The Help Yourself Cookbook for Kids: 60 Easy Plant-Based Recipes Kids Can Make to Stay Healthy and Save the Earth

This book is beautiful, there's no question of that. The colorful pages and text are lively and fun without being condescending toward children who are just starting out in the kitchen. The great factoids will open up discussions about nutrition and responsible farming. The recipes look really exciting on the page, which might help ease some reluctant kids into the idea of eating more veggies. For kids who are not already eating healthy snacks, it might be a great introduction to new ideas about eating.

But here's one heads up: There are very few actual MEAL recipes in here.

For example, the "smaller meals" section includes:

Seasoned asparagus spears
Cinnamon toast (really, does anyone need a recipe for this?)
Yogurt with fruit (this is a recipe too?)
Apple and peanut butter (and this one?)
Toast with avocado on it (again---is this really a recipe or just an idea?)
Basil leaves with dabs of vegan cream cheese (okay, this idea was new to me)
granola
trail mix
etc

These don't seem like meals to me--just snacks or sides.

Also, it's worth noting that some people may find some ingredients to be unusual and hard-to-find.

That said, the book is really really beautiful. Clearly a labor of love. I do think my daughter will enjoy helping with these. And there are truly some ideas that we haven't tried yet but certainly will be adding to our roster (mushroom jerky, simple cucumber sandwiches, pink cous cous, pretend tuna salad, and more)! Some really fun, simple concepts for lunchboxes and picnics.

I was really excited about a children’s vegetarian cookbook for my daughter, I haven’t found another one that is as cute as this one. But wow. We aren’t this crunchy. She flipped through it excitedly only to be deflated bc nothing looks good. She landed on a pink recipe and said “this looks ok!” ... it was beet sauce. Yea. No. No easy to prepare, healthful, simple vegan/vegetarian foods. Lots of kale chips/beet sauce/quinoa type options but none of it looks appetizing. :( pretty disappointed!

The book is really beautiful. The images are colorful, cute, and very appealing! I bought this book for my daughter so she could pick out recipes to do together.

I think the main point of this cookbook is allowing children to be part of the food making process. They see where their food comes from and feel proud to be able to cook their own food with the help of a parent. It helps them build healthy eating habits and begin to learn kitchen/cooking skills.

The recipes themselves are the types of things kids like eating. Many vegan recipes are full of strong spices and tend not to be child friendly, but these are perfect for the picky eater. I'm fairly certain my kid will like most of these. I'm really glad I got this and look forward to cooking together!

This book is fantastic for plant based families, really cute and the recipes are way to follow however if you are a food allergy family like ours (Tree nuts and peanuts) you will be highly bummed because many of the recipes call for nut products.

Such a great book! My 9 year old daughter was so excited to go the grocery store and get ingredients to make some of these recipes. She's already made us (with some help from dad) several dishes including the "cheezy" broccoli which was great! Highly recommend. great recipes that taste great!

This book is very attractive and has some great recipes. The problem is that they are not for kids to make on their own. A better title for the book would have been "Teaching pre-teens to cook." I bought this book thinking the kids (maybe 6 - 10 years in age) could make these recipes on their own. The recipes involve food processors, boiling water, cutting with a knife, etc. Absolutely no way a kid could "help themselves" to these recipes. In fact one of the recipes involves making a beet dip. Can you imagine letting your kid loose to make beet dip? Anyway, again, it's a beautiful book, very attractive and well done. Just an extremely misleading title/description. These recipes are not even easy for ME let alone a kid!

My 8 year old son uses this cookbook several times a week - sometimes several times per day! He is currently making me an un-stick in the mud chocolate smoothie. We did several of the recipes together when we first received the book to help refine his measurement skills. Now there are many recipes that he can make with very minimal assistance.

This book gave me great ideas on what to make for my tofdlwr. I love it! Ver y colorful and creative

Love, love, love this book! My 7 year old daughter has been on board with my vegan cooking and lifestyle for over 2 years now and this is the perfect introduction into the kitchen for her. Not only is the content great but the illustrations and layout are beautiful and fun. We have tried five of the recipes together, which were loved by vegans and non-vegans alike.

Love this cookbook! My 6 yr old had fun looking through it with me deciding together on a recipe to try. Our first attempt we made power towers with apples and peanut butter. I had been trying to get him to try apples with peanut butter for years (he loves each item separately but was never interested in trying together) to no avail. Finally, he wanted to try it because the book is fun and the recipe made it look cool. He loved it!!
I probably won't use a lot of the recipes since they include ingredients we don't usually have, but that is okay. I have learned over the years that plant-based eating has lots of nit picky subtleties and I just ignore the ingredients we don't use and move on. Very fun way to involve the kids in cooking and in getting them interested in trying new healthy things. Love, Love!