Healthy Baby Meal Planner

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Summary: My baby food Bible!
Review: I bought numerous baby cookbooks before coming across this one and by far this one is the best!! You don't have to be a professional chef to whip out some delicious and healthy dishes for your baby. Ingredients are basic and recipes are easy to follow. I feel so satisfied knowing that my baby is eating healthy, well- balanced meals. It's never too early to instill healthy eating habits. She loves the lentils and liver (yuk!) recipes. I found the meal planners so useful - although I didn't follow it completely - it gives you an idea of how to plan meals. My book is so thrashed from all the use it gets.

Rating:
Summary: My baby food Bible!
Review: I bought numerous baby cookbooks before coming across this one and by far this one is the best!! You don't have to be a professional chef to whip out some delicious and healthy dishes for your baby. Ingredients are basic and recipes are easy to follow. I feel so satisfied knowing that my baby is eating healthy, well- balanced meals. It's never too early to instill healthy eating habits. She loves the lentils and liver (yuk!) recipes. I found the meal planners so useful - although I didn't follow it completely - it gives you an idea of how to plan meals. My book is so thrashed from all the use it gets.

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Summary: More complicated than it needs to be
Review: I bought this book and Ruth Yaron's Super Baby Food book and I much prefer Yaron's book. This book is packed with recipes but weak in the area of educating mothers about the specific nutritional needs for babies. It's a prettier book than Yaron's, but it doesn't have the depth of information of Yaron's. Also, with so many recipes to try, I found that as a working mom, it was much harder to get the cooking done with this book than it is under Yaron's plan. I also agree with other reviewers about some contradictions within the book about when to start certain food and the four day wait rule for trying new foods. In short, if you only want to buy one baby food book, this isn't the one.

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Summary: Great recipes, easy to prepare, interesting ingredients
Review: I enjoyed reading through the book first and then choosing the recipes to make for my son. I started giving him solids around six months, and used this book to avoid having to buy commercial baby food. She has many suggestions that I found useful, and many of the recipes in the book really are tasty. I used carrots sparingly, having done some other research that showed that they could lead to anemia. I think, that like any other baby book, you need to be a little cautious and make sure that the author knows what she is talking about. For the few recipes/suggestions that contained any ingredients that I didn't feel comfortable giving him, I simply didn't cook them. Moreover, this book was written by an English author, and perhaps (I really have no idea) they don't have the same nitrite problems with respect to spinach and carrots (and perhaps other veggies?) in England. She calls for interesting vegetables in many of her recipes and I had fun getting to try them too! My son's favorite dish is called "Oscar's Delight" and he absolutely loves it. In fact, after making many of the vegetable dishes, my son liked all but one of them. Rutabegas really weren't one of my favorites either, so I can't blame him.

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Summary: If you love to cook for others, you'll love this!
Review: I happened to pick this book up at a bookstore and immediately purchased it for myself. I loved the recipes inside and immediately purchased another for my friend, who just had a baby. I love to cook for people and, in turn, love to cook for my baby as well. Karmel's recipes are very easy and my baby loves the variety. It gave me wonderful new ideas when pureed fruits and vegetables got old!

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Summary: A must for new mothers
Review: I have bought all of Annabel Karmel's books, and my choice of present to new mothers is a copy of The Healthy Baby Meal Planner. You must be brave and try things that don't appeal to you. My son loved recipes that included ingredients like leeks, onions and garlic. Who would have thought to give these to a 1 year old. The end result is that he has broad tastes and would much prefer soup or rice to sweets. I credit Annabel with giving him a great nutritional start in life. Try all the recipes - some are a bit fussy - but you can modify them to suit what you have. I have found meals that I cook over and over again. I often use this book for family meals and even for dinner parties.

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Summary: Don't Pass This BY
Review: I have really enjoyed this book. I wasn't even planning on "making" my own baby food. At the time I bought it, I had a toddler, and was just looking for ideas for sandwhiches and creative snacks and things. My friend had the book and it looked interesting so I bought it. Now I have a new baby and just for fun I tried a few recipes. Now I am hooked. My baby has liked every meal I have prepared, even recipes with liver! Also, the cookbook has delicious meals that have now become family favorites. Toward the end of the book, there are recipes under the"Toddler" section, but they are really adult recipes and they are absolutely delicious. (sometimes you must double recipes...& check the serving size). One thing to note, is that because she is from Europe,the standards on what foods to introduce when is different. Use your doctor's advice and your common sense, when choosing recipes. Sometimes she recommends serving your baby a food earlier than we do here in the states. But after taking that into consideration, enjoy! And delight your baby and family. She is a real chef and takes really takes the mystery out of making baby food. ALSO, if you enjoy making them, get a hand blender, I have one made by Braun, and it makes puree making a snap! and so much easier to clean than trasferring your pot of whatever to a blender of food processer.

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Summary: Great recipes, with reservations for young babies
Review: I just started feeding my 5 month old daughter "solids" and wanted to do it in a healthy way. So I ordered this book and Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. This definitely is a more attractive package, with very interesting looking recipes I will try when my baby gets older. However, based on the research I have done on the subject, it doesn't sit right with me that some of her recipes for four- to six-month-olds include seasonings such as mint, peppercorns, cinnamon, and sugar. Also, the title of that chapter is "Four to Six Months and Weaning". As a nursing mom who plans to continue at least until my daughter is a year old, this sounds to me as if the author is pushing to get babies off of milk and on to solids as soon as possible. As stated before, the recipes for older kids (and adults) look very interesting--they should--the author is a Cordon Bleu graduate! But I will be getting the majority of my homemade baby food info from the other book mentioned in this review.

Rating:
Summary: Great recipes, with reservations for young babies
Review: I just started feeding my 5 month old daughter "solids" and wanted to do it in a healthy way. So I ordered this book and Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. This definitely is a more attractive package, with very interesting looking recipes I will try when my baby gets older. However, based on the research I have done on the subject, it doesn't sit right with me that some of her recipes for four- to six-month-olds include seasonings such as mint, peppercorns, cinnamon, and sugar. Also, the title of that chapter is "Four to Six Months and Weaning". As a nursing mom who plans to continue at least until my daughter is a year old, this sounds to me as if the author is pushing to get babies off of milk and on to solids as soon as possible. As stated before, the recipes for older kids (and adults) look very interesting--they should--the author is a Cordon Bleu graduate! But I will be getting the majority of my homemade baby food info from the other book mentioned in this review.

Rating:
Summary: Great interesting receipes
Review: I love this cookbook. I agree with some others about when to introduce certain foods is not well researched. This is a great addition to Ruth Yaron's Super Baby Food Book though. Ruth Yaron does not have any meat recipes. I wanted to feed my children meat, so this gave some great interesting recipes. Learn when to feed from Super Baby Food, and use this book for great recipes.