And the other winner is.. The Petit Appetit Cookbook: Easy Organic Recipes to Nurture Your Baby and Toddler by Lisa Barnes. I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical at first as I thought it may be almost identical to The Baby Bistro and perhaps a waste of my time as I didn’t want to have two extremely similar books to compare. Yet her angle is different.
The author is a personal chef, certified food handler and mother. She believes that food is as much about the taste as about affection and social interaction. I couldn’t agree more! She mentions good, fresh food and the big three: taste, quality and nutrition. Here was a woman after my own heart.I started reading further and liked her extensive early chapters section including introduction, using the book, creating convenience and parenting in the kitchen. Creating convenience explains the basics of stocking your kitchen, reading labels, benefits of homemade, ideas for refrigerated convenience items to have on hand, and such. I loved the Parenting in the Kitchen chapter as it reminded me of the fun times I have with the children. While baby bangs on a pot, I show my preschooler how to stir the dry ingredients before adding them to the wet ingredients. It reminds me that it’s as much about creating memories as about bringing healthy and yummy food on the table.
Ms. Barnes is not done with her introductions just yet. Chapter 3 is about meeting nutritional needs and includes special cases such as diabetes, anemia and celiac disease. She also mentions in the beginning of this chapter about ’striking a balance between what’s good for our bodies what’s good for our taste buds and lifestyle’. That’s exactly what I’m after and she couldn’t have put it better. She’s an eloquent writer, making this an enjoyable book to just read. You feel as if she’s a knowledgeable friend whom you trust right beside you. However, she doesn’t go on and on; her writing is crisp but succinct.
Ms. Barnes divides the stages into the Beginners, Explorers, Independents, Movers, Shakers and Connoisseurs. At first the only thing I didn’t agree with was that she started the Beginners at 4 months, when the current recommendations are to wait until six months to introduce solids. However, I see her point. She stresses that developmental stage is more important than age. I’m all for watching your baby, not the calendar (or clock). In addition some parents, no matter what is recommended or what the doctor tells them, are eager to start solids at four months and will do it no matter what. I like how Ms. Barnes identifies the developmental stages and what you can expect. These will clue you in as to how ready your baby is for eating solids. So the age becomes an approximation.
After six whole information-packed chapters, we finally arrive at the recipes. By now I’m chomping at the bit as all her previous information builds up nicely. Good editing job, I may add. She starts off with simple purees and easy directions to make each one. She reminds readers throughout to buy organic ingredients by listing “organic apples” and such. Some readers may find this irritating, but in fact I find it important, as someone who’s not used to or hasn’t been in the habit will have a friendly reminder of having mostly organic ingredients in baby’s diet. I gave Angeline the acorn squash puree she recommended. It came out a bit stringy, as I’ve never worked with acorn squash before, but I was able to remove most — she likes it. Ms. Barnes gives detailed instructions and steamer or microwave methods for the purees. She sprinkles the whole book liberally with tips and ideas as well. I’ve also made her Brown Rice and Lentils, Heart-y yogurt Pancakes, Oh My Omelet and Baked Sweet Potato Chips. All yummy successes. I’ve also used some of her handy ideas already. The other day I had a headache but couldn’t resist trying the ratatouille so I enlisted my husband’s help. He never follows recipes, and at first he was reluctant, but when I egged him on he made it — delicious! Even he was surprised, as there’s no meat in the dish. Most recipes are meatless, there is a good amount of poultry and fish recipes, and very few beef/meat recipes.
Ms. Barnes is not done yet. She also created some cute and functional icons which tell you whether a recipe is wheat-free, vegetarian, vegan and such. Very handy and useful for people with allergies or other dietary concerns.
As if all this isn’t enough, The Petit Appetit ends with very useful appendices to further give you tips and forms to personalize your child’s feeding experience. Appendices include excellent snack ideas, forms for food introduction and dips. This book is truly a winner –not only in the style, writing and presentation, but the information and tone. Lisa Barnes really makes you feel confident about providing your family with whole, organic, nutritious anddelicious foods and I heartily recommend The Petit Appetit to anyone sincerely interested in providing the best foods for baby, toddler and the whole family.
