NEW YORK -

As a vampire slayer, Sarah Michelle Gellar learned the value of an old-fashioned wooden stake. As a mom of two children, she’s still pretty handy with a good stick - only this time it’s in the kitchen.

Gellar skewers all kinds of things in her new cookbook, “Stirring Up Fun with Food ,” making appetizing-looking chicken fingers, fondues, fruit slices, sliders, cake pops and even a Caesar salad.

The former star of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” also embraces muffin tins, cookie cutters, jars and some nifty knife work - all part of her effort to get kids to eat their veggies and try new flavors.

“We eat with our eyes first and a lot of decisions are made just by looking at something,” she said. “A child, an adult, anyone, looks at asparagus and says, ‘I don’t want to eat that. I’m going to go and eat a cupcake.’ So how do you make things more visibly appealing?”

Gellar and co-author Gia Russo think they have the answer with something called food crafting, which elevates a dish’s appeal by using clever presentation. Think of boring old meat loaf as a cute muffin.

In their book, mashed potatoes are put in shot glasses, bat-shaped mozzarella is baked for Halloween and chili is spooned into mason jars. Those weird asparagus are baked in panko crumbs.

One clever way Gellar gets fruit or vegetables into her kids’ stomach is by using cookie cutters to cut letters out of cucumbers or watermelon, assembling words and then sending her kids to school with edible notes (“I Love You” or “Great Job!”).

“Let me tell you how fast those vegetables go,” Gellar said.

She also substitutes roasted, Parmesan-flavored cauliflower for popcorn for snacking in front of the TV. “You’re getting that same sensation, that same satisfaction, right, but you’re getting a nutritional value at the same time.”

Gellar, who with her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr., have two children, Charlotte, 7, and Rocky, 4, is passionate about food and nutrition, urging kids to learn about different foods early and help in the kitchen.

Cooking, she said, teaches gross motor skills, math, science and vocabulary. “More than that: It’s about time spent together. People will say, ‘My child is too young.’ You’re never too young. My daughter will say to my son, ‘OK, we need three cups. Which one is the three, Rocky?’ He just points to the three.”

One thing she won’t do is help reboot her old Buffy role, saying fans of the Joss Whedon-created show will be upset whether she backs it or not. She called it a “no-win situation.”

“I think that the show lives on in graphic novels, in fan fiction. And it lives on because people are still discovering it and still watching it, which means they’re happy with it. If it ain’t broke, I’m not going to be the one to offer to fix it.” - AP