Simply Natural Baby Food: Easy Recipes for Delicious Meals Your Infant and Toddler Will Love [Paperback]

Cathe Olson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2003

When feeding babies, parents need to think outside the box—or the jar. Infants develop more rapidly in the first two years than they will in any other period of their lives. Over processed foods containing chemicals, preservatives, pesticide residue, and genetically engineered ingredients cannot nourish a growing baby. Infants need fresh, natural foods just like the rest of us.

Eating well can be easy, fun, and inexpensive. "Simply Natural Baby Food" gives you practical recipes to prepare whole foods that won’t tie you to the kitchen. Best of all, your children will learn good eating habits that will last a lifetime. There is a chapter for each stage of a baby’s eating development from first solid foods to fun recipes for toddlers. Tips are interspersed throughout the book to give the reader advice on cutting preparation time, helping baby to gain feeding independence, and getting maximum nutrition into baby’s meals.

The book contains detailed recipes for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, desserts, and beverages, including infant cereals, whole-grain crackers, sugar-free sweets, and non-diary nut and seed milks. Parents will appreciate the imaginative ways vegetables are incorporated into meals. For the child with allergies, many wheat-free, diary-free, and egg-free recipes have been included. "Simply Natural Baby Food" promotes a plant-based diet. Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, sea vegetables, nuts and seeds are emphasized. There are recipes containing dairy products, fish, and poultry because, eaten in moderation, these foods contain important nutrients, but vegetarian and vegan alternatives are provided for virtually every recipe.

Find out how easy it is to prepare your own baby food. You'll save money and give your child the best possible start.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An enticing and inspiring book of recipes for children. A very accessible and tasty collection. -- Sharon K. Yntema, author of NEW Vegetarian Baby

In an era of epidemic obesity/diabetes in children, Olson offers wholesome and simple recipe ideas for a healthy start. -- Monica Dixon, Ph.D., R.D., Author of Love the Body You Were Born With

From the Author

After the birth of our first daughter, I decided to stay at home to rear our children and develop our organic vegetable/herb garden and fruit orchard.

Cooking continued to be a creative outlet for me. As I had primarily been cooking adult food for many years, preparing baby food was a new undertaking. The cookbooks available contained recipes calling for white flour, refined sugar, and processed foods. Most dishes required dairy products, eggs, or meat. No alternatives were provided for the vegetarian child. As I researched infant nutritional needs, I learned how important it is to give babies healthful food from the start and to establish good eating habits early.

I combined my knowledge of natural, whole foods cooking with what I had learned about infant nutrition to develop the recipes in this book. Since I understand that our lives are busy, I keep actual preparation time to a minimum. The cooking time for some meals is lengthy (i.e. grains and legumes) but since you don’t have to be in the kitchen monitoring the meal, you are free to do other things. These recipes are all dishes that I prepare regularly. With two small children to care for, a garden and orchard to maintain, animals to tend, and books and articles to write, I don’t want to spend my free time in the kitchen.

My daughters are enthusiastic, healthy eaters and have rarely been sick. I hope you find this book helpful with your children.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 132 pages
• Publisher: Goco Pub; 1 edition (January 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972469036
• ISBN-13: 978-0972469036
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cathe Olson is passionate about helping parents make healthy food choices for themselves and their families. She is a frequent speaker at schools, parenting classes, natural foods stores, libraries, homeschool groups, and wellness centers. She is also active in her support of libraries and writers. Cathe is the library technician in charge of an elementary school library. She has served as director of the Central Coast Writers' Conference and on the boards of the Central Coast Book and Author Festival, Friends of the Nipomo Library, and SLO Nightwriters. Cathe is currently working on a vegan family cookbook, as well as a children's chapter book series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

201 of 204 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Little Book, June 29, 2004

By 

Lisa Brady (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Simply Natural Baby Food: Easy Recipes for Delicious Meals Your Infant and Toddler Will Love (Paperback)

I love this little book. I know a past reviewer criticised the book for being too thin but that's one of the things I like about it. I have always enjoyed cooking and bought quite a few baby cook books when my daughter was very young thinking I would potter around making her perfect gourmet meals but soon realised that there are many days when the thought of even leafing through the pages of those cookbooks is too much effort. I just find them too overwhelming and invariably reach for this book because the recipes are simple but still tasty. You don't need to be a great cook to be able to make these recipes, the instructions are very easy to follow.

Despite being a slender volume, the book packs a lot of information into its pages, and still has a great collection of recipes.

I never found it to be a problem finding any of the ingredients. I have to admit that even though I consider my cooking to be quite wholesome I had never used some of the items like dried seaweed (you only use a pinch) and ground seeds myself, but after reading in the book just why these things are included, I found myself adding them to my own food as well. They are incredibly nutritious and such an easy way to bolster your child's immune system which I found so reassuring during the winter. I'm sure you can order these ingredients online if you can't find them in a store nearby. You use such a small amount that they will last for ages. And you can always leave those items out if you prefer.

