Annabel Karmel Baby Led Weaning Book Review

As a huge fan of Baby Led Weaning, I was super excited to be contacted to review the new Annabel Karmel Baby Led Weaning book. For those who don’t know, Annabel Karmel is a best selling author known for her recipes for children. She has a vast collection of recipes and uses an array of flavours in her recipes, which is exactly what I needed for T. I received the book super quick, along with some other little goodies (an apron, AK Stackable Weaning pots and a branded bag) which have come in good use. I particularly love the stackable Weaning pots for storing leftover dips!

The Book

The book is a small hardback book which comes with a handy little page marker which is ideal to bookmark your recipes ready for your next meal. At the start of Annabel’s Baby Led Weaning book, it gives you an outline of what Baby Led Weaning is and the benefits of this. This is great for anybody who is new to BLW. As well as this, there is a guide of foods your baby should and shouldn’t eat (i.e. choking hazards, allergies) . What I love most about the introduction is that there is guide for how to cut finger foods along with images of what this would look like. This is so handy as there’s always that worry that you might cause your child to choke by inadvertently cutting their food wrong.

The Recipes

Within, the book has been divided into various sections – breakfast, snacks, meat, pasta, etc – which allows you to quickly narrow down the type of recipe that you are looking to make. There are also good quality photos on most pages which give you an idea of how the food should look like. It would have been nice to have a photo for every recipe as I like to visually see the end result, but I understand that this is not always possible. Some pages also have a handy little logo which states when recipes are for babies aged 1+. As for the recipes themselves, both the instructions and ingredients list are clear and generally easy to follow. At times, alternative ingredient suggestions are given which adds variety. There’s a mixture of really simple recipes, such as wrap options and ways to make porridge more interesting, to more complex recipes which involves a lot more ingredients. The one thing that is evident throughout all of the recipes is that the method is always straight forward without a lot of fuss – which is what my own BLW recipes are all about so I loved this!

Putting it to the Test

I decided to put some of the recipes in the Annabel Karmel Baby Led Weaning bookto the test and here’s how I got on:

Krispie Chicken Nuggets

I ADORED this recipe. Never would I have guessed just how easy it would be to make chicken nuggets. I love the little twist of using Rice Krispies to coat the chicken too! We paired our chicken nuggets with the cream cheese and sweet chilli dip that also features in the book. I’m not sure who loved them more, T or Mummy?!

Prepared and ready for the oven

Speedy Crostini

Mine aren’t looking as pretty as the ones in the book but they definitely tasted delicious! We decided to adapt the recipe and use the same ingredients to make pizza baguettes for Mummy and Daddy. Both went down a storm! The only downside to this one is the edges are a tad crispy for T, who only has two teeth at the moment, so it took him a lot of effort to suck and nibble at them. They’re definitely one for the future when he has more teeth!

Sweetcorn Fritters

What I like about this recipe is it’s so adaptable. You can change the ingredients and they still taste great (we decided not to include spring onion in ours). I did however find it difficult to get the cooking part right. It took me a few attempts to ensure that I didn’t heat them too much that they burnt or not enough that they were still uncooked. Luckily, the mixture allows for lots of fritters to be made!

Chicken with Tomato & Orzo

This one took a lot more preparing than the others but it was definitely worth it! This recipe has to be my favourite so far and T absolutely loved it too. We found it easier to boil the chicken (20 minutes in a pan of water with a stock cube – you can use the left over water for the stock required for the recipe) as you can cook the chicken in advance. It’s also healthier and you don’t have to stand around pan frying the chicken.

Final Thoughts

I really cannot express how much I love this book! It is definitely something I will use time and time again (and not just for the baby!). You don’t need to be skilful in the kitchen to be able to create the dishes. It is also great for working parents like us, who don’t have a huge amount of time to spend cooking. Not only this but it has given me plenty of inspiration for my own BLW recipes! You can find out more about Annabel Karmel and her book, including where to buy it, through her website – https://www.annabelkarmel.com

Giveaway [closed]

Want your own book? Annabel Karmel is giving one of my readers the chance of winning their own Annabel Karmel Baby Led Weaning book. All you have to do is complete the Rafflecopter below (all entries are optional!). a Rafflecopter giveaway Prize = 1 x Annabel Karmel Baby Led Weaning Recipe Book UK only. Ends: 11:59pm 15th June All entries will be checked and any not completed fully will be disqualified. One winner will be chosen and announced on this page. Then I Became Mum is not responsible for the delivery of the prize. The prize will be supplied by Annabel Karmel’s PR Team. By entering the giveaway you are consenting to your email being passed to the sponsor for the purpose of organising delivery of your prize only. Listed On Loquax