Customer Reviews

Blender Baby Food: Over 125 Recipes for Healthy Homemade Meals

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I didn't get this book till my baby was over 10 months old, so I'm not sure what I'm about to say will apply to younger babies just starting on solids.

I love this book! My baby had been eating table food for a while, but she was stuck in a bit of a rut with pretty much the same foods over and over, in about a 5-day cycle: chicken stew, mac-n-cheese, rice and gravy, spaghetti with meat sauce, etc., with whatever boring steamed veggies on the side.

I live in South Louisiana, where we have delicious, flavorful, spicy cuisine. However, 1) it often contains ingredients she shouldn't have yet, such as shrimp, and 2) I'm afraid it might be too spicy for her! I didn't know how to provide the blandness of what baby can tolerate, while not deadening her taste buds to new flavors as she grows up (or making her into a picky eater).

This book really kicked up both the main and side dishes for her. The dishes are bland enough for young-uns to tolerate, but flavorful enough to excite their taste buds and explore new flavors. Also, they are probably more nutritious than what we'd been feeding her.

The book has several sections: a 6-month-and-up, a 7-month-and-up, an 8-month-and-up, a 9-and-up, and a 12-and-up chapter. There are brief blurbs about what to introduce at each stage, and each section has a grid showing a sample meal plan. It's not extremely thorough, but it is helpful and provides a simple guideline.

Here are some sample recipes:
6 months and up:
--mostly plain fruits and veggies, with good tips on how to prepare them

7 months and up:
--green rice (rice with fresh greens--very nice!)
--squash and pepper risotto
--vegetable paella

8 months and up:
--avocado chicken
--chicken with pumpkin
--chicken divine

9 months and up:
--fruity breakfast rice (yum!)
--broccoli and cauliflower gratin

12 months and up:
--fruity frosty shake
--nutty choco monkey
--nutty waffles

All the recipes are quite easy to make, believe me. And so delicious! The recipes recommend good ingredients, too, such as brown rice, lots of fruit and veggies, and low-sodium stock. Most of the ingredients are relatively easy to find at the grocery store, and easily substituted if you're on a budget.

The baby really likes the broccoli/cauliflower gratin, the spinach and tomatoes with ricotta, and the chicken tropical (chicken with mangoes). This book really gets baby interested in fruits and veggies, with its interesting, flavorful preparations.

Obviously, I cannot speak for parents of babies with severe food allergies. I also cannot speak for the younger babies, since I waited so long to get this book. All I can tell you is, a) delicious, b) easy to prepare, c) my baby loves the recipes.

Four words: "I love this book!" If you are looking for something simple and easily laid out, this is the book for you.

My sister-in-law told me she was making baby food for her son (11 months older than ours). I thought she was nuts since I was sure it would take too long. She showed me the baby food cookbook she was using and it looked like the overwhelming cookbook or cooking shows you see on t.v. that have ingredients you've never heard of but a pretty display. I told my husband we'd stick with the jars since I would be a "working mom".

Then my daughter became 6 months and I KNEW I wanted to make her baby food to help her become more open to eating healthier and giving her more options/tastes. I researched a bit online and found that recipes aren't as complicated as what my sister-in-law was doing. Then my mom and I found this book and now I am hooked and actually enjoy making my daughter her baby food and trying it out. She actually enjoys trying the new foods while I am pouring them into the ice cube trays for storage.

I usually make more than the quantities listed in the book and freeze them in ice cube trays so that that particular food lasts longer. I also cook multiple meals at one time in order to cook less often (i.e., once or twice a month).

Storage: I've read other reviews that says it doesn't go much into storage, but I found it quite helpful. You simply pour the pureed food into ice cube trays, cover them and freeze them for 24 hours, and then transfer the cubes to freezer bags labeled with the food name and date made. They are good for up to 3 months unless she noted it in the recipe otherwise. This was all found on page 14 in the "To Store" section. It also recommends rotating stock like grocery stores do, putting the newest in the back, etc. It also talks about refrigeration, etc.

This is THE easiest book by far I have found. Oh, and it gives the nutritional facts of all of the recipes which is helpful for meal planning. If you're not sure whether to do baby food homemade or store-bought. Make sweet potatoes fresh and buy one container of sweet potatoes store-bought. You'll see/smell/taste the difference.

