Annabel Karmel ‘quick and easy toddler recipes’ review

Bubby D likes porridge. And weetabix. And cornflakes. And rice crispies. And blueberry wheats. And…well, basically anything aimed at the breakfast market.

The Wee Man, on the other hand, is a bit more fussy.

I wouldn’t say he’s a bad eater, by any means. But he does have very firm ideas about what goes in the ‘eat’ pile and what is thrown aside in the ‘wouldn’t touch me if your promised me a vat of ice cream (he does like ice cream) category.

So I do like to get a bit of inspiration for meals that are not only nutritionally balanced, but also easy to make and above all will get eaten without the need for attempted ice cream bribery.

In the past, I’ve often turned to Annabel Karmel books, since they have a great range of different recipe ideas for meals that both the children and myself and the Other Half will enjoy. Which means I was very pleased to see that there’s a new Annabel Karmel book hitting the stores. And even more pleased when I was asked if we’d like to take a sneaky peek at it!

Variations on some old favourites are in there (the fruity curry from an earlier pasta recipes book, one of our big family favourites) is featured with a different range of ingredients that give it a slightly sweeter but still just as nice taste. But there are some new ideas as well – and so I decided to let the kids pick a recipe each to try.

Bubby D went for the chicken, broccoli, pea and tomato pasta; and the Wee Man decided that ‘meatballs in a goulash sauce’ looked good. As it turned out, I already had most of the ingredients required so a short aquisition of some creme fraiche and sundried tomato paste later and we were all set.

Both meals only took a few minutes to prepare and both turned out really tasty – the whole family enjoyed them.

We’re looking forward to giving a few more recipes a try. Blueberry pancakes, anyone?