Top 100 Baby Purees: Top 100 Baby Purees Hardcover – March 21, 2006

What I expected was a simple cookbook for baby purees. What I got was extremely informative. Covers everything from when to start purees to food allergy safety. I did see some concerns about the butter content however if you do a little research you will find it's actually a good thing to include in your babies diet, however if you feel it's too much, just limit it in your recipes.

I bought this cookbook, an immersion blender (hand-held stick blender), and some Fresh Baby Freezer trays Fresh Baby So Easy Baby Food and Breast Milk Trays and have been making baby food since. This book has some AMAZING recipes. There are a couple of misses as well but I'd expect that out of 100. I've been making notes in my cookbook that I thought would help others:pg 28 Sweet Potato and Broccoli: Always double this recipe to get 2 trays. The potato/broc ratio is perfect!pg 43 Cinderella's Pumpkin: This is one of the few I wouldn't make again.pg 51 Chicken with sweet potato and apple: This is a favorite at our house. I absolutely LOVE this recipe and so does my daughter.pg 54 Banana Peach and Strawberry: This recipe needs to be doubled to get at least 1 freezer traypg 58 Easy one-pot chicken: Good, but I only made it once and just made the Chicken with Sweet Potato and Apple (pg 51).pg 64 Lovely Lentils: YUM! I think I'm going to make an unpureed version of this one for myselfpg 68 Eat your Greens: Fantastic, it tastes like green mashed potatoes. We made this as an adult side dish in leui of normal mashed potatoes. Would be a great recipe for a toddler who doesn't like their veggies.pg 71 Vegetables with cheese sauce: wonderfulpg 75 Fillet of fish in an orange sauce: Skip this one. I like fish but this was terrible. We tossed the batch.pg 95 Blueberry Banana and Apple: This recipe doubled only makes 1.5 tray. The recipe calls for 1 cup blueberries and I've found that a 10oz bag of frozen org blueberries = 2 cups. Great substitute!pg 106 Pasta with hidden veggies: Yum! Terrific sauce! Would also be good for a toddler who doesnt like veggies

I really like this book. I was looking for recipes that were delicious and nutrious. I have five children and have always thought that if I would not eat something out of the baby food jar I surely was not going to give it to my child to eat. I wanted fresh foods that tasted good. I am not a food snob at all but would you want to eat the vegetables and meats that are offered in a jar or pouch by the baby food companies? They are not very appetizing (except for baby jar fruits - yum!!), so I decided to skip them and make my own instead. I have made several of her recipes and they have all been delicious. I also like the fact that you can freeze them. I make batches of her recipes and then I freeze them into cubes using OXO Tot Baby Food Freezer Tray, White/Green. I freeze the cubes and place it in a freezer bag and then mark the date and the ingredients. In a household with five kids, this has been a lifesaver. This has made it easier for my older kids and my husband to feed the baby without a lot of guess work as the food is always ready to warm up. I will agree with other reviewers in that there are a lot of recipes that call for butter, cinnamon and cheese sauce but I don't mind getting my daughter's palate used to these flavors now. To each his own, I guess. Also, some other reviewers mentioned tomaotes and citrus in the recipes. I think you have to use your own judgement here and watch your baby. I used one of the recipes that called for tomato and it was simply too acidic for my daughter and she developed a diaper rash right away. I eliminated that particular puree and smeared her bottom with some Desitin Maximum Strength Paste, 4-Ounce(Pack of 2)and it was over. I will not try to feed her that again until she is a little bit older. I really do like and recommend the book - it is great even if you just want to get some baby food recipe ideas. I have made many substitutions and the recipes have turned out great. I am happy to have this book in my arsenal.

I have a few baby food cooking books and this one is by far my favorite. Before I got Annabel's book I was often turning to jarred baby foods because I lacked the inspiration to cook my own homemade baby food, but that all changed with her book. Now I am inspired to cook for my son and am feeding him healthy fresh organic options every day. And it's saving me a lot of money over jarred food as well. The recipes are easy and don't take much time. I appreciate that they are organized by baby's age and give quick info on the side of each recipe like whether or not it is suitable for freezing, very helpful.There are not a ton of recipes in the book, but the beautiful photos and layout of the book inspire me to make more homemade food for my son than the larger books with more recipes that are not much fun to look through. Annabel gives just enough basic info and recipes for the reader to get the idea on how to make any simple veggie or fruit puree and then she gets to the more interesting recipes. Before getting this book I never would have tried cooking my son meals that start with sauteing onions in butter and then adding chicken stock and veggies, but turns out he loves them and I'm glad he is experiencing more interesting tastes than the bland and boring jarred baby foods. I usually make up a recipe and then freeze it in little cubes for future meals (which works great!), but the recipes are so delicious that a few times after making one I decided to serve it to the whole family as a hot side dish rather than freezing for later use. Even my husband was pleasantly surprised at how delicious the food is.I highly recommend this book.