friederike's Reviews
16 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 16Sort by: Title 
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The Baby-led Weaning Cookbook: Over 130 delicious recipes for the whole family to enjoy
By Gill Rapley, Tracey Murkett
Vermilion - 2010
Baba Ganoush : page 76
I love this dish! One garlic clove is probably too much, as is the juice of a whole lemon, but other than that I really liked it, even without salt. Next time though I would probably make at least triple the quantity - one for kiddo, one to freeze, and one for me.
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Baked Salmon and Pesto Parcels : page 115
We had the cod-and-herbs variant for dinner yesterday, and it was quite nice, similar to the Salmon en Papillote with Watercress Sauce we had recently. Unfortunately, though, the cooking time isn't correct - we only cooked the cod for 13 instead of 15 minutes, and it still was horribly overcooked. Also, it's a bit simple; I added a shallot, but even then it may have a little something extra for adults - a sauce, maybe? But then again this just may be me; maybe this book is written for people who are perfectly happy for a recipe as simple as this one.
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Banana Cake : page 178
The cake is not too bad, actually. Of course, it's sugarfree, and therefore not (very) sweet, and I'd definitely be disappointed with it as my birthday cake, but what does my son know? (I don't think it'll pass with his three-year old niece. I guess we'll have to give her a piece of the adult's cake).
It didn't really rise, though, and I'm not sure why. Lack of sugar shouldn't have anything to do with it, should it? I used 2 tsp of baking powder for just two handsful of batter! Will probably make cupcakes on the big day, as the cake looks pityfully flat even in our smallest cake dish.
Edited 25 March 2016:
I forgot to comment on the baking process. This is another baking recipe, similar to this one, where I suspect that the author had little idea of what she was doing. First you are instructed to mix flour, spices and baking powder; then to add the butter and rub it between your fingers until the mixture looks like fine bread crumbs - this latter step is a technique for making shortcrust pastry (hint: banana cake does not contain a shortcrust pastry. Not even this particular recipe.). Then you are instructed to mix the mashed bananas and the egg (= the wet ingredients) in a separate bowl, and at the very end, fold them into the flour mixture - classical muffin making technique, with the exception that butter is a wet ingredient and was supposed to go into the second bowl.
To make matters worse, the raisins go in one bowl, the walnuts into another - that doesn't make sense. Also, the walnuts are optional and can be added either finely chopped or ground - but if ground, they would change the ratio of dry vs. wet ingredients, the same way you can often substitute part of the flour with ground nuts of your choice.
Sometimes I think it's too bad Ms Rapley didn't ask a cook or a nutrionist (or both!) to help her write this book.
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Banana Muffins : page 171
I baked them for quite a while longer, and yet they never seemed to be done; I'm pretty sure the reason is that I had loads of mashed bananas - our bananas were quite large. Why did they ask for 'four bananas, mashed' in this recipe, but '200 g bananas, mashed' in the banana cake recipe just two pages later?
Also, I baked them early in the morning to have them ready for breakfast, which was definitely a mistake - I used normal flour and forgot to add baking powder, so the first few muffins came out really flat...
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Bean Dip : page 75
Luckily, I only added one out of the two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar - I'm glad I didn't add more, as even one tbsp seemed more than enough. The same applies to the onion - I only added half a shallot instead of a whole onion, and it probably could have used less. In fact, after adding the vinegar and the shallots, I could hardly taste the beans and the carrots at all. It didn't help of course that normally I would have added a little salt. So definitely cut back the onion/shallot and the vinegar.
I also only realized afterwards that it would have been a really good idea to add lemon juice instead of vinegar - lemon juice is of course a good source of vitamin C, which you'll need to absorb iron from non-haem iron sources like legumes.
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Bolognese Sauce : page 138
We actually just made Spaghetti Bolognese this weekend without know that this book also contained a recipe. We didn't follow any specific recipe (by now we should be able to wing a basic bolognese sauce), but what we made is pretty much exactly this recipe in double the quantity, but then without bacon and mushrooms. And herbs, but only because we forgot them.
And kiddo really enjoyed it! He gave me some problems last week as he refused most dinners I had cooked for him (mainly simple cooked/steamed or fried veggies), so I was really happy to see him enjoy his meal. We gave him the sauce-covered pasta to eat with his has, and the sauce on preloaded spoons - allowing him to grab the meat/sauce with his bare fingers would have made a much bigger mess than it already was, and probably only would have resulted in frustration.
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Drop Scones (Scotch Pancakes) : page 60
These were really nice! As with the pancakes, I used water instead of milk, which worked really well; I will probably also start using (part) wholewheat flour next time.
The drop scones were a bit less easy to eat for kiddo; at least in part because they were thicker, but they were probably also a little harder in texture. Adding some mashed banana (about half a banana per recipe) helped (and gave a really pleasant taste!) - all in all, this is probably a dish you can better serve once your little one has teeth and/or has become quite good at eating.
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Eggy Bread (French Toast) : page 56
No, I won't write a review of a recipe for basic French Toast - it's just too easy! Just popped in to note that kiddo loved eating French Toast at 7 mths old, so I can definitely recommend this.
