What do you think?
Rate this book
Me, You and the Kids Too
Cooking for a family can be a huge challenge that leaves you feeling like you're always making compromises. In Me, You and the Kids Too, Renee Elliott makes this do-able. She shows that you don't have to cook different recipes to please everyone at the table - and that you never have to sacrifice flavour or nutrition to get meals made without stress. Starting with delicious recipes that your family will adore, Renee shows you how to tweak each one so that you can make versions of that meal for your baby. Cook up Herb-Crusted Fish, for example, in just 30 minutes from start to finish. While you're preparing the main dish, you can follow the mini-variation recipes to make a Salmon with Broad Beans & Sweet Potato Puree version for your 6 - 9-month-old or a Herby Salmon with Broad Beans & Sweet Potato Puree for your 9 - 12-month-old. From Roasted Vegetable Lasagne and hearty Chicken Burgers to Lamb Tagine and Scallops with Spicy Black Bean Sauce, all with easy-to-follow variations, these recipes will bring home-cooked food back to your table, for all the family to enjoy. Whether you need a quick breakfast or lunch for everyone, or you want to enjoy an indulgent, romantic dinner with your partner after you've fed your little angels, bathed them and read them their favourite stories - this book shows you how to do it all.
- GenresCookbooks
176 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2012
5 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 5, 2018
This booked seemed like an awesome concept. Make easy, healthy meals and be able to portion out parts for babies and kids. Personally, there was way too much fish and the meals were not easy and simple. Often the instructions for the baby food meant having to make a whole second meal but with the same ingredients. What I expected what more of a cook everything together, take out the stuff for the kids, and continue cooking. If you have a lot of time on your hands then this might work for you but I was definitely disappointed.
May 17, 2012
For a time the busy family mother (and it is mostly ladies with some notable masculine exceptions) have been led to believe that convenience and ready-made foods have been their saviour in the battle to achieve some form of work-family-life triangle. There is now a renaissance for home cooking and healthier eating, yet many younger people don't REALLY know how to cook! Help!
Fortunately this book cheerfully comes to the rescue without being patronising or overly-complex with its informal teaching style. This is not a specific "teach yourself cookery" book but even the inexperienced will be able to make a good meal after following the book's advice. And if you are a bit of a star in the kitchen, you might pick up a few new recipes, a few tips and maybe some time-saving routines into the bargain.
Cleverly, the author has planned everything so that you can prepare healthy, nourishing food for the entire family from just one recipe, making food suitable for adults, youngsters and even small babies at the same time. No separate meal planning and preparation! Modifications are easy and you even get some extra for your lunch the following day or the freezer.
As part of the author's quest to eat healthily there is inevitably a degree of "perception programming" which some readers may find off-putting. It is a fine line to get between stating fact and stating opinion and some of the recipes are based around the author's own perceptions, such as that cow's milk is meant for baby cows and not human beings, so alternatives are recommended where possible. A lot of information is given for the reader, such as an extensive overview of "wonder foods" which are highlighted as they are said to offer something above and beyond what most people eat every day and are worth including in your diet. Basic advice is also given about the art and methods of cooking and basic nutritional background information. Then it is on to the recipes, which are split into several logical sections covering typical meal times.
Many of the recipes are what one might fairly describe as basic, such as smoothies, fruit breakfasts and burgers, but the range overall is impressive, not repetitive and certainly appealing to the adult who really does not want more mushed vegetables. Of course, the younger ones might not care so much at the time, but hopefully they also learn through exposure and experience. Following the recipes is fairly simple, thanks to the informal and clear writing style, clean layout and overall demeanour of the book and thus combined with the wide range of recipes this could be an appealing proposition to many, particularly when combined with the quite unique "one recipe suits all" style.
Sadly though, the book does seem to lack a certain something to transform it from a good, regular book to a particularly super book. It might be the slightly nannying tone concerning ingredients that manages to cast a little shadow. It is hard to decide. But like restaurants, a three or four star restaurant is by no means bad, even if the chef had wished it could be a five star establishment. Perhaps that is the same for the author. Here is a good book, a quality "three or four stars" but it is not up there in the rarified atmosphere of a five-starer.
If you are expecting a child or have a young family, you might want to at least take a closer look at this book. If it gels with you and your expectations then you will be very pleased. Otherwise you need to find something particularly appealing in this book to pluck it out from many similar other ones.
Me, You and the Kids Too, written by Renée Elliott and published by Duncan Baird Publishers. ISBN 9781848990067, 176 pages. Typical price: GBP15. YYY.
// This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //
Fortunately this book cheerfully comes to the rescue without being patronising or overly-complex with its informal teaching style. This is not a specific "teach yourself cookery" book but even the inexperienced will be able to make a good meal after following the book's advice. And if you are a bit of a star in the kitchen, you might pick up a few new recipes, a few tips and maybe some time-saving routines into the bargain.
Cleverly, the author has planned everything so that you can prepare healthy, nourishing food for the entire family from just one recipe, making food suitable for adults, youngsters and even small babies at the same time. No separate meal planning and preparation! Modifications are easy and you even get some extra for your lunch the following day or the freezer.
As part of the author's quest to eat healthily there is inevitably a degree of "perception programming" which some readers may find off-putting. It is a fine line to get between stating fact and stating opinion and some of the recipes are based around the author's own perceptions, such as that cow's milk is meant for baby cows and not human beings, so alternatives are recommended where possible. A lot of information is given for the reader, such as an extensive overview of "wonder foods" which are highlighted as they are said to offer something above and beyond what most people eat every day and are worth including in your diet. Basic advice is also given about the art and methods of cooking and basic nutritional background information. Then it is on to the recipes, which are split into several logical sections covering typical meal times.
Many of the recipes are what one might fairly describe as basic, such as smoothies, fruit breakfasts and burgers, but the range overall is impressive, not repetitive and certainly appealing to the adult who really does not want more mushed vegetables. Of course, the younger ones might not care so much at the time, but hopefully they also learn through exposure and experience. Following the recipes is fairly simple, thanks to the informal and clear writing style, clean layout and overall demeanour of the book and thus combined with the wide range of recipes this could be an appealing proposition to many, particularly when combined with the quite unique "one recipe suits all" style.
Sadly though, the book does seem to lack a certain something to transform it from a good, regular book to a particularly super book. It might be the slightly nannying tone concerning ingredients that manages to cast a little shadow. It is hard to decide. But like restaurants, a three or four star restaurant is by no means bad, even if the chef had wished it could be a five star establishment. Perhaps that is the same for the author. Here is a good book, a quality "three or four stars" but it is not up there in the rarified atmosphere of a five-starer.
If you are expecting a child or have a young family, you might want to at least take a closer look at this book. If it gels with you and your expectations then you will be very pleased. Otherwise you need to find something particularly appealing in this book to pluck it out from many similar other ones.
Me, You and the Kids Too, written by Renée Elliott and published by Duncan Baird Publishers. ISBN 9781848990067, 176 pages. Typical price: GBP15. YYY.
// This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //
August 10, 2016
www.2thepointbooks.blogspot.com
A beautifully photographed, reader-friendly cookbook for families who want to eat more healthy. My favorite part of the book was that most of the recipes had side notes showing you how to make baby food and purees for your baby from the ingredients that you were already using in the regular recipe.
The only gripe I have with the book is that the author consistently uses hard-to-find, much more expensive ingredients in her recipes, many of which I have never heard. It's hard to spend the extra money if you are on a budget.
Of course, I am a neophyte when it comes to quinoa and spelt and all those other "healthy" grains, so maybe the health benefits outweigh the financial factors. And at the risk of sounding blasphemous, I disagreed with the authors disdain for cow's milk.
But if you can overlook the author's high-brow opinions and high-budget ingredients, this is a pretty cool cookbook. I can even see myself using some of the recipes (tweaked a little) with my family.
And thank you NetGalley.com for providing this book for review!
A beautifully photographed, reader-friendly cookbook for families who want to eat more healthy. My favorite part of the book was that most of the recipes had side notes showing you how to make baby food and purees for your baby from the ingredients that you were already using in the regular recipe.
The only gripe I have with the book is that the author consistently uses hard-to-find, much more expensive ingredients in her recipes, many of which I have never heard. It's hard to spend the extra money if you are on a budget.
Of course, I am a neophyte when it comes to quinoa and spelt and all those other "healthy" grains, so maybe the health benefits outweigh the financial factors. And at the risk of sounding blasphemous, I disagreed with the authors disdain for cow's milk.
But if you can overlook the author's high-brow opinions and high-budget ingredients, this is a pretty cool cookbook. I can even see myself using some of the recipes (tweaked a little) with my family.
And thank you NetGalley.com for providing this book for review!
September 9, 2013
I often make meals with separate, extraneous steps in an effort to make sure each member of my family gets exactly what they will want to eat. For example, I always reserve some pasta with the sauce on the side since that is the way one of my children likes to eat it. When I read the description of this book, I thought it would be a perfect solution to this rigamarole since the steps would already be laid out for me, and it promised healthful options to boot. Unfortunately, the "kids" meals were really for infants and toddlers, rather than school-aged children who just haven't accepted mushrooms yet. My kids fall into the latter category, so this book was really not helpful in that regard. Additionally, I really can't figure out the infant feeding options. Really? I need separate instructions to tell me to steam and puree foods? It ll seemed a little elementary and silly.
September 10, 2015
Good cookbook with tips about how to make everyone's food available for baby. Still, a bit too 'healthy' because unless your kids have grown up the way the author's has, there's no way in hell you can make those meals and expect them to eat it!
August 28, 2012
Easy recipes for all the family that are not tasteless as some of the one that are kids oriented.
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND DUNCAN BAIRD PUBLISHERS FOR THE PREVIEW
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND DUNCAN BAIRD PUBLISHERS FOR THE PREVIEW
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews