Kid-friendly sushi idea

Barbara Beery knows how to throw a party. The author of 12 cookbooks, including her latest, “The Pink Princess Party Cookbook,” (Simon & Schuster, 2011), has more than two decades experience entertaining children with creative theme parties in her hometown of Austin, Texas.


Barbara Beery, author of "The Pink Princess Party Cookbook" (Simon & Schuster, 2011)

 She hosted her first Pink Princess Party when her now-grown daughter was just four years old and its success led to a party-planning business and a culinary store, Kids Cooking Shop. Beery’s ideas are simple and time-tested, “Every recipe has been used in my parties and in my store,” Beery said of the 34 recipes and crafts featured in the book. “I keep the ideas simple so that kids can be a part of the party. That’s a big deal.”

“The Pink Princess Party Cookbook” features six princess-themed parties, including a Spa Princess Party with a a Sparkling Princess Body Lotion and two flip-flop crafts. The menu includes Spa-Te-Dah Fruit Tea, Chocolate-Dipped Marshmallow Wands and this clever sushi recipe made from sandwich bread, carrots and apples. Serve with fruit tea or Snow Princess Punch.




Enchanted Sushi Roll-Ups from "The Pink Princess Party Cookbook" Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books



Enchanted Sushi Roll-Ups

6 slices whole-wheat bread, crusts removed

¼ cup soft-spread cream cheese

3 tablespoons sour cream

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon honey

Salt and pepper

12 (6-inch long) carrot matchsticks

24 (3-inch long) peeled apple matchsticks

3 strawberries, minced

1. Place a sheet of parchment paper on the countertop. With a rolling pin, lightly roll each bread slice on the paper to flatten it.

2. Mix together the cream cheese, sour cream, mustard, honey and salt and pepper to taste. Spread over each bread slice.

3. Lay 2 carrot matchsticks and 2 apple matchsticks across the bottom of each slice of bread, letting the fruit and veggies hang over the sides. Roll up the bread, pressing gently to seal. With a serrated-edge knife, cut each roll into 4 equal pieces.

4. Garnish with the strawberries and serve.

The sushi roll-ups are a clever and tasty lunchbox item. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

From “The Pink Princess Party Cookbook” (Simon and Schuster, published 2011). Spiral bound, 64 pages, list price $15.99. A review copy was provided by the publisher. I did not receive compensation for this post. My opinions are my own. And I happen to think they're excellent.

Very Hungry Caterpillar Cake

Very Hungry Caterpillar Cake by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Thursday was the last day of preschool for my baby girl. And unless I’m a grandmother before my time, it was my last day as a preschool mom for a very long while. These September babies get nearly an extra year before they start kindergarten, a spare year that from the moment I knew my due date, I dreaded a little (or maybe a lot). An additional year of drop-offs at 9 a.m. and pickups at noon, snack schedules, and tution. But now at the end of this extra year, I know I wouldn’t have changed it for the world, even if I could.

My baby girl has grown. Her blond locks are darkening, and the wispy baby curls are gone. Her face is slimming down, the little roll of fat just above her knees is long gone because she doesn’t just walk, she runs and skips. Really why walk when you can run? And why run when you can skip?

In this year, she’s grown four inches in height and leaps and bounds in behavior. In the classroom, she's everyone's friend and if she had to pick a career for her, her teacher would choose "an advocate for world peace.”



The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle/Penguin Group



The final class party for our preschool days was a “Very Hungry Caterpillar” theme based on the childhood classic by Eric Carle. Words cannot describe how much I love and adore Eric Carle’s books. I want to live in a Carle-colored world, with oranges and reds and blues that subtly change to yellows, purples and greens. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, to those unfamiliar with the story, concerns a caterpillar on an eating binge – fruit and vegetables, then cake and pie. All this food creates a tummyache, so he eats a green leaf and feels much better. Then he realizes he’s a very fat caterpillar. He spins a cocoon where he stays for two weeks, then nibbles a hole in the chrysalis and he becomes a beautiful butterfly.

Fat caterpillar by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

As the children recited the story with pictures, I realized the metamorphosis that has taken place, in my child’s heart and mind. She’s no longer a baby, she’s now ready for kindergarten. She can count, she can read, name all her shapes. She knows that Eric Carle is an author and an illustrator. She's a beautiful butterfly.

Beautiful butterfly by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

I expected to be a little teary at the final party, and it was poignant, but I’ve sailed this cruise ship before. When one schoolhouse door closes, two months later, another opens and I have lots of end-of-school year parties ahead of me. And let's not forget Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's, Easter, and Cat in the Hat Day. Wonder what cakes I'll make for those parties?




Very Hungry Caterpillar Cake by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books


Funny thing about having a food blog – you occasionally get asked to bake and decorate cakes. I’m not a Wilton Warrior by any stretch of anyone’s imagination, but I can Google and I know where to buy fondant, so this is the cake we created. And I do mean we - it was a family project. Laura helped with the caterpillar face and Lindsey helped frost the cupcakes.

Very Hungry Caterpillar cake by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Some particulars: The cake was based on this one here, from CocoaCakeCupcakes. I especially liked that this artist used varying shades of green in the cupcake frosting, just like Eric Carle’s artwork. I molded the caterpillar head from Rice Krispie treats shaped in a small springform pan and covered it with red Wilton fondant. I used my go-to cupcake recipe from America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, Easy Yellow Cupcakes, but to be honest, I’m ready for a new recipe, this one tends to be a little dry and coarse in texture. I used the Rich Vanilla Frosting from the same cookbook, and it was a winner, but the cakes do need to be refrigerated if not serving right away. This buttery frosting does not hold up well in the heat.

The endpapers of Eric Carle are always a treat – I took inspiration from the endpapers and sponge painted some freezer paper (butcher paper would work, too) to make a colorful background for the cake.

Caterpillar booties on toothpicks by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

The little caterpillar feet were so cute! I molded fondant onto toothpicks and inserted them in individual cupcakes. The antennae were shaped onto toothpicks and inserted in the Rice Krispies cake. I considered attempting the swirled frosting tops, but 3 considerations kept me from that: I would need more frosting, already hyped-up 5 year olds would be eating this, and it was 10 o’clock at night - I needed my rest for such a big day!

Be safe this Memorial Day weekend and have fun!

Text and images copyright Lucy Mercer, 2011, with the exception of the Very Hungry Caterpillar artwork from Penguin Group. As I wrote this article, I found some excellent Eric Carle resources. Penguin Group's Eric Carle page and Eric Carle's website with videos showing how he creates the caterpillar collages.

Waterfall Birthday Cake

Waterfall birthday cake with hula girls by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Every 10-year old girl deserves a blow-out birthday party at home, so Laura chose a Luau theme for her big day. Of course, we made the cake at home. Over the course of a day, I made three recipes of Yellow Cake and four batches of Buttercream Frosting. The layers are a single sheet cake with five round layers in graduating sizes stacked on top. The hula girls were hard to find at our party supply stores, lucky for me a friend had a few left over from a party. The blue icing is Wilton blue gel and every kid at the party had to see the tubes of leftover gel - it looked like toothpaste.