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Fish Cakes : page 117
This was the first 'real' dish we made from this cookbook, and it was quite nice! I made a few fish finger-shaped cakes for the kiddo, then added salt and made patties for us - be careful, you won't need a lot of salt!
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Hummus : page 74
As the Baba Ganoush already contained too much garlic and lemon juice, I was careful with both, using only one garlic clove and 2 tbsp of lemon juice. Still, that was too much, especially too much garlic, as the raw garlic has a tendency to intensify over time - it was okayish on the first day, but already overpowering on the second. Otherwise a nice idea. Don't use canned chickpeas, they're very likely to be too salty, and if you cook them, make sure you cook them long enough and don't let them dry out afterwards.
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Lemon and Tarragon Chicken : page 107
I thought we were trying to make eating solids enticing?
The chicken was severely overcooked (I was actually tempted to turn off the heat after just six minutes instead of ten, but I - naively! - thought that the recipe probably wouldn't be wrong by such a large margin), the sauce was way too liquid, and a bit too sour.
Actually I was quite sceptic in the beginning if this would work at all, because you're basically cooking/boiling 2-3 chicken filets in a mere two tablespoons of lemon juice. Turns out that that is more than enough, and that the chicken filets might release quite a bit of liquid as well. Here comes the problem, though: you need to keep the pan covered, as otherwise the chicken not covered with liquid won't cook - but because you're keeping the pan covered, the liquids released by the chicken cannot evaporate. Hmm, actually I'm wondering whether the liquids were released the moment the chicken began to overcook - that at least sounds logical given that the chicken was so dry (as overcooked chicken usually is). It would also mean that there's a really simple solution - stop cooking the chicken the moment it begins to relase liquids!
I would probably also use less lemon juice. One tablespoon lemon juice, and perhaps, possibly, one tablespoon water?
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Pancakes : page 63
A simple recipe, easy to make and produces wonderfully thin pancakes. Better yet: kiddo loves them, especially when served with a little salt-free peanut butter (you should have seen him beam with joy!)
Edited 4 November 2015:
After learning more about iron deficits (see my book review), I've decided to try to substitute water for milk, and using half plain flour, half whole wheat flour - works perfectly! I only needed 200 ml water (instead of 300 ml milk), and it produced very nice crisp pancakes.
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Quick Porridge Fingers : page 59
Na, didn't really work. The recipe didn't indicate that you should use parchment paper or a lightly greased baking dish, do I didn't - the result was that the porridge stuck to the bottom of the dish. I scraped it out while still warm and managed to roll fingers. For such a simple recipe I think such a mistake is just too much.
Served like that, along with apple slices - he didn't enjoy himself as much as for instance yesterday when he ate his Ratatouille, or last week when he had French Toast.
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Ratatouille : page 127
Very easy, and okay in taste, although for grownups you should definitely add some salt and/or tomato concentrate. The quantities are a little off - I think it serves about 3 or even 4 adults and a baby (or maybe 3 adults and two kids), and I would probably use only one courgette (zucchini) instead of two next time. Also, don't keep it covered while cooking, lest you end up with way too much liquid.
As for the kiddo - he loved eating this, and it's really healthy, so I guess it's a good choice.
Edited 26 December 2015:
I'm a bit divided - on the one hand, this dish is a good choice as it's chokeful of veggies, easy to prepare, and doesn't contain anything that might be controversial - think dairy, wheat/gluten, or even meat (not that I'd have a problem with the latter). On the other: nevermind how I cut the peppers, he isn't able to eat them because they're too hard and the skin is in the way - roast them in the oven, skin them and you'll be fine. The courgettes (zucchinis) have a problem - the skin is too hard to eat, but if you skin them (or only use the bits from the middle, they'll end up being too soft so he can't eat them with his hands. Basically, if you want him to feed himself exclusively (without spoons, although I know you can use spoons in BLW), you end up with aubergines in tomato sauce. The tomatoes, on the other hand, don't need to be skinned, it's good enough to just roughly chop them.
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Salmon and Broccoli Bake : page 116
It was quite bland, but not quite as bad as I had feared. I thought it was an interesting idea to use a Bechamel in a casserole, but that didn't necessarily help with the blandness. You'll need quite a number of pots and pans to prepare everything, but you can prepare it in advance quite easily so you'll just pop it in the oven at the very end. We loved the cheese and breadcrumb, though there definitely wasn't enough of it, especially not enough cheese.
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Salmon Spread : page 75
Quite nice, really easy, and (with a little salt and pepper) also something you can serve as a snack for adults! I omitted the yoghurt to simplify it even more.
However, I am placing a question mark regarding it's nutritional value - I mean, it's basically 50% salmon, 50% ricotta. That's fine eaten as an appetizer, but realistically, I don't think lots of babies eat appetizers, followed by the 'real meal' (unless the latter is a breast or bottle, but that's not weaning), nor will there be many parents who will be willing to prepare a multiple course dinner for their little darlings.
Also, they also suggest using tuna instead of salmon for variation - but until now I haven't found a single source that didn't advise against tuna due to potentially high levels of mercury. Not very reassuring!
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