, but it is unique to Rachael and her family and, probably now to battalions of her TV fans. I have much less objection to her teaching kids to estimate amounts, as this is how cooks really work. I especially notice she is careful to direct kids to taste for seasoning. I also give Rachael and her publisher high marks for a very reasonable price and spiral binding which makes the book very easy to use in the kitchen.

Rachael is great with her kid sous chefs on TV and has a very light touch in print. I recommend this book, but I cannot rate it higher than Emeril's book, so I give both four stars.

I enjoy cooking. The Kitchen is like my science lab, it is great to taste and try new things in the kitchen.

A cookbook written with children in mind can either talk down to kids or can treat them like equals. most of this book treats children like equals. However it is cutely illustrated with cartoony images of Rachel Ray, which to me, belittles the kids.

The recipes are family oriented cooking tasks that kids and adults can make together. It has plastic slicked stock is the kind I think most cook books can use

This book is good cook book for family and people that want to teach children to eat well. I like what is here..if you have kids and want to have your children to learn to cook, this is your book

Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

Makes cooking with kids really enjoyable!!! I bought this cookbook for my six year old daughter as soon as it came out. We both love it!!! Mostly, we have been making the recipes in the 7-12 section, but all sections contain recipes that will appeal to everyone's palate. I have been planning one Cooking Rocks dinner into my weekly menu, and that is my daughter's night to cook (with my help, of course). Last night she and her 7 year old friend made the Mexican Rice bowl dinner- they had alot of fun and ate a HUGE amount- probably because THEY made it, or as Rachael says, they had a sense of ownership of it.

(One tip though- as with any cookbook, you may want to cut back on some of the butter, oil and salt used in some of the recipes. A few of them are a little salty or oily for my taste)

This book provides a good foundation in cooking and healthy eating in the future. It teaches the basic methods in cooking, and introduces your child to different fresh herbs and healthy veggies, such as cilantro and arugula. In a world where many young adults don't know how to cook, Rachael does our kids a big service by teaching them how to cook restaurant-quality meals at home.

The spiral-bound format makes it easy to use, and you can't beat the price!

This book is great in its concept and layout. The book is sectioned into age groups, the recipes have cute names and it encourages cooking as a great way to bond with your child. That part of the book is wonderful. I have used other Rachel Ray books with no problems and everything turns out fine.However,it seems the measurements are off on a few recipes in this book. For the "Chicken Toes" (cute title, a spin on Chicken Fingers) there doesn't seem to be enough coating mix to cover the chicken. In the "Candy Sushi" (great idea, easy to make) recipe, it seems to call for too much rice cereal and not enough marshmellow coating. We also made the cheese fries and it produced way too much cheese sauce. I would still recommend this book as a good 1st cookbook for kids, just watch the amounts and be ready to make adjustments accordingly.

So disappointed, I was so excited to see a Rachel Ray cookbook for kids. I ordered it for my 8 year old niece and ended up returning it and getting something else. Although the book is full of great tips, lessons and basics, there are no photos of the dishes. To me this is what makes a great cook book and for kids they need that visual image to get them going in the right direction. Even as an adult looking through this book, it didn't catch my interest. Sorry, Rachel!

My 8-year-old niece loves the Food Network, especially Rachel Ray and Sandra Lee. So i got her Rachel Ray's Cooking Rocks for Christmas this past year. She was so excited, and we immediately hit the kitchen. She loves it. Let me just say, that if you are looking for gourmet, keep looking. Rachel Ray is definitely not gourmet, even her adult recipes. But this book does have real food, not corny clown-food, like "miss piggy pancakes" which require arranging smiley faces on your food. Most of the recipes require few ingredients, and they are divided by age group, based on how complex the recipes are (i.e., how much "grown-up help" you need). One note: nothing in the book, at least for my 8-year-old, takes 30 minutes -- try double that -- especially the things that involve chopping and whatnot.

My [...] daughter is quite accomplished in the kitchen, but the recipes in this book have stretched her willingness to try new foods and to cook whole dishes with little help. She picked out and made Chicken Cacciatore Ravioli and Spicy Nutty Chicken for our family in the last few days. Both were good, and not your boring typical learn-to-cook fare.

This cookbook has amazing recipes that are fun for kids & parents! It is split up in sections according to kids' ages. I only have 2 complaints:

1. There are no pictures of the finished product to see what it should look like.

2. Some of the recipes need more detail. Use marshmallows, okay, which size??? Just little things like that so you then have to experiment.

I have two problems with this book:
1. The recipes and instructions do not appear to have been tested beforehand.
2. The recipes are not as healthy as I would prefer.

Many recipes seem to miss steps. For an adult, sure I can figure things out. Considering that this book is meant as recipes for children to use, leaving out steps creates confusion and does not elicit confidence.

Many of the recipes are high in fat and sugar. Now, I know that desserts are sweet, but the ones in here are over kill on sugar and ingredients that I would not serve my kids.

I suppose that given the Rachael Ray name on the book, and having heard her speak on preventing childhood obesity and all that, that I did have certain expectations about the standard she would maintain in this book.

Overall, this book feels like something that she had an assistant throw together and then slap her name on. I am very disappointed with this book. In general, it feels like something put together by someone who obviously does not have children.

I bought this for my step children for our weekly "kids cook night". They are 9 and 10 and have NO experience in the kitchen. This book walks them through everything they need to know about the dish they are preparing with very little adult help needed.

My children love this book. The layout and illustrations are so attractive the kids are drawn to it. It's completely kid friendly and with that gives the kids a sense of ownership of the book, which makes them more excited about getting into the kitchen.

Not to mention mom loves the recipes, too!

while there were some really cook recipes easy for a child to make, others were not so simple. This book was a present for my 9 yr. old niece who loves to help her mom bake. Some of the recipes require alot of parental assistance. I also don't believe this recipes are all 30 vminute meals

Well I bought Kids Rock by Rachael Ray and although I thought I had a hit on my hands I was dead wrong. I have made some recipes for my kids, but they responded with the 3 bite test thats it nothing more. I keep racking my brain with them I have no idea what else to do, but this book wasn't a hit with them, and therefore I rated it 2 stars. Still on the search for something MY kids will like other than Nutella and Mortadella.

You are not selling kids on healthy eating if you shill for Dunkin' Donuts at the same time. There are literally thousands of better food role models to have your children follow. Rachel Ray and her slimy, hyper-sanitized ilk are little better formers of youthful opinion than are the folks at McDonald's (and dear god I hope that we all are trying to aspire beyond McDonald's).

If you and your child go ahead and make Mark Bittman's simple Minimalist recipe from the NY Times, you will develop in both yourself and in the child the ability to eat with a varied palate and to try new things that don't come from cardboard boxes or wherever Ray gets her pre-packaged goodies. Bonus: If time is of the essence, Bittman can provide you with 101 meals in 10 minutes each (plus time to boil pasta).
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