For kids living on their own for the very first time, or kids on their own just for dinner, the kitchen looms at worst like a shark-infested lagoon, at best like a science lab they never took in school. There's food in there, but then what? It'll have to be cooked.or at least peeled. Probably both."Clueless in the Kitchen": a Cookbook for Teens and Other Beginners, takes absolutely for granted that the kitchen is uncharted territory for most kids. In this funny and slightly off-the-wall book, Evelyn Raab, Today's Parent magazine's "Cooking with Kids" columnist (and the mother of two teens) leads culinary neophytes through the entire gamut of kitchen experience -- from cleaning a stove to outfitting a first kitchen (cheaply), from boiling an egg to planning an entire meal. Two hundred scrumptious and foolproof recipes are organized by course and main ingredient, from "Breakfast: A Cruel Joke" to "Snacks and Munchies", with one chapter devoted to the "Vehemently Vegetarian". Each recipe is coded to fit the young cook's requirements for vegetarian or cheap eats, couch potato, mom or family food, food to impress or munchies.

Menu planners tailor the perfect meal to every guest, whether that guest is a shallow but fun boy/girlfriend or Aunt Gladys. Zany illustrations enlighten and entertain throughout.Incredibly comprehensive, never condescending and very funny, "Clueless in the Kitchen" offers a firm but gentle guide to that alien territory, and is sure to replace (most of the time) macaroni and cheese as every kid's mealtime solution.