BOOKWORM BEAT: American Katie Wilton?s earliest memories are of being a toddler sitting on a little red stool, watching entranced as her grandmother?s friend cooked a delicious meal. She knew she was a big girl when she was allowed to help make the meal for the first time.

Today, Ms Wilton is the author of a new children?s cookbook called ?You?re the Cook - A Guide to Mixing It Up In The Kitchen?. Many of the recipes in the book, are inspired by her grandmother?s cooking friend.

?After our grandmother passed away we kept in touch with her friend, Mary Devine. She taught me how to make some of the things she made when I was a child such as angel food cake, and chocolate eclairs.?

?You?re the Cook? is dedicated to Mrs. Devine. The book is arranged in a colourful, easy-to-read format. The book includes the basics of cooking and nutrition, information about staple foods, and lots of fun food facts. Recipes include pizza wontons, cheesy chicken casserole and strawberry coulis, among other things. The recipes are also picked by children themselves.

?We polled 83 tweens and asked them what their favourite foods were in certain categories,? said Ms Wilton. ?One of the categories were nuts. Surprisingly, snow peas and snap peas received more votes than nuts.?

Ms Wilton said that because of nut allergy fears this generation of kids has not been exposed to nuts as much as other generations. They are generally kept out of schools, and many products warn parents not to give nuts to children under the age of six.

?Eggs, cheese, pasta and berries were the top choices,? said Ms Wilton. ?One of the goals I have for the recipes is that they teach basic culinary techniques. Tweens can experiment and change the recipes to include foods they really like. This age group loves pizza so I tried to think of how to present pizza in a different way by offering a recipe for pizza wontons.?

Recipes like the wontons can also be easily modified to the child?s tastes. Some of Ms Wilton?s students suggested putting cheddar cheese in the wontons and another student suggested peanut butter & jelly wontons.

?Once you?ve learned the process you can fill it with just about anything,? she said. ?With the peanut butter & jelly I said ?give it a try and let me know how it turns out?.?

Ms Wilton is a graduate of the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She proudly calls herself a ?professional cook?.

?I have a professional chef diploma but don?t consider myself a chef,? she said. ?A chef runs a kitchen. I don?t do that. I teach people how to cook. Over the years I have probably taught cooking to over 400 young people.?

She teaches through her own company called ?Cooking with Katie?. The company?s mission is to teach children ages nine to 14 how to cook.

?In a lot of my cooking classes the kids come back,? she said. ?There has been a lot of repeats. I have been doing it for over ten years. I am now promoting the cookbook in bookstores and doing hands on cooking classes there. I can usually accommodate 15 kids. They have so much fun that when their parents pick them up they say, ?I want to cook dinner?, which is exactly my goal.

?I believe that by teaching this generation how to cook we can instil confidence,? said Ms Wilton. ?Essentially, cooking is a life skill. When you cook you usually cook for others. When you make something for your family and they say ?this is good? it makes you feel good about yourself.

?Middle school students aren?t yet old enough to drive, and a lot of their parents are both working. It is great if they can make a dinner in the kitchen. Later they and their parents can sit around the table and say, ?wow thanks for cooking the meal?.?

Child development experts now say that one of the best things parents can do to help their children is to sit down together and eat a meal on a nightly basis. Unfortunately, many families are so busy they eat on the go, or in front of the television or separately which makes family bonding more of a challenge.

?Some parents are concerned about their nine year old making dinner. My suggestion is that parents cook with their child. A lot of times when parents ask their kids ?how was school today? they get a shrug and ?fine? as an answer. Cooking together is a great way for parents to get kids to open up. Their guard goes down and all the sudden they?re really telling you what is going on in their lives.?

She said that although there are still sometimes gender stereotypes about cooking, things are getting better.

?Really, my classes are just about half and half boys and girls. There really are a lot of boys out there who are interested. There is still that stereotype though. It is not something they go bragging to their male friends, but in the real world the majority of chefs out there are men. I am hoping we can overcome the stereotype that cooking is a female thing. The boys are great. One thing I like about this age group is they are willing to take risks. A lot of times they don?t know the basic skills of cooking, but they pick up on them right from the beginning. Sometimes the adults have learned the wrongs techniques and it is challenging to change their mindset. But this age group is fun to work with.?

Ms Wilton came from a family of five children, so her help with meal preparation as a teenager was important to her parents. To get away from the demands of a large family, Ms Wilton?s parents frequently visited Bermuda and belong to the Coral Beach & Tennis Club.

?You?re The Cook? is available in Bermuda at the Bermuda Bookstore. For more information about Ms Wilton and her company check out her website at www.cookingwithkatie.com .