My husband and I LOVE food.  Even more specifically, we love varied and exotic foods from all over the world.  Italian, Greek, Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, French, Chinese – our love for food is as strong as our love of travel, so we would hate it if our child turned out to be a fussy eater.

One of the things I was unsure about is how to introduce baby to things like spices as well as which ones I should start with.  When we were on our Babymoon, I found this Cooking For Baby cookbook at William Sonoma.  We’ve only just started using it, but I love it.  It starts with simple purees for babies aged six months, but by seven months things start to get interesting with thicker foods like green beans and mint and asparagus “Risotto”, moving on to things like minced pork and pears, baby’s curry, and rice noodle primavera.  Finally, it includes real family-friendly meals like corn and salmon chowder, cranberry orange scones, aromatic couscous lemon-mint chicken, and hearty beef stew.

There are more than 80 very easy recipes in the book which also has beautiful photos and tons of information on everything from starting solids to different child-friendly herbs and spices.  I love how tasty and healthy each recipe is as well as how varied the tastes are, but most of all I love how easy it is to make Little Miss healthy foods that expand her palate and make food exciting.

Cooking for Baby is available in soft cover from Amazon or in hardcover from William Sonoma, and it makes a great gift!

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Annabel Karmel seriously saved my life when it came time for my son to begin eating solid foods.  Switching a baby to solids from formula or breast feeding is a scary thing, especially with your first child – I had absolutely no idea how to start!  As a result, I procrastinated about baby food until I saw Annabel Karmel’s Top 100 Baby Purees book in a store and bought it on impulse (I was attracted to the layout and how easy to prepare the recipes seemed).  Her simple, quick, and easy to read and prepare puree recipes took all the guess work out off how to get Oliver started on solids, and made me feel good about preparing all of his baby food myself.

Once Oliver was ready to move on from purees to toddler food, I purchased the Canadian edition of Karmel’s First Meals.  What’s great about this cookbook is that it begins with purees for babies and progresses to meals for toddlers and young children that the whole family will love.  The book is broken down into categories of age to help you determine which recipes would be appropriate for your child.  It also includes tips on nutrition and how to deal with allergies.  All of the recipes are made with quality ingredients, they are easy to follow, and they contain a wide range of options and variations (including a section for the picky eater).  One of my family’s favourite recipes has become the Tomato & Tuna Pasta Sauce recipe – and Oliver isn’t the only one who eats it up!

Annabel Karmel is the mother of three and a respected, best selling author of books about baby and children’s food and nutrition.  Her career was inspired by the tragic death of her firstborn, after which writing cookbooks became a form of therapy for her.  Karmel’s books can be purchased through Chapters Indigo or Amazon.com.  Bon Appetit!

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I was pretty excited when S was ready to start eating real food.  I was determined to make my own baby food.  It seemed like it would be simple enough, and it actually was.  (Although I have to admit I gave up on making apple sauce, too much effort when I could buy organic, unsweetened stuff in the store.)  The prep and the cooking was all easy-peasy, but I found the most frustrating part was puréeing everything.  Admittedly, I am probably the messiest cook you have met, but the kitchen was always a disaster after I cooked, puréed, separated, and froze everything.  There would be yellow, orange, green, and red mush on the countertops, the sink, most of my utensils, and on every inch of my food processor.  There had to be a better way!  Then I remembered a little device given to me a couple years previously that was stored away at the back of my kitchen cupboard: a Black and Decker One Touch Chopper.

Instead of puréeing the entire batch of food, I froze chunks of cooked food.  Then I defrosted and puréed enough to last a couple days.  Of course I used my mini food processor, rather than my full-sized one.  It holds 1.5 cups, has one pulse button, and is small enough to live on my counter-top while in high demand.  Even as S progressed to pieces of food rather than purées, the One Touch Chopper was great for making nice, small pieces of fruit and vegetables for her to eat.  Bon Appetite!

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