First Meals Revised: Fast, healthy, and fun foods to tempt infants and toddlers
by Annabel Karmel
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Book Summary Information
Author: Annabel KarmelBrand: DK Publishing
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-05-03
ISBN: 075660365X
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: DK ADULT
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Book Reviews of First Meals Revised: Fast, healthy, and fun foods to tempt infants and toddlers
Book Review: Terrible baby cook book for busy moms!
Summary: 1 Stars
This book was given to me as a gift, and as an extremely busy and exhausted mom with 2 infants, I was immediately put off with the images of the food prepared. Here's a list of what most busy moms do not have time for:
* Bread cut out with cookie cutters omitting crust
* Hard vegetables and cheeses cut out with cookie cutters
* Julienned vegetables made for wiskers and tails for animal shapes
* Faces and feet added to multiple dishes using fresh vegetables, etc.
* Toothpicks added to Jell-O Boats with triangular wax paper (what mom gives their toddlers toothpicks?). Text says put on child's plate, then remove the toothpick sail. Please, what a waste of time and kids do not like things given and then taken away immediately.
This author, who appears to have written quite a few books, doesn't seem to know pediatric standards on when to introduce certain foods to babies. Many of the dishes for under 12 months include cow's milk, citrus, strawberries, orange juice, etc, that are known to cause terrible allergic reactions in kids and can cause a lifetime allergic condition if introduced too early.
For example:
* Pediatricians advise no cow's milk until 12 months of age, but many recipes are in the book calling for cups of cow's milk such as in the Creamy Chicken & Broccoli dish for ages 9-12 months, Flaked Cod with Tomatoes & Zucchini, Filet of Fish Mornay with vegetables, as well as numerous other dishes before age of 12 months. The book even tells you to give cow's milk at 6 months in the recipe Flounder in Leek & Cheese sauce. Also Flounder is known to often have small bones. I would not give my 6 month old such a dish!
* Raspberries and strawberries are recommended in this book before age 12 months as well, which are foods NOT recommended by Pediatricians until over a year of age. They are known to often cause severe allergies and rashes.
* Raisins for a 9 month old? - potential choking hazard recommended in the Fruity Baby Muesli. Not a good idea. My kids, at 9 months of age, would have gagged on this dish for sure.
* Tablespoons of whole butter (with no suggestion of perhaps a butter substitute) in just about every other dish.
* Lentils for a 6 month old in the Lentil & Vegetable puree recipe? Babies have enough digestion problems, then give them these kind of beans too?
* Strawberries for a 6 month old in Peach, Apple and Strawberry Puree? Pediatricians say wait until 12 months, or even 18 months before offering a baby strawberries, blackberries or raspberries or citrus of any kind (oranges, grapefruits, etc).
* Egg yokes are featured on page 53, Ages 9-12 months, and our pediatrician said no to egg yokes or egg whites until at least 1 year of age.
This book isn't all bad. If you have abundant time away from your infant/toddler, or if your infant sleeps a lot, then many of the recipes are ok, but babies/toddlers probably will reject many of them, like the busy dishes with too many ingredients mixed together in sauces. Also, my kids liked being introduced foods separately that are finger friendly (not sticky), so they can recognize and even talk about them. From my experience, an 18 month old does not like plates of numerous mixed-up foods like the Sweet & Sour Vegetable Stir Fry. I sometimes mix up to 3 items in a dish, but no more (like chicken, broccoli & carrots over a bed of rice).
Personally, I didn't find this book helpful at all as a mom with an infant and a toddler, although a lot of effort went into it. The author should have worked with pediatric standards and experienced moms, and perhaps the results would have been more helpful. I do like the Egg-Fried Rice dish, although the shrimp made my 3 year old throw up (think allergic). I learned from our part-time nanny, who is married to a chef, that it's faster and easier to make fried rice by browning uncooked rice in a pan, then add the onions, thin pieces of sliced ham, carrots, etc, then add water, then simmer (cook scrambled egg in separate pan). Our kids love our nanny's recipe for fried rice and much faster.
