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Favorite Cookbooks: Whitney Moss & Heather Flett
May 1, 2008 | by Heidi | Filed under Tastemaker Booklists
Whitney Moss and Heather Flett are two crafty, creative ladies - I'm lucky to call them both friends. Remember the cute baby shower (waaaay back) where guests painted onsies and made do-it-yourself waffles? That was at Whitney's house. Some of you might already know them because of their Rookie Moms website or new book (The Rookie Mom's Handbook) - today they are going to share their favorite kid/family-friendly cookbooks with us.
WHITNEY & HEATHER'S COOKING STYLES:
Whitney keeps it simple in the kitchen preparing healthy fresh foods and saving the cookbooks for entertaining. She and her husband, much like their three year old son, don't mind having the same things over and over again, so when a new favorite evolves, it's sure to show up on their table every week. Latest discovery: Veggie Tikka Masala from Cooking with All Things Trader Joes
Heather on the other hand obsesses over being June Cleaver in the kitchen- every night expecting the family to sit together at 6pm for dinner no matter what. Except that she's ditched her Ohio roots culinarily-speaking in favor of the variety of crazy California produce available in Berzerkely. If she makes meat and potatoes, it's likely organic free range chicken and organic sweet potato fries.
FAVORITE COOKBOOKS (the ones Heather & Whitney turn to most):
- With the little guys at our sides: Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers & Up. This was a gift from Heather's mom and Holden and Julian (3 year olds) love it! Shows pictures of ingredients and the steps of the recipes.
- Favorite every-day cookbook: The Best 30-minute Recipe: A Best Recipe Classic (Best Recipe Series). Fast, fresh, really good. From the folks at America's Test Kitchen, this cookbook appeals to Heather's geekier nature. Although, c'mon with a preschooler at your leg and a baby climbing up the stool, nothing is a 30-minute meal.
- Favorite every-day cookbook: The Six O'Clock Scramble: Quick, Healthy, and Delicious Dinner Recipes for Busy Families. The website even has printable grocery lists to make the trip to Berkeley Bowl a little smoother. All meals are seasonal and easy.
- Encyclopedia of baby food: Super Baby Food. The gold standard for getting started making your own baby food as far as we're concerned. Heidi note: Ths is one of the books I bought for Whitney when she was pregnant with Julian - a great resource.
- Beautiful baby food: First Meals (New Expanded Edition). Creative with gorgeous presentation, a book to turn to when you need a spark of inspiration.
To keep up with the Heather and Whitney, check in with them at the Rookie Moms website.
Related links:
- Rookie Moms Website
- Rookie Moms Blog
- Rookie Moms on Amazon.com
- Past cookbook list: Fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi shares his favorite cookbooks.
- Past cookbook list: Grace Bonney of design*sponge shares her favorite cookbooks.
- Past cookbook list: Cookbook author Eric Gower shares his favorite cookbooks.
A big THANK YOU to Heather & Whitney for sharing their favorites with us.
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Your Comments
Nick said:Wow, I want to thank you for pointing me to that cookbook, "Cooking with all things Trader Joe's". I will be ordering that now....
The Pretend Soup and Recipes For Preschoolers sounds like a gift for my friend. Her little 4 year old boy likes to help mom in the kitchen. Hopefully he won't turn completely into Gordon Ramsey (personality, that is:)!
Thank you for all of the great resources. I will definitely be checking out several of these!
Thanks for this! My son is 14 mos. old. Right now, he sits up in his highchair and pretends to be my sous-chef! It will be great when he can make his own recipes using these books-great suggestions. I made my own baby food using the titles for infants-they are great. Adorable kids! I'll check out their book-we always need a fun activity.
Aw, I'm so glad you featured these fine ladies! I met Whitney when she was working at Leapfrog many ages ago, and took a liking to her right away.
She is smart, funny, interesting and clearly has excellent taste in cookery!
HS: Agreed on all points Fatemah! Unfortunately, I don't see enough of her.
SK said:One of my favorite cookbooks is still the Family Circle Kid's Microwave Cookbook that I received as a birthday present when I was old enough to read. (Published in the UK, but never in the US as my stepmom found out when she recently tried to order herself a copy) Although I rarely, if ever, use a microwave to prepare the recipes, they are still family favorites. The ginger bars are my personal favorite, but the zucchini-tomato bake, scalloped potatoes, tomato chutney (complete with canning instructions), and cauliflower with cheesy white sauce pages are all badly stained from years of use. The book is very colorful with great illustrations, but what I really love is that it assumes children are perfectly capable of preparing complete meals for themselves and/or their families.
I agree that Supper baby Food is the absolute gold standard. I still have my copy to loan out and my youngest is almost four. All my babies ate real food, not even a spoonful of prepared jar stuff.
I need to check out that Trader Joe's cookbook. I loved reading about Heather and Whitney's different cooking styles during the week. I think I'll get the Super Baby Food book for a friend who just had her first child. Thanks!
AS said:i know this probably sounds very strange - but i read your posts almost everyday and find myself almost healed - it is as if reading about the simple pleasures of preparing a wholesome meal for one's self or loved ones shows you that there is so much good in the world so much beauty in everyday life.
i dont know if people will understand what i am trying to say very inarticulately....but i guess what i am saying is
thank you heidi for making my day happier, brighter and showing me that one can find so much joy in simple acts. i love this website and i love the way you write.
-AS
HS: Thanks for leaving such a nice, thoughtful note!
Thanks for bringing them to my attention!
We find meals to be much more fun when they have fun names, like Pirate soup, or Spiderman pasta, or Peter Pan salad. Doesn't really matter if the name has anything to do with the ingredients or not!
I checked the website rookiemoms.com, and I can tell I was never more excited about having a kid. Especially that picture, with all the red sauce smothered on him. Haha!
Awesome work, both of you.
I enjoy your blog so much. So many delicious recipes, so little time. Thanks!
What a beautiful photo of two friends. I love reading about others' favorite books. A friend recently left a very funny message on our answering machine that said in effect (between the rap noises) that "Heather loves to cook; she reads books." It's lovely when those things can go together. Thank you for sharing about these cookbooks and mom's books. I'll be passing these titles onto my mommy friends.
What a beautiful photo of two friends. I love reading about others' favorite books. A friend recently left a very funny message on our answering machine that said in effect (between the rap noises) that "Heather loves to cook; she reads books." It's lovely when those things can go together. Thank you for sharing about these cookbooks and mom's books. I'll be passing these titles onto my mommy friends.
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