Customer Reviews

Toddler Café: Fast, Healthy, and Fun Ways to Feed Even the Pickiest Eater

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I turned to this book because my toddler and I were in an eating rut. He has no problem eating healthy, but I needed a few more recipes/combos in my arsenal. This book is loaded with recipes, however, they were a far cry from what I was looking for.

While not along the lines of Deceptively Delicious/Sneaky Chef (there's no denying that the pea pancakes are peas) I felt that too many of the recipes sugared up the veggies and had too many sweet angles in general for my liking. In addition, a good number of these recipes were just not efficient on time and with a toddler and 6.5month old, efficiency is key. And speaking of efficiency, I about lost my bottom jaw when I viewed the ridiculous number of pantry and refrigerator supplies I was required to have "on hand". And then there were a few recipes that were just a little too over the top. While I'm sure the pb&j french toast is quite tasty, I don't need help getting my kid to scarf pb&j down anyway (using natural peanut butter, low sugar jelly on whole wheat bread), why would I french toast it?!

The book looks good and the photos are beautiful, the info is just not good for day to day.

I have bought a few cookbooks focusing on babies and toddlers, and this has been my favorite. Not only are the recipes creative, fun and delicious, but the photography within the book is also beautiful (there are pictures accompanying about half of the recipes). The author provides recipe notes for each recipe, which often include ideas for variations. I've already made several of the items in the book, and they have been a hit with my daughter (and with me!).

My daughter is 16 months and not a bad eater but she seems to eat the same things over and over. I made the rice balls with beets and she loved them, as did I! I have also made the pumpkin ravioli and the pea pancakes. A word of advice, DON'T change the recipes. The author knows what she is doing. I tried to make the ravioli with baby food because I could not find frozen pumpkin and it was a disaster. I did however start to experiment with my own "toddler cafe" ideas. Some worked and some did not. I made potatoes pancakes in a mini muffin tin (so I did not have to fry them) and it worked GREAT! I can't wait until my daughter is a little older so she can make these fabulous recipes with me. Keep on cooking!

This book has been very helpful. My 17 month old daughter is not a picky eater, but she gets moody with her food. One day she'd eat a plateful of green beans and grilled chicken, but a few days later she'd refuse to eat any of it, and throws them on the floor. I was running out of ideas for meals for her, because it seemed like she likes her meals to be different constantly. That was the reason I got this book. So far, she loves all the recipes that I've tried, and the recipes are super simple, healthy, quick, and easy.

A few weeks ago I ordered "The Toddler Cafe" because we were in a rut in terms of nutritional meals that were easy to feed my 16 month old. We've made a few recipes from the book and I can now safely say that it was a worthwhile purchase. The recipes are definitely on the high maintenance side, so unless you really enjoy cooking, and like meals that have a process, I would not recommend it. Two of the best tasting recipes have taken me the longest to make.

One recipe that I would recommend that you double or even triple right off the bat are the "Lily Pad Pancakes". We made them one night when we were watching my son's friend and there were not enough of them to go around even after we doubled the recipe. (My husband and I got some, but definitely did not get our fill after feeding the boys.)
On my birthday I made the "Treasure Triangles" so my son would have something to eat when we went out for Sushi. I have never worked with puff pastry before and that element definitely made this recipe on the high effort side of things but, my goodness, they were tasty, and my son certainly loved them. I think if you just needed to whip something up quickly you could probably skip the puff pastry and just serve the filling.

The book also contains some really practical tips, one of which I had discovered before I purchased the book. When you make oatmeal for your child, throw in frozen berries or fruit. The oatmeal thaws the fruit and the frozen fruit cools down the oatmeal to a good toddler temperature. A similar tip that I learned from this book is to put frozen peas inside a baked potato to cool the baked potato off, and surprisingly, my son loves the combination.

Some of the tips in terms of how to make eating the meal more fun for your child I found kind of silly and hokey, but my son is not into that quite yet so perhaps they'll come in handy when he's old enough.

All in all, most of the recipes in this book are meals I can make for the entire family, and we all enjoy them, which is exactly what I was looking for in a toddler cookbook. (I'm definitely not of the "mom the short order cook" school of thought.) It is also a beautiful book, with really nice pictures, so it would make a nice practical gift.

The Toddler Cafe is an endless source of inspiration for my family. With clever recipe names like "Lord of the Apple Rings," "Swamp Soup," and "Top-o-the Mushroom to Ya," it's easy to lure your kids into the kitchen to prepare and *eat* these dishes. We've loved cooking many of the recipes together. I've also found this a remarkable guide to stocking my pantry in order to always have healthy choices on hand and readily available. With everything from tips for encouraging your children to really be a part of the process and clean up afterwards (yes!), this one is a keeper.

As a former early childhood educator, I was a little dismayed about the trend to sneak healthy foods into children's meals. In my years of working with young children, I found that their palates are much more sophisticated than we know.

By preparing a limited menu and keeping them out of the process, parents unwittingly create picky eaters who'll explode at anything but chicken fingers, cereal, and peanut butter sandwiches. If you cook yummy healthy meals, they will eat them! Of course, some foods might take a few tries and incarnations, but isn't that how you learned to love avocados, brussel sprouts, fish, and other formerly yucky stuff?

I love that Jennifer Carden has such respect for the littlest budding gourmets. I really enjoyed flipping through the inventive and inspired recipes in this book. Can't wait to try them out with my favorite tiny chefs!

The book claims to make ways "to feed even the pickiest eater" but the majority of these foods have an appearance that most picky eaters wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. The authors definition of picky eater must be the most mildest form of the term. Many of the "healthy" food recipes listed are made up mostly of sweets and dessert/snack food with a hint of healthy food.

I discovered Toddler Cafe through a post on 101 [...] and ordered it right away. I have a 13 month old and am trying to introduce her to a variety of foods, flavors and textures. So far, we've tried chickadee chick pea cakes and rainbow rice balls. Give the girl plain old carrots on a plate and they end up rejected on the floor, but mix them up with lots of other goodies in chickpea cakes and they get eaten with great enthusiasm. Oh yes and 'dad' thought the rainbow rice was pretty yummy too! The book is full of lots of creative and interesting stuff and I'm looking forward to trying lots of things!

This book is great for our daughter who is beyond the toddler stage, and whose love of veggies has reduced drastically over time, but her love of getting messy and having fun hasn't. Getting her back in love with all the colors, tastes and textures of food has been so much fun. For those of us who don't have a lot of time, these recipes are totally do-able, and it's a great gift book too!