Cooking for Baby: Wholesome, Homemade, Delicious Foods for 6 to 18 Months

by Lisa Barnes

Parents today know that one of the best ways to give a baby a great start in life is with wholesome, homemade foods.

While ready-made baby food is a convenience that any new parent can appreciate, feeding everyday fresh foods is the best way to teach a child healthy eating habits and an appreciation for good food from the cradle onward.

The 80 recipes in Cooking for Baby make preparing delicious meals for babies and toddlers a breeze, even for busy parents. The recipes are organized by age, showing how to introduce cereal grains and simple vegetable and fruit purees to your infant at 6 months, how to move on to chunkier foods by 8 or 9 months, and how to graduate to real meals for young toddlers of 12 to 18 months to enjoy along with the entire family. When you see how easy it is, with a few smart tips on preparation and storage, you'll never go back to the jars.

With Cooking for Baby, your youngster will enjoy a wide variety of fresh and interesting foods for a very happy and healthy beginning.

Genres: Cookbooks, Parenting, Food, Cooking, Nonfiction, Reference, Health

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best baby food cookbook that exists. And probably because once you get out of the purée section, you find yourself saying If I just double the recipe and "thinly slice" instead of "finely dice" the lamb then this will be frickin' awesome. Seriously. A baby food cookbook that is unafraid to cite coriander, garlic, and/or polenta in the recipes... Well, it's starting to sound an awful lot like a normal adult cookbook. Maybe even a gourmet cookbook.

That being said, I believe that the irony of the cover art is totally unintentional. What's that you say? Ironic? Consider this: once you get (again) past the purée section (which is really quite small), what you have is practically the ANTI-baby food cookbook. And yet what gets featured on the front cover? A green purée of... peas? Whatever it is, the image is the paradigmatic baby food image: green, puréed but lumpy, and totally unappetizing—the exact opposite of what you want to feed yourself (or, for that matter, feed your baby).

[GateGypsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Until I laid my hands on this, I hadn't read any baby cookbooks at all. Wow, was this full of a lot of useful information! I sincerely learned several something-news in each chapter! The preparation instructions actually informed my choices regarding what items got put on my Christmas wishlist! There's a "baby broth" recipe (on page 44) that I may make my regular homemade stock (since most store-bought stocks are unsafe for me.) I think I'll copy out the spices and herbs info pages (42/43), because I'm still not 100% certain what herbs and spices go with what. There are tonnes of recipes in this book that, although they're billed as baby food, I think I'll try making them for my whole family, like the cheese sauce (pg 95), whipped cauliflower (pg 36), rice noodle primavera (88), blackberry ricotta parfait (83), avacado cheese spread & fruity smoothie (66), buckwheat crepes (96), pumpkin alphabet soup (101), veggie fritters (107), hidden veggie sauce (112), meatballs w/polenta (114 -- I've been looking for a good meatball recipe!), fish fingers (124), pumpkin pancakes (132), & carrot cupcakes (134). So, I'm either doing a lot of copying out, or I'll buy myself a copy of this helpful little book!

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

So good ideas and some that I will never make...I like that the author included what spices and herbs you can use in baby food.

[Joanna Weissen · Rating 5 out of 5]

My baby just started eating solid foods and this cookbook is like my bible. I refer to it all the time, and not just for his food either. The section on herbs and spices is useful for cooking for the rest of the family. There are other sections in addition to the recipes that are quite helpful on how to store food, how much babies eat, different food textures, finger foods and snacks, tips on getting toddlers to eat, and what nutrients are in foods.

The recipes are simple and easy to follow. Most of the beginning ones are common sense purees, but as a first time parent trying to make all food from scratch, it is nice to have some guidance. The later toddler recipes look like dishes I would want to share with my kid. Many of the recipes are not things I would have necessarily thought to make for a baby or toddler. There is also an index that is useful if you have a specific ingredient you would like to look up.

So far I've only made the recipes from the first chapter, but I can't wait to make everything in the whole cookbook.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent baby cookbook. It is one of the few baby cookbooks that actually provide instructions on how to thaw frozen baby food (page 15) as well as how to freeze it. There is a handy chart (page 11) listing the most easily digestible foods for baby's first tastes, the foods most likely to cause gas or colic in babies, and the foods to which many babies will have allergic reactions.

The recipes are divided into four sections: 1) First Tastes: 6 months, 2) New Flavors: 7 to 8 months, 3) New Textures: 9 to 11 months, and 4) Real Meals 12 to 18 months.

