No Whine With Dinner: 150 Healthy Kid-tested Recipes from the Meal Makeover Moms

by Liz Weiss, Janice Newell Bissex

Written by Liz Weiss and Janice Newell Bissex, the dietitians behind the popular cooking blog Meal Makeover Moms' Kitchen, this cookbook features 150 easy-to-make, family friendly recipes as well as 50 secrets from moms for getting picky eaters to try new foods.  No Whine with Dinner  comes from a survey of nearly 600 moms, and every recipe was tested by moms and tasted by kids. Filled with photographs, the book includes fun, healthy dishes like Smiley Face Casserole, Grab and Go Granola Bars, Piping Hot Peanut Butter Soup, Fruity Chicken Kebabs, Sweet Brussels Sprouts, and Twice Baked Super Spuds.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food

230 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 2010

Reviews

[Susan]

There are some great recipes in here, some good ones, and a few clunkers. The good news is that most of them are great. Some of them are even good basics that a creative cook can have some fun riffing on. I particularly like Apple-icious Oatmeal Bake, Raspberry Breakfast Cake, Piping-Hot Peanut Butter Soup, Hooray for Hamburger Soup (this one's a shocker -- sounds weird, tastes great!), Spaghetti Zucchini Pie, and Quinoa with Almonds and Apricots (perhaps the best recipe in the book.)

The whole idea behind purchasing and using this book was to try and inspire the kid in our house to branch out past mac 'n' cheese and hot dogs. I can't exactly declare victory but at least the recipes here are quick, simple, and easy for a cook of any skill level to replicate as well as tasty enough to please Mom and Dad. I would strongly suggest going at some of these with a liberal dosing of chopped fresh herbs, especially for the recipes in the Slow Cooker Creations chapter.

The best thing about this book is, for novice cooks with families to feed, you'll come away with some solid rudimentary skills on which to build your family's main weekday menus. Lots of cookbooks offer special-day recipes. Some claim to offer recipes for every day, then proceed to throw dozens of ingredients and an hour's worth of prep-time at the harried family cook. This book is truly one to be used for every day, weekday meals for honest-to-goodness families squeezing dinner between music lessons, soccer practice, and homework.

[Abby Lyn]

My kids have really enjoyed these healthier "makeovers" of traditional kid friendly fare like french toast, casseroles and fish sticks. I've appreciated learning simple, easy tweaks to recipes like putting a tablespoon of wheat germ into a dish for fiber or grating a carrot into turkey meatballs for added nutrition. I've also switched to whole grain pastas, canola oil and omega 3 eggs. Big hits at our house have been their banana brownie waffles, pumpkin pancakes, "smiley face" casserole, garden turkey meatballs, almond crusted tilapia, ham & broccoli casserole and the slow cooker spinach lasagna. Many of these recipes are available online and can be tried out that way before purchasing the compilation. (Note I also tried the authors' earlier cookbook but didn't have as much success with the recipes as with this one.)

[Julie]

I tried several of these recipes with my family. We had about 50/50 success. My kids, who are good eaters, protested more than usual about the almond-coated tilapia and the smiley face casserole. They liked the Hooray for Hamburger soup and some of the ways to cook vegetables (parsnip fries).

"Mom 100" by Katie Workman may have been more successful for us. We also like the Meal Makeover Moms website, hosted by these same two authors. This book may be a good one to borrow and test out before buying.

We did not understand why the mac and cheese recipe included a tablespoon of honey. We could taste the honey in the cheese sauce (odd), and what kid needs sweetness to encourage them to eat mac and cheese? The recipe did include chopped carrots, and no one at my house "whined" about those--we like our veggies in cheese sauce!

[Emily S.]

Love lots of these recipes, but so far my kids don't really like the main dishes. They love the snacks and breakfast ideas and it has gotten me out of the cereal for breakfast slump I've been in this winter. Almost all of the main dishes have cheese and that gets kind of old, but overall a great book.

[Vanessa]

The recipes are simple and easy to follow. The corny salmon cakes were a huge hit and we'll be making them often - I love easy pantry meals! We've also tried the brussel sprouts (pretty good) and the tortilla chip casserole (okay, but next time I'd just make nachos).

[Kendall H]

This is an awesome cookbook. Every single page had something that the kids would eat and that I would feel was healthy enough to be happy about. Going to return it to the library and buy my own copy.

[Sara]

LOVED this book. Great recipes the whole family enjoys along with helpful nutritional information.

[Sarah]

I enjoyed reading these recipes, some of which I already have tried. I think this book would be really helpful for people who eat meat but it seemed to be lacking in the vegetarian department.

[Michele J]

It had some good recipes.