Celebrating with Mother Goose: Nursery Rhymes and the Recipes They Inspire - Lacey J. Mauritz

What is there to love about Celebrating with Mother Goose: Snacks, Sweets & Sips? In short, everything!

Families can use this beautiful book to explore the world of Mother Goose in the traditional read-the-rhyme-aloud and look-at-the-illustrations kind of way and in a new way, cooking foods inspired by the rhymes. You’ll pull out this book for everyday snacks and pass it around during weekends and holidays for special drinks and desserts. These rhymes and recipes will be interwoven with your family traditions and become some of your children’s favorite memories.

Other children’s cookbooks tend to focus on kids cooking for themselves or on parents preparing separate “kid food” without their children’s input or involvement. Celebrating with Mother Goose is not that kind of cookbook. This book (like its companion, Cooking with Mother Goose) encourages parents to cook with their children, thus including them in the process of making delicious food. Studies show that kids eat a more varied and balanced diet when they participate in meal preparation. Lacey calls out meaningful tasks a child can do in each recipe in the “Kids Can” sections, so parents can know exactly how their kids can safely help. And, likewise, she highlights areas where parents need to supervise in the “Watch Out For” sections.

Children as young as 2 years old will learn to explore ingredients like avocados, eggs, raspberries and spices. This book is filled with recipes that are kid-friendly but also interesting, so mom, dad and friends also want to participate in the creation. The food is delicious, appealing and each recipe starts with whole food ingredients. There are three challenge levels so that both a beginner and a chef-super-mom or dad and their kids can make these foods with confidence and share the experience. There are many more easy recipes, labeled “Piece of Cake”, than any other recipe category.

Lacey includes advice along with strategies to make cooking fun so parents feel good about (and understand a bit of the science behind) the food choices they make for themselves and their children. You’ll also find tips relevant to families with young children like how to reduce picky eating, how to handle food likes and dislikes and the benefits of recipe ingredients to health—all in a beautiful presentation with whimsical nursery rhyme characters the whole family will love.

In the end, this book is a treasure that will be used by moms, dads, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents and then passed down to the next generations to come. I know you will enjoy using the recipes often to create special Snacks, Sweets & Sips as well as your own lasting memories with your family in the kitchen!