Book Discussion: Top 100 Baby Purees & Top 100 Finger Foods by Annabel Karmel

Silicon Valley Moms Blog March Book Discussion: Top 100 Baby Purees and Top 100 Finger Foods by Annabel Karmel

When Noah was a baby I made a lot of his first foods. I was obsessive about making sure that Noah got a good variety of taste, textures and nutrients. It was summer and I had a plethora of local fresh vegetables at my disposal.  I steamed and boiled and pureed and mashed until I had a freezer full of little cubes of chicken-carrot-potato puree and pear-apple-blueberry sauce, spinach with butter and broccoli-potato with cheese sauce.  

I often worried about giving him something that wasn't cut up small enough and there was even more worry about the potential allergy foods like fish, eggs, nuts and seafood. These foods are actually very healthy and safe and I just needed some ideas for ho to introduce them. 

Making your own food is great but come on, lets be honest, purees look gross and it doesn't take long before you run out of combinations of fruits and chicken-potato-some-other-vegetable "casserole".  And what about adding flavor?  Garlic? Cinnamon?  Is it safe?  Why shouldn't it be?

I'm super psyched to start making food for Mallory in a few months now that I've read Annabel Karmel's Top 100 Baby Purees. The recipes are simple, the steps are simple and easy to follow.  Each recipe is designated for a certain month-based age and its freezer-friendliness is listed as well. 

Some recipes offer tips and variations too which are very helpful for a novice cook to learn how to freely and confidently modify recipes.  I love that the recipes push me beyond cheddar cheese and my go-to banana - apple - strawberry arsenal. The recipe for Cauliflower and Broccoli in Cheese Sauce (p.72) mixes Cheddar and Gruyere or Edam cheese with a dash of nutmeg (one of my personal favs for cheese sauce perfection.  How awesome is that?    

It is so important that we teach  our children good nutrition and healthy food attitudes.  Karmel's books are ideal for helping parents to introduce a wide variety of healthy foods to their babies.  I already know good health and nutrition but when it came to feeding my baby I wasn't confident to go beyond the simple flavors of food.  Why not give babies some complex flavors? 

Feeding a toddler is frustrating and often futile. It's hard to get kids to try new foods sometimes but when you make food look interesting and desirable toddlers are more likely to eat.  I love the idea of Baked Parsnip and Sweet Potato Chips.  Satay Chicken Skewers are excellent for kids, but its also a great as a finger food for adult parties and neighborhood cookouts. I am always desperate to break out of the mold of chicken nuggets, fish sticks, apple sauce, cheese sticks and yogurt.  Top 100 Finger Foods will keep me busy for weeks and I won't be reaching for the nuggets any time soon! 

Comments

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Feeding your baby the right ingredients will make him healthy wealthy and wise.

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Thanks for sharing review Lucy.
Annabel Karmel's recipes are hit with my baby. She loves finger foods and purees. I also enjoy Annabel's recipes, they are so easy to cook.

Here is Lentil Recipe from Top 100 Baby Puree Book which my baby likes a lot:

http://christina.blogscribble.com/recipes/lovely-lentils.html

[lucy]

my twins have always loved the weird and wonderful combinations of Annabel's purees,but what i loved most was my cousin from the UK sent me some Annabel Karmel food cube trays, which were a life saver as i pop the purees in the freezer and took them out on demand, without having to spend another half hour in the kitchen with screaming hungry babies on my arms, this did require meal planning but with annabel Karmel's new 'healthy baby meal planner' it was a breeze.