Saturday, April 4, 2015

Book Review: The Berenstain Bears' Country Cookbook: Cub-Friendly Cooking with an Adult by Mike Berenstain

The Berenstain Bears' Country Cookbook: Cub-Friendly Cooking with an Adult
By Mike Berenstain
Publisher: Zonderkidz
Published: Feb.10, 2015
ASIN: 9780310747208

Amazon Synopsis:

It’s The Berenstain Bears' Country Cookbook! Bear lovers everywhere are sure to find favorite recipes for fun food in this new kid-friendly, cookbook--ranging from Bear favorites that use honey and berries to pie, a delicious stew, and even some Berenstain favorites like Jan Berenstain’s famous green lasagna.
Featuring breakfast, lunch, main meal, and dessert recipes as well as kid-friendly cooking tips such as food and measurement conversions, this is sure to become a go-to cookbook for delicious and fun recipes kids can cook with an adult.

Book Links

My Thoughts:

This delightful Berenstain Bears cookbook features 40 easy-to-make recipes spanning breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and snacks.

Each recipe takes up a two-page spread. One page contains a photo of the finished product. The other side contains a list of required ingredients under the header “What you need:” and contained with a border. Also on that page under “Directions” are very simple, numbered instructions to complete the recipe. There are also drawings of the Berenstain Bears on each double-page spread.

In addition to the recipes, a page with interesting facts about honey and a page with measurement conversions (ex. 8 Tbls = 1/2 Cup) are included. All measurements in the book are in standard, not metric measurements.

Most recipes can be used with children as young as 2 or 3 by simply adjusting the amount of adult assistance. Likewise, the recipe book can be used by older children who can begin to do some of the things that the book assumes the adult would do such as preparation ie. slicing vegetables.

The recipes are interesting and healthy. Some of them have suggestions to add honey to make a sweeter version. For example, one of the sandwich recipes suggests adding some honey to the mustard instead of using plain mustard.

The one critique that I have about the recipes is that not all of them are made from scratch. Some of them use pre-made food such as mixes, doughs and canned foods. This is noted more in the Breakfast section than in any other.

The finished products are very appealing to the eye and the recipes are tasty. I believe you cannot properly review a cookbook without tasting some of the recipes. No matter how good the book looks, if the recipes don’t taste good too, the book isn't worth anything.

The Berenstain Bears Country Cookbook is a winner on all counts. The photos are excellent. The presentation of the recipes and their directions are simple and easy to follow. The pages are colourful and fun to look at. And most of all, the recipes taste good. I gave this childrens' cookbook 5 stars out of 5.


Thank you to the publishers for providing this book through Booklook Bloggers in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive review was not required. All thoughts are my own.

About the Author:

Mike Berenstain grew up watching his parents, Stan and Jan, working together to write and draw these lovable bears. Eventually he started drawing and writing about them too. Mike is married to Andrea and they have three children. They live in Pennsylvania, in an area that looks a lot like Bear Country.



Author Links
Website  *  Goodreads  *  Facebook

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