This is a great book for those who want to control the content and quality of the food their baby eats and save money in the process. Although some of the "recipes" seem awfully self-evident (Cook peas. Put in blender with water. Blend.), what this book does well is give you an idea what foods to offer when. I also liked that this book gave sample menus, so I'd know how much food to offer. The absolute best thing about this book, however, is the confidence it gave me to move beyond the standard peas, squash, and sweet potatoes. My 7 month old loves avocado, cauliflower, lima beans, and other foods that he'd never get from Gerber. Cost wise, we did the math. Two Gerber cups of food cost 80 cents at our local Kroger. That works out to $1.83/pound. So, any food that costs less than that whole is cheaper when you make your own food, especially since you add water most of the time. I also love that I control the texture. My son is an adventurous eater, and likes things much thicker and chunkier than you'd get in a container of Gerber. Lastly, I especially liked this book because we don't eat organic, we aren't into soy products, we just want to feed our son the best possible diet on our limited budget. This book doesn't give you the guilt trip about how if you feed your kid a non-organic broccoli floret they're going to grow up stupid, if they grow up at all. I read some of the other baby food books out there, and many of the others assume that you are making your own baby food because you are one of those organic, whole foods evangelists. This book just gives you the recipes without the rhetoric.

On the negative side, and the reason that I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5, is that there is no discussion of nitrates. For example, there are recipes for carrots, spinach, kohlrabi, and other very high nitrate foods in the book. Buying organic will NOT result in fewer nitrates because it depends on the region of the US and the soil in the specific plot where the food is grown. You are safer feeding Gerber carrots and spinach, because at the very least Gerber screens for nitrate levels and you cannot. We are simply holding off feeding these foods until our son is old enough to handle the nitrates, around 12 months old. (My husband does public health research for the State, and did research on nitrates in foods for work).

Lastly, if you are even thinking about making your own baby food, give it a try. My mother raised three daughters and bought very little baby food, and I thought I'd give it a try, but didn't expect to keep it up since I work 50 hours a week. It's been surprisingly easy. We just keep the cubes in the freezer, and thaw as needed. I make extra veggies at supper to blend, so it's not extra work. I think that almost anyone could do this. Also, get a little food mill. Then, when the baby is old enough, you can just grind up a little of whatever the family is eating for supper. My mom even used to take her little food mill out to eat.

This book is very concise, telling you what you need to know without rambling on. I haven't read Super Baby Food, but from what I've seen in the reviews that book is all over the place.

I'm a chef, so food is important to me. I want my baby to eat good, healthy food, and this book makes it easy. The recipes include foods that I wouldn't think to give babies (figs, kiwis, parsnips) and some that I can't say I've eaten myself (millet, anyone?).

The write-up on the actual blending/storing is a little brief, so here are a few tips that I have learned:

-Don't worry about getting the texture just right as you're blending. You'll burn out the motor on the typical household blender if you try to blend something too thick. Add as much water as you need while blending--in addition to sparing your blender's motor, it will make your mixture easier to pour into ice cube trays. When you go to serve, add rice cereal to thicken as needed.

-Most foods can be steamed instead of boiled. This preserves the nutrients even more. Also I use the water from the steaming pot in the blender.

-A food mill is great for avocados and kiwi. These foods don't store well once blended and it takes a lot to fill the blender jar. A small food mill will mash up one kiwi at a time. I bought mine at Babies R Us for $10. The mill is also good for travel.

-If you have a neighbor with a baby about the same age, then make double batches and swap.

Other reviewers have mentioned that some foods are introduced earlier than recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The publisher is Canadian, so perhaps the recommendations there are slightly different than in the US. If your baby is sensitive to foods or your family has a history of allergies then hold off on citrus, fish, etc.

I would LOVE to give this book 5 stars, as I love so much about it, however the lack of a few key things made me give it a 4. I bought this book along with Top 100 Best Baby Purees, and if I could combine the best things of each, then THAT would be the ultimate, perfect baby food book!

First, the layout is very simple, easy to read and easy to follow. Very well laid out. Starts with individual fruits and veggies and how to prepare each one of them, then moves on to meals made of combined fruits/veggies, and works up to more "gourmet" type meals that mix in meats, pastas and lots of new flavors. All recipes are kept simple and super easy to make, even though they provide an endless array of new flavors and food experiences for your baby.