Also, the layout of the book is also confusing with essential information hidden in a preface or random spots, recipes overlapping or running onto another page, and pictures scattered about. I like recipe books that dedicate a 2-page spread to a single recipe (with no overlap), and include a section at the top that lists the ingredients, then the total prep & cook time, suggestions for what to prepare in advance to accompany the dish, and lastly suggestions for substitutions. This book is laid out more like an editorial magazine for someone to sit and read while on the sofa or while getting a pedicure, and not for a busy mom or dad who needs to run into the kitchen and make something fast and healthy for their child.
In summary, this baby/toddler recipe book is for a mom who has the luxury of telling her professional chef on staff which recipes to make without concern for allergies, choking hazards, or what children actually like to eat.
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Summary of First Meals Revised: Fast, healthy, and fun foods to tempt infants and toddlers
Completely revised, First Meals bursts with dozens of new color photographs and more than 200 recipes to entice even the fussiest baby or toddler. This classic cookbook covers the essentials-from flavorful first purées, winning lunchbox combos and easy-to-make family meals to finger-licking picnic and party noshes-while delighting the eye and providing hardworking information on nutrition, preparation and cooking times, freezing instructions, and tips on how to handle food allergies, additives, and tricky eaters."For help from an expert, try First Meals, a beautifully illustrated, easy -to-follow guide to cooking for kids up to the age of 5." NEWSWEEK
"Annabel Karmel's First Meals may be the perfect new-mom gift..." TIME
There's a popular game at baby showers in which the new mom-to-be has to taste jarred baby food and guess its contents. Inevitably, the first comment is "Yuk! How do they eat this stuff?" The answer, of course, is that babies don't know there's an alternative--fresh, delicious, wholesome food made at home. In the beautifully and extensively illustrated First Meals, Annabel Karmel explains how simple and satisfying it is to make baby's food yourself--from the earliest mashed banana and steamed carrot purees to Singapore Noodles for 3- to 5-year-olds.
Karmel begins with an extensive section on early nutrition, pointing out that while grownups are often encouraged to follow a high-fiber, low-fat diet, "the under 5s need significantly more fat and concentrated sources of calories and nutrients to fuel their rapid growth during the early years." Continuing her "Basics" chapter are sections on keeping a well-stocked pantry; the equipment you'll need; illustrated, step-by-step instructions on preparing your first purees; and notes on freezing and reheating food. Close-up views of spoonfuls of puree are especially helpful for nervous first-time chefs. Chapters of recipes and feeding information are then broken down by age--4-6 months, 6-9 months, 9-12 months, 12-18 months, 18 months-2 years, 2-3 years, and 3-5 years, with each chapter addressing the particularities of the given age (questions about starting solids are answered for parents of 4-6-month-olds, while maintaining a healthy and varied diet and packing lunches are the concerns for the preschool child), along with 20 or more recipes appropriate to the child's level.
First published in England, the book has been "translated" well--ingredients are measured both in cups and in grams, and while there might be more parsnips called for than one normally sees in a North American diet, nearly every ingredient is obtainable at your regular supermarket. Karmel is up-to-date on the most recently accepted food recommendations as of 1999--she advises families with food allergies to avoid peanuts until a child is 3 years old, and while she cooks with cow's milk after 9 months, she doesn't recommend offering it in a cup until baby has reached his first birthday. Most importantly, she preaches a gospel of variety and of fun at mealtime. Cheesy Pasta Stars are made with tiny "stelline" pasta, and homemade Chicken Nuggets (made with grated apple and parsley in the breading) are formed in the shape of hearts--enough to break down the barriers of any picky eater. Stuffed Baked Potatoes become sailboats with cheese triangle sails and red pepper flags, and "Mock Fried Egg" looks just like the real thing--except it's vanilla yogurt with half an apricot on top! So trust your taste buds and leave those jars at the store--Annabel Karmel's First Meals will inspire you in the kitchen and leave your kids pounding the table for more. --Rebecca A. Staffel
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