An index is included at the back.

[Betsey Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Update: I made a recipe tonight from this book, "Little Veggie Fritters," which was delicious and not just for children.

I love cookbooks with pictures. This has been a great resource for me for making food for my infant. The range of recipes is great, and they are truly delicious (I taste everything she eats first!). I thought some things were a bit adventurous for the age they're recommended for, but maybe we need to get a little wilder on the food around here.

There are many recipes in here that go well beyond a baby. Stuff the adults and older children will eat, too!

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

We didn't feed either of our children purees (we took a baby-led weaning approach), so the first half of this book wasn't very helpful. The recipes in the second half have been great! I love the variety in the recipes. This book goes beyond typical American "kid food" like burgers and fries, peanut butter and jelly, and cheerios and gives little ones new flavors and textures to try early on. Yay for real food!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I especially liked this for the toddler-friendly family meal recipes at the end. I could see us doing some of them, though not anything involving lamb as a personal preference. This book has a lot of information in it about introducing solids, which would certainly be helpful for first time moms. I also like that they use some vegetables and fruits that aren't mainstream with baby food companies, like papaya. I'll be purchasing this book, I believe.

[Brynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. It had some good information about starting a baby on solid foods. I used a few of the recipes, but most of the recipes in this book are super fancy, even though it's baby food. Like really weird, things too fancy even to cook for myself and my husband. Any of this info could be found online. Plus, making your own baby food is super easy - just cook whatever until it's mushy, blend it, add water if needed, then freeze in silicone ice cube trays. No big deal.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its nice to have some baby food recipes for babies that don't want bland food. i love tat this has basic baby food with spices and flavor! plus it has foods you wouldn't think of making for baby and they are made in such a way that make food interesting and baby can create a great pallet to shape their little tastebuds for the future!

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found these recipes to be nice and simple, but fun and creative as far as ingredients. It was nice to have a reference for how to prepare certain foods and how to pair them with other ingredients. I borrowed it from the library, but I think I might buy it. It covers a lot of time in an infant's eating development.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yikes! Why does it freak me out that in about a month, Sam will be eating something other than breast milk? This has some good easy recipes - but really, how hard can pureeing fruits & veggies be? I like how it is broken up in stages from 6 - 18 months.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great simple recipes for fresh baby and toddler meals. I like the simplicity of the recipes in this book. While it does contain some involved multi-ingredient meals, I find myself refering to it for the easy options for roasting or steaming veggies. Great polenta and bulgar recipes too!

[Alisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haven't tried all these recipes yet, but I have tried some. Fun easy beginning way to start making your own baby food...all the way up to simple toddler food that adults can also eat. Have consulted it quite a bit the last couple of months.

[Rachel Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend recommended this book to me, because I was interested in making my own baby food. I read through the intro and some of the recipes, and I'm anxious to try some of them. Just gotta wait for little man to get old enough to eat this stuff!

[Christen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am really excited about this book. I am using the recipes to make side dishes for Husband and myself and also to feed to Baby. It is really fantastic and proposes a good mix of flavors. We are only in the second section so far, but it is great.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book 5 years ago, after the birth of my first daughter. The recipes and feeding suggestions are simple to understand and easy to execute. Since delivering my twins last year, we have revisited this book and have found it as handy as we remembered it to be.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great, helpful book to lay the foundation for first foods. The recipes are simple, the photos are gorgeous, and I was left with a feeling of "I ca do this" when I finished it. Highly recommend!

[Saira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basic recipes, nothing wrong with it. I just preferred Little Foodie to this one, and there's really no need for multiple baby food books. I have a feeling ours is going to be more of a baby led weaning type kid and this one isn't helpful for both type.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saving this for future reference. I learned a few ways to prepare purées and tried some foods for Leo we may not have otherwise. Mostly common sense stuff, but it gave us some ideas of cooking methods to try.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

loved this book, wish I had a baby though...

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really neat book. I can't wait to start making some of the recipes!!

[Rachele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was a good book to get the basics of pureeing baby food but it didn't really go beyond that and that's what I was looking for.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, great pictures, lots of practical information.

[Christie · Rating 3 out of 5]

decent...some of the foods were a little to much, but the basic baby food is great!! lots of great tips for raising a healthy eater

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Checked out from library - will probably end up purchasing. It has way more than purees. It does a good job of introducing spices and different textures to growing baby.

[robin marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous layout and photography. Useful content.

[Monica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good suggestions but no time to follow this advice