Kids Cooking and Cookbook Blog

Here is Amy Houts shown with her books at the Cider Fest.

Amy Houts at the Cider Fest

She brought along her Cooking Around the Calendar with Kids and her Cooking Around the Country with Kids books.

The children who stopped by our table were the highlight of the afternoon. One little girl spent 20 minutes at least coloring her picture, although her Mother and we assured her she could take it home to finish it. When she finished at last we thought she would tuck it in her bag to take with her, but she wanted us to have it.  So we showed it off by tapping it on the side of our table. She even signed it, just like she saw us sign her books.

What an enjoyable day we had at the Louisburg Cider Mill Cider Fest on Saturday! The Cider Mill is located in Louisburg, Kansas, 20 minutes south of Kansas City.

Amy Houts, author of Cooking Around the Country with Kids, and I were invited to sign books at their Cider Fest. We brought my two apple cookbooks, other related apple books, and Amy’s books for kids.  We also had coloring pages for the kids, as well as an “apple” stamp for their hands. It was fun interacting with the crowd, telling parents about our books, and just enjoying the beautiful day.

With the bountiful apple harvest this year, it’s a rare person who doesn’t end up with a bushel, a peck, or only a pound of apples. But what to do with them?

In my apple cookbook, From the Apple Orchard – Recipes for Apple Lovers, I have over 150 ways of preparing apples. In this expanded edition I included recent favorites as well as many “oldies but goodies” that were not in the first edition.

Below is the Baked Apple dish I made last night for supper. It is an easy and tasty apple dessert, low on calories and high on fiber and flavor.

Chef Crombie here helping you answer the question of what to do with all the apples you bought this week-end. The apple harvest is plentiful this year and you must fill your larder with all things apple while they are at their best.

Whether you have a bushel, a peck, or only a pound of apples, this apple cookbook by Lee Jackson will put you on the path of heavenly bliss. From the Apple Orchard – Recipes for Apple Lovers has over 150 fabulous apple recipes from which to choose. You will find a vast assortment of pies, cakes, and desserts but also so much more. There are apple salads and relishes and compotes, coolers, fizzies and breads; jams, jellies and butters.

I drove 75 miles to deliver apple cookbooks yesterday. Nebraska City, Nebraska is having an Applejack Festival this weekend, September 18-19, and Tree Adventure at Arbor Day Farm needed more books. I wanted to make sure they had them in time.

Arbor Day Farm is owned and operated by The National Arbor Day Foundation which is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to promoting tree planting and conservation throughout the United States. There are lots of signs at Arbor Day Farm to “Plant Trees”.

Today Chef Crombie wants you to read about his favorite apple cookbook by Lee Jackson. Read on…

Apples, Apples Everywhere—Favorite Recipes From America‘s Orchards profiles a cross section of America’s orchards and their recipes. It’s like taking a beautiful cross country tour and stopping at different orchards to sample their wonderful apple recipes.

Some 70 orchards, cider mills, and apple houses have shared their recipes, traditions, histories, and love of the land. Many recipes are old family favorites, while others feature crockpot and microwave recipes and promoting a healthier cooking style.

Now with school started and cooler weather upon us, thoughts turn to re-setting goals again. One of our earlier goals, “eating healthy” may have slipped a little with cook outs, reunions, picnics and other activities. Fall also makes us think of different foods to prepare.

Let September be a time to link back to those good resolutions. Are we making sure the family is eating well balanced meals? Are there enough fruits and vegetables in the meals? Planning is the key. When the kids were young I liked to have the week’s menu on the refrigerator so whoever came home first could see what was supposed to be for supper and could get it started.

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve always loved apple orchards – from their spring showy flowering beauty to their ripe, rich, crunchy fruit in the fall. Growing up in Wisconsin, a prime apple producing state, our family had what we called “the orchard”. It was a collection of many different varieties and different configurations of trees. I don’t think we knew all their names. They were described as “good for pies”, “good for apple sauce“, “good to eat”.

Now living in Missouri, we are blessed to be surrounded by many orchards, as well as those in neighboring states of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois.