The Baby & Toddler Cookbook is by far, the best and most useful cookbook I have found for infants and toddlers.  This was given to us as a gift, and I finally discovered it in Williams-Sonoma last week.  I highly recommend this book for any parent wanting to make their own baby food…. and also toddler food!

When Max was ready for solids, his first meal was Gerber rice cereal.  But from there, we stopped with most of the store bought things and made it ourselves (read here on DIY baby food—so easy!)

I liked making my own food for a few reasons:  I found it to be less expensive, better tasting, fun, and there was also a lot more room for flexibility with textures and tastes (if I wanted it thicker, I wouldn’t blend as much… if he didn’t like the green beans, I’d add something sweet to the mix like a plum or pear.)

 But without The Baby & Toddler Cookbook, I would have been at a total loss for what to feed him beyond the basics of mashed up bananas and sweet potatoes (though the book does start with such basic newborn meals as these!)  Especially once he was ready for mixing certain fruits and veggies together, I always felt at a loss as to what “went together.” 

The cookbook is broken down by age, starting from 6 months up to 3 years.  The recipes for the most part are extremely simple, requiring only a few ingredients. 

My book is all marked up, tagged, and water stained from having it by my side so much the first couple of months.  I put an “M” (for Max) next to every recipe that he tried.  I wanted to expose him to many types of foods, flavors, and textures.

The Baby & Toddler Cookbook offers more than just recipes too.  It offers tips for getting your kid to eat, allergy information, how to sanitize and store the food, and information on nutrition and portion control.  As a first time mom, I probably relied on this information more than I did the actual recipes.

Here are some sample recipes:

6 months: Applesauce, butternut squash puree, avocado puree

7-8 months: Fruit smoothie, guacamole, red lentil and rice soup

9-11 months:  Apple-cinnamon oatmeal, hummus dip, cheesy brocolli casserole

12-18 months: Veggie quesedilla, alphabet soup, chicken and veggie pockets

18 months- 3 years:  Pizza party, almond butter and banana bites, lasagna roll ups 

 Williams-Sonoma also carries a great Baby Food Processor.  I couldn’t justify the extra price of it when I started out making his food, so I bought a Magic Bullet instead.  The bullet worked great!  But I kind of wish I would have spent the extra money on the nice Williams-Sonoma one, as I plan to use this for multiple kids.

This book makes a great gift (we didn’t have it on our registry, and its one of my favorite things we received!) 

Click on the link below to take you directly to the Cookbook’s website:
The Baby & Toddler Cookbook

 Other books I recommend:

Babywise and The New Basics for the Modern Parents