Cooking

Clueless in the Kitchen: A Cookbook for Teens

•        Targeted Audience: Middle School & High School (Ages 13 and Up)
•        Genre: Cook Book
•        Author: Evelyn Raab
•        Illustrator: George A. Walker
•        Publisher: Firefly Books
•        Publication Date: August 11, 2011 – Third Printing 2014
•        Binding: Paperback
•        Dimensions: 7″ X 10″
•        Printing: Black & White
•        Length: 216 Pages
•        Retail: $14.95
•        ISBN: 978-1554078240

Hilarious Intro to Cooking
I’m an avid cook and baker and I credit my skills to reading Bon Appetit Magazine while soaking in the bathtub a few nights a week when I first got married many years ago. If only I had a copy of Clueless in the Kitchen when I was a teen, I’d have had a great foundation for cooking at a much earlier age. Author Evelyn Raab uses wit and humor to hook teens and make them want to learn cooking basics. Who knew a cookbook could be so funny and entertaining?

“How you ended up with this book is not important. Maybe your parents gave it to you. Maybe you bought it yourself. Maybe you found it in a ditch. It doesn’t matter. The thing is you have it, and now you have to use it. But how?”


Everything You Need to Get Started
Clueless in the Kitchen includes three intro chapters to teach the important basics. 1) Starting from Scratch. Here you’ll find tips on cooking and the key to recipe types – Cheap Eats, Mom Food, Vegetarian, Cooking to Impress, Dinner for Family. 2) The Kitchen-A Guide to Alien Territory. This chapter provides you with a list of essential cooking tools, directions on storing food and basic kitchen sanitation. 3) Shopping. From supermarket strategies to selecting fresh produce, shopping for meat and choosing the right herbs and spices, you’ll get the lowdown on how to stock your pantry and fridge.

Real Food Without the Fuss
From soup and salad to dessert, every type of delicious recipe is presented, some with cheeky titles, all with witty intros, ingredients, of course, and very easy to understand and thorough directions on how to prepare them. How do Whole Wheat Blueberry Yogurt Pancakes sound? Or Thermonuclear Buffalo Wings? Maple Glazed Salmon? The author makes sure there are a lot of healthy food choices here, while at the same time shows young chefs how to make them so they taste delicious. There’s Gazpacho, Unfried Chicken, and even an entire chapter of Vegetarian food. There are no photos of food in the book, but the directions are so thorough, they really aren’t needed. There are sketches in the book only at the beginning of each chapter.

Why You Should Buy This Impressive Book
By the time your teen is done reading and experimenting with the tips, tricks and recipes in Clueless in the Kitchen he or she will no longer be clueless in the kitchen and will be well on his or her way to becoming a well-rounded home cook. The recipes offer a wide range of tastes and represent every day food we all love to eat. They’ll even learn how to make a great cup of coffee!! Cooking is one of the most important skills we can teach our children, as they will learn more about proper nutrition while preparing their own dishes. The skill of being able to cook is the best way to ensure a healthier lifestyle. It also makes kids more aware of where our foods come from, so they’ll appreciate our farmers and markets. And what about the fact that your own child will be able to cook delicious meals for you from start to finish? Add the humorous, witty writing to all these other benefits of Clueless in the Kitchen and you’ve got a great book here.  The only downside is that you may have clean up duty after your child does all that wonderful cooking.

About the Author
Evelyn Raab‘s popular “Cooking With Kids” column has appeared in Today’s Parent magazine. In addition to Clueless in the Kitchen she has written The Clueless Vegetarian: A Cookbook for the Aspiring Vegetarian and The Clueless Baker: Learning to Bake from Scratch. She attributes her culinary expertise to her sons.

About the Illustrator
George A. Walker is an award-winning wood engraver, book artist and illustrator who teaches book arts and printmaking at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, Ontario. He regularly exhibits his wood engravings and limited-edition books internationally. He is the author of The Woodcut Artist’s Handbook: Techniques and Tools for Relief Printmaking, Second Edition Updated and Expanded, which is also published by Firefly Books.