Lookie here, it’s another blog book tour, except this one is all INTERACTIVE and stuff. I was sent a copy of Georgeanne Brennan and Frankie Frankeny’s Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook to check out, and I fully intended to read it cover to cover, try a multitude of the recipes, and bust into this review thing ready to assure you that I’d gone to the ends of the… errrr… pages… to really assess this thing right.
I forgot that life likes to laugh at me when I intend to do something that organized. Whoops. But! I still feel qualified to review the book, because let’s be honest: If you’re the sort of person who’s intrigued by a book of recipes based upon Dr. Seuss stories, what are the chances of YOU being any less frazzled than ME? Slim to none, says I.
Just consider this your Real Mom review. I even put my sweatpants on. That’s dedication!
So. The premise is simple—a family-friendly cookbook based on the tales and characters of Dr. Seuss. There really are green eggs and green ham to be had, if that’s what you want. There are Seussian illustrations interspersed with actual food photos, and the recipes range from the obvious (Silly Sammy Slick’s Sodas are… juice and club soda) to the more complex (Remarkable Foon’s Sizzling Hot Pebbles is a traditional red beans and rice recipe, ham hocks and all).
But here’s what I did. I handed the book over to my 8-year-old (she who had just had her teeth pulled) and told her to pick a recipe for dinner. Her eyes lit right up. “Pick something SOFT,” I reminded her. She nodded and bent to her task. Five minutes later she came to me with the book cracked to the recipe for Hoop-Soup-Snoop Group Potato Soup. Perfect! I magnanimously offered to whip up a batch of Moose Juice after dinner, as well, if she would assist me in shopping for and preparing the soup. The deal was accepted, and she made our shopping list and we headed out to the store.
The soup recipe was perfection. For one thing, it required very little prep (I peeled and boiled potatoes, chopped some onion, and threw some bacon in the oven). For another, it ended up being flavorful enough that I really enjoyed it, but was bland enough in the kids’ eyes that they didn’t complain. And most importantly, the soup calls for toppings of both cheese and bacon. Mmmmm… bacon. Isn’t everything better with cheese and bacon, really?
Here’s the cookbook while I was mid-prep. The bacon is crumbled and ready, and I opted to use a cheddar/jack blend because, um, I’m a rebel that way. And that’s what I had in my fridge.
Here’s the soup on the stove. Oh, getting to that point was complicated. Let me see if I can remember it all. Let’s see. Boil potatoes and onions. Drain. Mash. Add milk. Stir. Season. Yeah, it was a labor of love, I tell you.
And with one child running around flapping his arms and the other sitting at the table doing everything but her homework, and me coming down with a cold, this recipe was EXACTLY the right level of difficulty for me, tonight.
Fully garnished soup, ready to eat. If you don’t think that looks delicious, you are dead to me. It’s CHEESE! With BACON! And also some soup, I think.
Even my son—who is the Mikey of his generation, and generally dislikes soup on general principle—declared with surprise, “This is GOOD, Mama!” All three of us really enjoyed it. The recipe makes four servings and as I scraped the last serving from the pot into a storage container, thinking about how good it will taste for lunch tomorrow, my daughter piped up with “There’s just enough left over for you to send me a thermos of it in my lunch tomorrow! Yay!”
[I considered all the ways in which I could “forget” to honor her request, but, well, she did just have some big holes made in her jaw. I guess she wins. Hmph.]
I can see this soup becoming one of our staples. Heck, other than lifting the pot to drain the potatoes? The kids could more or less make this themselves (with proper supervision, of course).
After the kids were showered and into their pajamas, we whipped up some Moose Juice to have as a bedtime snack. I’ll confess to having chosen this drink because it calls for orange juice and we can all use a little extra vitamin C right now. It also uses orange sherbet, vanilla extract, and fresh banana. Oh, and whipped cream. (General rule of thumb: If it’s a food that cannot be enhanced with bacon, it needs whipped cream.) The book’s recipe claims to make one serving, but it looked like an awfully large glass, to me, so I doubled the recipe for the three of us. Time from plugging in the blender to smooth orange beverage enjoyment was roughly 60 seconds.
I should’ve put something else into this photo for scale, because those Tupperware goblets are GIGANTIC. Half-full was more than enough. Besides, it left plenty of room for whipped cream. Just sayin’.
My son has already pointed out that because his sister got to pick, tonight, he gets to choose the next “Dr. Seuss meal.” He’ll get no argument from me.
This is, at its core, a fun book. It’s perfect for cooking for and with your kids. It’s not a be-all and end-all of recipes, and it’s not intended to be. For what it is—a smallish cookbook of kid-friendly meals with familiar tie-ins—it’s lovely. I could see giving this as a gift to anyone looking to get their kids into the kitchen with them. Or to any Dr. Seuss enthusiast. Or anyone who likes bacon.
The Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook gets three thumbs up from us. I literally had to pry it out of the children’s hands when it was time for them to go to bed. Needless to say, that’s never happened with The Joy of Cooking. Go figure.
