For her last birthday, my six-year-old granddaughter, Juliet, received the Green Princess Cookbook. As we looked through each page together, she kept repeating, “Ooh, let’s make this one.” I love to cook with my family. I’ve cooked with my grandma and mom. Now I’m cooking with my daughter and two granddaughters.

I enjoy looking at recipes and have been collecting them for four decades. The color photographs in Green Princess Cookbook look yummy. There’s a photograph for each of the thirty recipes. They’re divided into categories of drinks and ice cream, dips and chips, bigger bites, breads and spreads, and sweets and treats.

These recipes are healthy and fun. Subtitled Sweets and Treats to Save the Planet, the book is part of Barbara Beery’s series of cookbooks for girls that “encourage them to participate and celebrate the joys of cooking.”  I like recipes that are easy, and these are definitely easy, as well as kid-friendly.

Author Barbara Beery has a degree in elementary education, three children, and founded Batter Up Kids Cooking School eighteen years ago. Her mission is to bring children, families, and communities together to make a positive health-conscious difference in our next generation of cooks.

Beery believes that children are the key ingredient in changing the way Americans eat. I completely agree and we moms and grandmas have a great opportunity to teach them. In the short introduction, called “It’s Easy Being Green,” Beery explains what’s organic and why buying local is good for the environment. She also explains farmers markets, community-supported agriculture, and community gardens. She suggests that you make all the recipes in her book with organic and local ingredients whenever possible.

Juliet understands organic and local.  She and her parents and sister have a bountiful vegetable garden. They’ve harvested pounds of sweet cherry tomatoes, several dozen of the sweetest cantaloupes I’ve ever tasted, and gigantic cucumbers.

We decided to make the Cinnamon-Maple Crisps recipe. It required only three ingredients and could be made in ten minutes. We had so much fun. We didn’t make our crisps heart-shaped like the photo, but they still tasted delicious. Juliet did all the steps by herself. After we cooked them, we did a taste comparison. She preferred the honey flavor over maple syrup.

We can’t wait to cook together again. Juliet wants to make “Baby Butterfly Cupcakes” and I want to make “Cornbread in a Recycled Can.”

Cinnamon-Maple Crisps Recipe

24 (3 1/2 — inch wonton wrappers

2 teaspoons maple syrup or honey

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper or a clean brown paper grocery bag cut to fit pans. Set aside. In a small bowl, combine maple syrup or honey and cinnamon.

Carefully remove wonton wrappers from package, one at a time, and place on a cutting board. Using assorted 2-inch cookie cutters, cut wonton wrappers into various shapes. Place cutouts ½ inch apart on prepared sheet pans. Lightly brush each wrapper with cinnamon-honey mixture.

Place sheet pans in oven and bake for 4 to 6 minutes. Watch the crackers carefully as they brown fast! Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes before removing crackers from pan and serving.

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This summer Granny Camps are being held all across America. Our grandkids are on summer break and their parents deserve a break as well. I’ve heard of grandmas who take their grandchildren for the whole summer. Most of us are able to provide a week or two. And that’s the best part of being a grandparent—you can give them all the love you have because you know at the end of “camp” they’ll go home to their parents!

I just hosted “Granny Camp” for my six-year old granddaughter and it was pure joy. At one point during the visit, Juliet said: “I wish I could live with you, Baba.” And why not! She was the center of attention; I said “yes” to most of her requests; and we got along beautifully because I knew it was only for a finite period of time. We had three playdates with other grandmas and their six-year old granddaughters; my house looked like an obstacle course after she rearranged every “knick-knack” in my house; and she got to go to bed an hour later than at home.

For breakfast one morning I pretended to be a waitress and told her about our “Jack and Jill Sandwich,” like her favorite restaurant serves. After I’d prepared the scrambled eggs and cheese on an English muffin, I sliced up two strawberries and fanned them out on her plate for garnishes. She was mighty impressed and devoured every morsel!

I loved the time we spent together. Juliet has an insatiable curiosity, a fabulous imagination, incredible energy and engages in constant conversation that usually involves questions. At the end of each day I fell into my bed exhilarated and exhausted after being “on” all day with her. During the time Juliet was here I didn’t get to read the paper, write any emails, or do my morning meditation and yoga. But I didn’t mind, because in the back of my mind I knew I’d be able to get back to my routine when she left.

These visits give me a lot more empathy for my daughter, who must be “on” 24/7. She also has the tougher job of setting limits, enforcing rules and routines, and saying “no,” which is something I rarely do. But I know this is not reality and if I were the parent, I would have to set much stricter limits. And this is the other great joy of grandparenting: I don’t have to be the disciplinarian. I also credit my daughter and son-in-law with doing an outstanding job of parenting, which makes my role as grandma so much easier.

So this Camp Director is happy to report that all went smoothly during our visit and my granddaughter is welcome back any time. Just give me an end date, please!

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Several years ago I discovered a wonderful resource for grandparents—GRAND Magazine. Last year GRAND switched from a printed format to an online magazine with live links. What I like about GRAND is that the  founder and publisher, Christine Crosby, is also a grandmother and truly understands the role. She says that becoming a grandparent transformed her life beyond measure.

GRAND’s mission is to provide grandparents of all ages and in all stages of life both information and inspiration.  They’ve created a magazine that celebrates the joys and tackles the challenges of one of life’s sweetest experiences—having grandchildren.

I’m pleased to be able to offer readers of this blog a free subscription to GRAND Magazine. To get your free subscription, click here, on the sidebar graphic, or on the graphic below.

The magazine includes a wealth of features, including:

• Long-distance grandparenting
• Kinship care and grandparents’ rights
• Children’s health and development
• Inter-generational travel and reunions
• Family money
• Fun and games to do with your grandchildren
• Food and family gatherings
• Fashion
• Inspirations
• Grandchildren’s photographs

Read the grand central section of GRAND’s August issue for a story about the GaGa Sisterhood!

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If you were in the vicinity of our GaGa Sisterhood meeting last Sunday, you would have heard lots of laughter, and possibly seen steam rising from the house, as we all enjoyed a major “venting” session! Our topic was “When Being a Grandma Isn’t So Grand.” Our facilitator opened the discussion by saying: “Sometimes being a grandma isn’t all milk and cookies!”

Twenty grandmas each took a turn sharing their biggest challenges. Most of our challenges fell in the category of relationships with our adult children, our daughter– or son-in-law, the “other” grandparent, or step-grandparents. Another big challenge was dividing our time and resources fairly among our grandchildren and their parents.

One grandma simply said: “I have more challenges than we have time for today!” Later she elaborated and said she’s only allowed to buy organic clothes for her grandchildren and her daughter-in-law does not appreciate all of her efforts to stay in touch long-distance. More than one grandma mentioned the need to “walk on eggshells” when saying anything for fear it will be misinterpreted as judgmental.

Competition with the “other” grandma came up frequently. One grandma said she’s worked out an agreement: the “other” grandma, who’s very creative, does all the fun arts and crafts projects while she buys all the grandchildren’s clothes. There was even a pair of grandmas in the group who alternate babysitting for their granddaughter once a week. We didn’t come up with very many solutions, but we all felt better knowing that we were not alone.

We did all agree on one thing: the best part of being a grandma is having our grandchildren to ourselves!

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