Don't let the title of this book fool you. Sure, it may include recipes with all of the four food groups, but take caution.....
they are not presented in the most wholesome and healthful ways. For example, whole grain breads piled with chocolate chips, lentil chilis flavoured with dry onion soup mix, desserts made with instant pudding mixes, soups made with canned soup (I still don't understand that concept - if you are going to make a homemade soup from scratch, why spoil it with canned soup?!) I could go on and on, but the underlying theme of this book is somewhat healthy food mixed with highly processed convenience foods. This may be good for some families, but I am choosing not to feed her food to my children. For families that are choosing not to feed meat to their children for various reasons (my 19 month old twins don't like the taste of meat and have chosen the vegetarian path on their own), this book offers no alternatives to the traditional "meat and potatoes" type meal. There is not one tofu recipe in this book at all. Plus, she only includes a handful of inadequate bean and lentil recipes. Boy, is she ever missing the big picture! Now is the time to develop good, healthy eating habits with our children (whether they are 2 or 12). We need to make every bite count nutritionally for our children, especially since the incidence of childhood obesity is on the rise. Snacks are just as important for your children as meals and they should be taken seriously. Bridget Swinney's suggestions for snack food are crunch munch mix(popcorn, pretzels, dressing mix) or dirt cake (instant pudding, whipped topping, cookie crumbs, gummy worms). Who would feed this to their kids on a regular basis? How about fresh fruit and vegetables or homemade muffins and loaves for snacks? Our families deserve the best and because of this, we should be feeding our children as well as ourselves more natural, wholesome foods. Don't assume that because they are natural and wholesome that these foods don't taste good. For a much more appropriate cookbook that addresses good nutrition with a major emphasis on good, wholesome, natural foods, try Shelly Null's "Healthy Cooking for Kids: Building Blocks for a Lifetime of Good Nutrition". Although, it is almost a completely vegan cookbook, her approach and her recipes will build a strong foundation for a lifetime of good nutrition and health. This book definately gets five stars. As for Bridget Swinney's book, the only reason that she got one star was because zero stars was not an option for rating this horrible cookbook. I am sending this book back to Amazon tomorrow with no regrets.
