Cookbook's kid-friendly recipes make food fun

Book celebrates fruits, veggies and other healthy choices with kid-friendly recipes

During the school year, I'll be faced with the same tough choice every day — what am I going to pack for my son Lorenzo's lunch? Fortunately, help for my lunchtime quandary arrived by mail in the form of a fantastic new cookbook called "Real Food for Healthy Kids," by Tracey Seaman, head chef of the test kitchens for the Everyday With Rachael Ray magazine, and Tanya Wenman Steel, editor-in-chief of the award-winning food and recipe Web site Epicurious.com. Although both women have stellar culinary backgrounds, the daily challenges of preparing healthy meals for their own children were the catalyst for this wonderful cookbook.

As I read the cookbook, I made a note of the great lunch recipes I want to try. The Egg Salad Double-Decker Sandwich; the vegetable-packed California-Style Tuna Salad Rolls with a dash of wasabi paste; and the Roast Beef Siberian Sandwich with coleslaw recipes are hearty enough to satisfy a growing teenage boy. The Extreme Granola recipe is a healthy snack that will survive the crowded, crumb-filled nooks and crannies of Lorenzo's backpack. All the recipes in the cookbook include a nutritional analysis and have been kid-tested by children of all ages from across the United States.

"Real Food for Healthy Kids" is designed in an easy-to-read, user-friendly format complete with a selection of appetizing menus for every day in the week. The authors suggest that parents go through the chapters on the weekends, select and prepare the recipes, and then refrigerate or freeze the meals. Their recipe for Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad would be an example of a dish that can be assembled on the weekend, refrigerated, and eaten early in the week. Hearty recipes such as the Mexican-Style Pan-Roasted Pork with Pineapple could be frozen for serving later in the week.

This cookbook goes firmly against the current anti-vegetable trend of other children's cookbooks. Many of those cookbooks contain recipes that portray vegetables as tasteless, evil and bad. The authors of these types of cookbooks encourage parents to "disguise" vegetables by pureeing them into an unrecognizable slush and suggest baking the purees in so-called healthy brownies. This isn't the best way to raise health-conscious adults. When children aren't taught about the beauty of fresh vegetables, they miss out on an important connection to the Earth and the flavors that make food so phenomenal. "Real Food" celebrates fruits and vegetables through creative, kid-friendly recipes.

One of the many unique features of the cookbook is the "First Foods" section designed for children 6 months to 36 months old. The recipes will also appeal to elementary school-age children because of the fun Cook Your ABCs format starting with a recipe titled A is for Applesauce and ending with Z is for Zucchini. The book also provides excellent information for creating a kid-friendly kitchen and tips for training children from tots to teens in the culinary arts.

While a child's picky palate is the focus of each recipe, adults will enjoy the diverse menus as well. There's a wealth of helpful information in each chapter, including preparing meals for children with health issues. Author Seaman's 13-year-old son is autistic, and her daughter is on a gluten-free diet. Seaman provides simple recipes and meal-time solutions for common health problems and food sensitivities based on her firsthand experience. A gluten-free chocolate cake, Parmesan zucchini pancakes and a Good Day Pear Crisp are just a few of the more than 200 easy and wholesome recipes.

Like a modern, family-oriented version of "The Joy of Cooking," the cookbook even contains quirky line drawings. This recipe resource for parents and children was created by two culinary professionals and working mothers who firmly believe in the power of good food.

Angela Shelf Medearis is an award-winning children's author, a culinary historian, and the author of five cookbooks. Her new cookbook, 'The New African-American Kitchen,' will be published in September. She's known as The Kitchen Diva and is the executive producer and the host of 'The Kitchen Diva!,' a cooking show that airs nationwide. Her Web site is www.divapro.com.

California-Style Tuna Salad Rolls

1 can (6 oz.) light tuna fish, preferably packed in water, drained and flaked

3 Tbsp. mayonnaise

1/4 tsp. wasabi paste or freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Two 10-inch flour tortillas

2 medium leaves Boston lettuce

1 Kirby cucumber, peeled and coarsely shredded lengthwise (without seeds)

1 medium carrot, peeled and coarsely shredded

1/2 of a ripe avocado: peeled, pitted, and sliced 1/2-inch thick

Combine the tuna, 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, and wasabi paste in a small bowl and mix until blended.

Lay the tortillas on a work surface. Spread 1/2 tablespoon mayonnaise on each tortilla and arrange the lettuce on top of both; arrange cucumber, carrot and avocado lengthwise in rows near one edge. Spoon the tuna in a line next to the vegetables (away from the edge). Roll each tortilla up snugly into a cylinder. Cut crosswise in half.

'Real Food For Healthy Kids,' by Tracey Seaman and Tanya Wenman Steel, recipe courtesy of Epicurious.com

Extreme Granola

3/4 cups pecans

1/2 cup natural almonds

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/4 cup sesame seeds (optional)

1 stick (8 Tbsp.) unsalted butter

1/3 cup pure maple syrup, cane syrup or honey, at room temperature

1/4 tsp. fine salt

3/4 cup chopped dates

1/2 cup dried blueberries or raisins

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a large shallow baking sheet with foil. Spread the pecans and almonds on the sheet and roast for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly toasted. Transfer the nuts to a board, let cool and chop the nuts. Set aside.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300. Pour the oats and sesame seeds, if using, in a mound on the same baking sheet. Melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave; stir in the maple syrup and salt and drizzle on top of the oats. Stir well with a rubber spatula and then spread out the oats in an even layer.

Bake the oats for 30 minutes, stirring once with the spatula halfway through, until the oats are lightly colored. Let cool; the mixture will crisp as it cools. Add the dates, blueberries and reserved nuts, and toss.

NOTE: Store the granola in covered glass jars at room temperature for up to one month. Double the fun! Make two batches of granola by doubling the ingredients and using two baking sheets — one in the upper third and one in the lower third of the oven. Package in cellophane bags tied with ribbon for a tasty gift.

'Real Food For Healthy Kids,' by Tracey Seaman and Tanya Wenman Steel, recipe courtesy of Epicurious.com