My 1 year old is starting to move away from baby food and eat primarily table food. I am so sick of chicken fingers, french fries, grilled cheese and fish sticks. Not to mention, I was feeling guilty about all the frozen foods. I had searched online and on parenting websites and chat rooms for any ideas on meals that would be healthy, quick to make, and appealing to both infants and adults (making 2 separate meals each night was a drain on time).
Finally, I found this recipe book. I was grateful for the "search inside" function so that I could browse the index at the recipe titles. But you really can't tell how wonderful this book is until you purchase it. The book starts out with an informational chapter about first foods, and the types of nutrients that are essential for growing babies. Some of it is common sense, but the explanations are great none the less.
Then, the rest of the chapters are broken out by stages. So the first stage gets into first foods (oatmeals, and other pureed foods). I skipped right ahead to the self feeding stage. The recipe ideas are simple and easy with lots of colorful pictures. Each recipe includes prep and cooking times, as well as symbols that indicate vegetarian meals, recipes made with peanuts, and other tips.
The first lunch I served was hummos on toasted pita with chopped up red peppers (chopped really tiny). My son ate it up like he'd been starving for days! I've since tried several other foods. We haven't had chicken fingers in days! We now have a vast repertoire of veggie burgers, ground lamb, taboule.... the list goes on and on.
I will definitely give this as a gift to several new moms I know! 5 stars! And thanks to the author!