While working recently at my part-time job as an event host at R.J. Julia Booksellers, I met Shannon Pappert, a cookbook author from Guilford, who recently published Food in a Flash: Animal-Free Kid Food.

The book is printed on flashcards, bound with a ring binder, and is designed to let your little kids point to their favorite foods. On the flip side of the pictures of the food, organized from A to Z, are a variety of recipes that you can cook up in a flash.

They are all animal free and plant forward, which is all a nice way to say that they are vegan, which is a word that sometimes sets people back or makes them think of healthy food that doesn’t taste all that great.

If the samples that Shannon brought to the book event are representative, and it seems as though they are, these are easy-to-make, healthy recipes that also taste great. She brought in samples of three different recipes from the book, and she made a pumpkin smoothie right there, with the help of two young girls, who were pretty much able to make it all themselves.

The moms who attended peppered Shannon with questions about how to make sure their kids got the proper nutrients, and how to make things that would make the kids feel full, and Shannon had great ideas and tips for all of them.

Sure, this is a cookbook designed to be used by young kids, but I love it, too! There are recipes for baked figs, tater tots made from yams, and multiple variations on “nice” cream, or ice cream made with a base of frozen bananas. My favorite pages are “D” for dessert, of course, and that is where you can find the “nice” cream recipes for basic vanilla, nutty cocoa, cherry berry, tropical, and ginger peach nice cream.

I can’t wait to try all of those, but the first thing I am going to make for my friends is the pumpkin smoothie. At the book event, I went back for seconds, and then thirds. It was delicious and satisfying.

If you want to find out more about the new cookbook or find out how to order it, visit foodinaflash.net.

Pumpkin Smoothie

From Food in a Flash

By Shannon Pappert

Blend: 1 1/2 cups milk, 1/2 cup pumpkin puree, 1/2 cup unsweetend yogurt, 1 ripe banana, 2 dates, 2 teaspoons molasses, 1 teaspoon cinnaon, and 1/4 cup ice. Serve chilled.

Shannon used plant milk and Forager cashew yogurt. She used a Vitamix blender, but this probably could be done in a traditional blender. And, she says, this keeps well for a couple of days in the fridge.