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

by Jennifer Carden (Author), Matthew Carden (Photographer) "our world today is moving fast, and we're caught in the dragnet of convenience..." (more)
Key Phrases: toddler café, café ingredients, ethnic aisle (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Every toddler goes through the stage where they want nothing but "O"-shaped cereal. The challenge for parents is getting kids to ask for fruit salad instead of cupcakes. Faced with this seemingly impossible task with her own child, Jennifer Carden has created The Toddler Caf , a guide to making mealtime with children fun and interactive. It offers simple, creative ways for kids to identify with their food, like saying tuna salad is what mermaids eat, or making Minty Pea Pops in ice cube trays. Carden has created over 50 unique recipes that encourage families (including toddlers) to work together to prepare, eat, clean up, and best of all, look forward to a healthy, delicious meal.

About the Author
Jennifer Carden is an artist, chef, food stylist, and mother in the San Francisco Bay Area. She contributed to The Healthy Baby Workbook.

Matthew Carden is a photographer in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Product Details

• Paperback: 132 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (March 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811859274
• ISBN-13: 978-0811859271
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,883 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful cookbook with lots of yummy toddler recipes, March 17, 2008

By	J. Vogel (Plano, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!).

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yummy in my Tummy, May 15, 2008

By	P. Schwimmer - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not quite deceptive but close..., January 23, 2009

By	Veronica (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews

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.