Sarah Michelle Gellar still has awesome skills with a skewer

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

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

The former star of “Buffy theVampire 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 intomason jars. Thoseweird 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, assemblingwords 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, andRocky, 4, is passionate about food and nutrition, urging kids to learn about different foods early and help in the kitchen.

Cooking, she said, teaches grossmotor 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 daughterwill say to my son, ‘OK, we need three cups. Which one is the three, Rocky?’ He just points to the three.”