The downfall is that the author always gives directionss for cooking using a saucepan, and rarely a steamer. It's well known that steaming is the healthiest way to prepare food--it allows the food to retain more of its vitamins and nutrients as opposed to any other form of food preparation. So I wish that it gave a steaming time for each food. Also, with each recipe, it does not state whether ot not it is suitable for freezing. I've read in others books that some fruits/veggies should be prepared and served right away rather than frozen, like avacado and banana puree. These are my only issues with this book...otherwise I absolutely LOVE it. I simply got a list of vegetable steaming times off the internet and made a list for the ones I use the most and keep it on the fridge...that takes care of that problem, and I do believe that most baby foods can be frozen, it would just be nice to have it noted when it shouldn't be.

I make these points because because the other book I bought(Top 100 Best Baby Purees) does have these attributes--lets you know with each recipe if it's suitable for freezing, and gives cooking directions for both steaming and in a saucepan. However, it does not go through every individual fruit and veggie before moving onto the mixed recipes like Blender Baby Food does. For anyone who really enjoys those "gourmet" style baby food recipes for older infants, Top 100 Best Purees has really great, yummy recipes that introduces baby to lots of "advanced" flavors while also (like this book) still keeping the ingredients simple. These 2 books go great together.

I ordered this book at the same time I ordered Super Baby Food and Simply Natural. This one is a great supplement to Super Baby Food, but if you're looking for something that really walks you step by step through storage ideas, freezing, etcetera, get Super Baby Food instead.

However, this one has fantastic recipes in it for purees and food combinations that I never ever would have thought of and found lacking in Super Baby Food. Example: I gave my daughter celery for the first time a few weeks ago. I tried it alone. I tried it with sweet potatoes. I tried it with apples. Nothing would get her to eat this vegetable. Considering that this kid eats asparagus, I was perplexed. The other night I made the squash/apple/celery root puree with regular celery. Voila, now she's eating celery! And was opening her mouth for more! I never would have thought to combine those ingredients in those proportions but it came out perfect.

I can't wait to make more of these recipes...absolutely fabulous book. Definitely a must-have for baby food makers.

I've never written a review before, but I love this book! A friend of mine suggested I make my own baby food and I was a little hesistant at first. I mean, we all know how limited our time is now with a little one monopolizing 99% of our time. But these recipes are so easy and super quick. I love making my little boy's baby food!

The chapters are broken up into baby's age and development stage. Some of the recipes are a little odd, but they suggest the greatest combinations of fruits and veggies. Things I would have never thought of, such as adding a little orange juice in with the corn and sweet potato recipe.

My baby is almost 7 months and we have tried all the 6 month recipes and are starting in on 7 months which has rice added to a lot of the recipes. So far his favorites seem to be "Squashy Apples" and "Corny Sweet Potatoes."

I HIGHLY recommend this book to all mom's out there. I work almost full time (4 days a week) and still have time to make my baby's food. Also, a tip is that I ask my friends who don't make their baby's food to save their baby's jars from their food for storage. It is working out great.

This book is very resourceful. I like the menus by age group. What I would have liked to see is whether or not certain foods/recipes could be frozen. It says on some of them but not all of them. Also, on some veggies I had to add a cup of water and these didn't say to add water. OTher than that it was very informative and Jake (my 7 mo old) loves what I've made so far. Alot cheaper than buying the jars that is for sure! Also the recipes make quite a bit which is good for freezing. I also have Super Baby Foods and I think this one is easier to follow/access.

I recently purchased this book for ideas for my 6 month only baby girl. It was somewhat informative, but alot of the receipes are very simple. If you are looking for very basic ideas and have no idea how to begin to prepare baby food, this book is a good idea. If you have a good concept of cooking and blending food, this is a waste of time. Good information on nutritional values.

I bought this book because of the many great 4 star reviews. However, I was disappointed by a few things:
1. The age at which the author has babies starting certain foods in inconsistent with what most pediatricians recommend.
For example, citrus fruits are considered allergenic but the author has you adding an the juice of an entire lemon to certain recipes for a 6 month old.

2. I agree with another reviewer who said there is very little information on freezing and storing the food.

I think the author has some great ideas for recipes for 1 year olds but I think it's a bit irresponsible to write recipes that aren't appropriate for smaller babies. This book should have been reviewed by and M.D. Thanks.