Review: Veggie Friends and Fruits Too!

Summary: Veggie Friends and fruits too is a cookbook that shows children how to create healthy snacks using vegetables and fruits. The purpose of this book is to get children interested in nutritious eating as they assemble fresh and natural ingredients into the fun animal and insect shapes that are illustrated on these pages. This cookbook can also be used as an activity book, as it demonstrates how to design and make creatures out of eatable materials. It can help any parent, teacher, or instructional aide entice children to eat wholesome alternatives to junk food, while at the same time encouraging children's creativity. -- Booksurge

VEGGIE FRIENDS AND FRUITS TOO! by Anne Legge is just the cutest little "cookbook." I guess it's technically a cookbook because with a little help from a knife, toothpicks, a peeler, and a melon ball scooper, you can create adorable animals out of vegetables and fruits. I think it's really a wonderful book to get your kids to eat healthier.

Anne Legge did a terrific job creating these little animals from common fruits and vegetables. There are lots of "recipes" for little creatures including a butterfly, whale, and a ladybug. The directions are extremely detailed and easy to understand; and the illustrated pictures make every animal look "do-able" (even to a non-cook, non-artist like me.) In fact kids, even as young as toddlers, can assemble these easy-to-make creatures once the parent does all the prep work.

So many of these patterns would be great for a party. I could easily see creating many of these animals for a nature-themed or even a sea-themed birthday party! Kids would just love eating these creatures, and parents would love that the snacks are super-healthy!

My son actually enjoyed looking through the book at the pictures of the animals and guessing what fruits and vegetables were used. We are definitely going to try out some of the animals made from vegetables since he's not a very good veggie eater right now. I'm hoping if he can help assemble some of the creatures, he might also be tempted to eat them!