The book is written in a very friendly manner and is a nice balance between educating and guiding you as to what your baby's and toddler's developmental needs are with easy to follow recipes. A reviewer below wrote that the last thing they needed was to be making their own baby cereal. Well I guess if that's your mindset then this book isn't for you because honestly it takes all of two seconds to make the cereal, and the jar lasts a very long time when you are using a couple of tablespoons at a time! Not that you can't find good organic packaged baby cereal, (I did try that myself but my baby would never eat it). And there's nothing stopping you from using the recipes as guides and substituting purchased products for some ingredients if it makes life easier.

The book takes you right through to when your child is a toddler with tips that help you sneak vegetables into their diet and great snack ideas too. There are some lovely recipes for cookies and cakes as well, which is nice, it's very realistic in that although you want to feel that you are presenting your child with yummy healthy food, there's always a place for sweet treats in life. I'm not personally a fan of soy products which some of the recipes call for, but I just substitute the tofu or whatever with chicken,lamb or fish.

I went online to check out the authors website and was happy to see that the adorable little girls on the website who I assume are the author's daughters look like very happy and healthy children. They are a great advertisement for the book.

98 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book but maybe not for the mainstream, July 21, 2005

By 

Michelle "mother and booklover" (happy at home) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Simply Natural Baby Food: Easy Recipes for Delicious Meals Your Infant and Toddler Will Love (Paperback)

This book certainly has some mixed reviews. It seems people either love it or hate. While I am one of the ones who LOVE this book, I can see why this book would not be for everybody. Here are my thoughts:

"Simply Natural Baby Food" does not try to make you vegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic, a raw fooder, or a carnivore - however, it pulls aspects from many different diets. There are many vegetarian recipes, there are vegan recipes, there are some smoothies and treats made from raw foods, there are recipes that use alternative grains like brown rice flour for those with wheat or gluten allergies, there are recipes that use whole grains and sea vegetables that are common in a macrobiotic diet, there are recipes that incorporate dairy products, eggs, fish or poultry.

While this may sound like it encompasses everybody, it does not. This book is for people who want to eat (and want their children to eat) whole foods. That means whole grains like brown rice, millet and quinoa; beans and legumes; fruit and vegetables; cultured dairy products like yogurt and cottage cheese; more plant foods than animal foods; no white flour or refined grains; and no refined sugar.

For many feeding your child fresh, organic, whole foods without sugar, articial colors and trans-fats may be too far removed from what they are accustomed to eating. If you expect to be able to find the ingredients for the recipes in this book at your local 7-11, you definitely have the wrong book - but if you prefer to shop at a natural foods store - or at least are open to checking one out (or even an online store), you will enjoy this book.

I for one found it a refreshing change from the other books that offer recipes using jello, bisquick, and colored cereals. And that's not to say that the foods are bland-tasting health foods either. My husband, children, and I love the White Bean and Corn Chowder,Apple Oat Pancakes, Apple Bran Muffins, Quick Cheesy Rice, Banana Oatmeal Cookies, Pineapple Carrot Cake, Instant Banana Pudding, Smoothies, and the "Better Than Ice Cream" made in the food processor is incredible.

I want a different way of eating for my children than I was brought up with. Look at the obesity rate of children in this country. Children are now suffering from previously adult only diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and more. In fact, this generation of children is expected to be the first generation ever to live a shorter life span than their parents. Processed food laden with trans fats, chemicals, pesticides, artificial colors and flavors, sugar, and sodium found in our local supermarkets are not producing healthy, fit children. This book gives an alternative - and I see my children thriving on these recipes - and the rest of my family as well.

59 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will please the whole family well past babyhood!, July 25, 2005

By 

Melanie Wilson "mongoliamel" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Simply Natural Baby Food: Easy Recipes for Delicious Meals Your Infant and Toddler Will Love (Paperback)

Simply Natural Baby Food by Cathe Olson is a simply wonderful book.
This little gem is a must-have for anyone wanting to give their baby or toddler
the very best in whole, nutritious foods. Finally, here's a great collection
of baby food recipes and ideas that go beyond traditional jar food and provide
our babies and toddlers with exactly what they need, when they need it.

Simply Natural Baby Food provides recipes for Starting Solids, Intermediate
Foods, Older Baby Foods and Toddler Foods. There are many wonderful ideas for
breakfast foods, snacks, soups, sandwiches, grains and vegetables, entrees and
yummy sugar free desserts and beverages. Each section provides information
about the nutritional needs of your growing baby with fun wholesome recipes.

This recipe book is not just "baby food" as the title suggests. With lots of
yummy recipes for snacks and meals, this is a book you'll continue to use well
into childhood. Things like fig bars, zucchini cake, and carrot cake sprout
cookies will please the whole family.

Go ahead. Think outside the jar!--Ginger Carlson