I sort of collect cookbooks (occassionally I use them, too) and I’m particularly fond of fun ones, so this sounds like a must buy for me! A favorite at our house is the Wookie Cookies Star Wars cook book. From beverages like Yoda Soda and Hoth Chocolate to meals like “Han”burgers and Twin Sun Toast, I can definitely recommend it. The meals are pretty much just the same old meals most people have on a regular basis, but renamed with Star Wars names and come complete with pictures including Star Wars figures arranged in scenes from the movies. The kids and I sometimes make some of these fun meals and then sit by the TV to watch one of the Star Wars movies while we eat dinner. I’ll bet a night of Dr. Seuss dinner while watching Mike Myers in The Cat In the Hat would be another fun evening!
Fold my laundry – have you got Roald Dahl’s Revolting recipes? My boy loves that one! There’s another combined dinner and TV evening. Mir you crack me up!!
Karen T: Another wonderful suggestion! On Amazon I saw that there’s a part two of that one, in case you were interested. Thanks!
Guess I’ll have to start making my Christmas list this evening!
That looks like so much fun! My kids and I are always cooking together, so I don’t need help getting them in the kitchen, but I love cookbooks, so this will have to go on my wishlist. Yes, I do know how to write a run on sentence. Sorry.
That soup looks so good! Can you share the recipe? And how do I get in on this cookbook blog tour gig?
Oh, Mir. I love potato soup, and haven’t found a good recipe. Can you share?
I think this is where I encourage you all to buy the book. ;) Seriously, it couldn’t be simpler. It really is just potatoes, a bit of onion, whole milk, salt and pepper. As Chickadee said: “This is pretty much like runny mashed potatoes!”
There are foods that can’t be enhanced with bacon? Who knew!
Something to know about Mir – she believes bacon is a condiment. We’ve had this debate many, many times, and she always thinks she’s won. But, really, if it’s a condiment you don’t eat it by itself. Ever sat down with a mug of mayo? How about a crock of ketchup?
No, of course not. Bacon is a food, perhaps one of the most diverse. But it is not JUST a condiment.
Of course, I’m also related to someone who’s great invention is portable pretzel paste … so what do I know about food?
For the record, I’d like to state that it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if Otto or someone in his family HAD sat down with a mug of mayo. Just sayin’.
I will have to check that book out – it looks cute! I have a similar recipe, except mine is called potato corn chowder, and yes, you could think of adding corn as adding more starch, but I prefer to think of it as adding a vegetable or fiber!
I don’t know if you will find this to be true with this recipe Mir, but I did find with mine that it didn’t do as well the next day. Not that it was bad, but it was – well, completely different. Which is too bad, as I am a big fan of “Cook once, eat twice”!
Mar: I packed the leftovers for Chickadee’s lunch, this morning, and it didn’t all fit in her thermos, so I had a few bites of it for breakfast. I actually thought it was better today, because it was slightly thicker. Yum.
OK, I’m now drooling over the potato and cheese and bacon combo – will add that to the kids xmas list today! Thanks for the yummy pictures of work in progress :)
oooh, looks yummy and easy – two of my top requirements! I’ve got to check this book out. thanks!
Thank you for the review. I had looked at this on Amazon and was debating whether or not to get this. I’m ordering it today!
And Otto, pretzel paste?????
Well, as everybody knows, nothing goes wrong when a moose dreams of moose juice. Cool book!
The perfection of bacon is that it can be both a food AND a condiment. Whole, it is a food you eat; crumbled, it is a condiment.
Thanks, Mir. That cookbook an excellent idea for a birthday gift for my niece! She adores being in the kitchen and is actually pretty good about following a recipe.
Love the Moose Juice too!
I’ve got to get a copy of that. my daughter is a few months away from being certified as a preschool teacher and they have a kitchen at the school where she works. they are always looking for interesting ( and gross) recipes to make with the kids!
The moose juice sounds deelish! And I like your perspectives on bacon and whipped cream.
I was reading this to my 4 year old daughter, Sarah, when she piped up with, “mama, does that spell bacon?”.
So Mir, not only are you pretty and smart, you’re teaching my daughter to read.
I didn’t know she could read bacon. We’ll make the soup tonight to celebrate.
I just ordered 4 copies from Amazon, with super saving shipping, total = $46.12, but then there was a promotional discount applied (not sure from where) and the total came down to $34.59. Not sure how I managed that, but if you are thinking about this book, now may be a good time to purchase!
I have been reading you, & laughing along.
Enjoying your posts, & plenty to go back to read, on slow days!!
I think I will try to get that cookbook for my daughter. My Grandson is 4 & he is always wanting to help. I say, encourage them all you can! Especially the boys!
Bacon is like shoes. Not something to do without if you don’t have to, not something to have alone. And the the more the better :)
Recently we got a flyer about a new restuarant called “Aphrodisiac” because as the flyer said, all the food contained an aphrodisiac. DH asked me what foods were aphrodisiacs. And I said, well in this house -bacon. Looks like the soup will be a hit with young and old.
We just got this in the mail last week after my grandparents bought it for Elle for her birthday. We haven’t had a chance to make any of the recipes yet, but thanks for the review!