I must have smited the parenting gods by talking openly about my son as a “good eater.” This week has been hard as he is fighting his second cold/flu thingy. He has been refusing everything and we’re hoping it will pass, but I really need this book right now!
What makes this a great cookbook:
- The Healthy Basics section focuses on nutrition categories and nutritional guidelines as well as a “Pantry Picks” guide on food categories and brands to have in stock at home — I need guidance on both nutritional guidelines and what I should have on hand at home.
- There’s a lot of all different recipes — recipes for the morning, for packing lunch, for the slow cooker, and even “veggies you don’t have to hide” as well as drinks and smoothies! Included is a section of “bloggers’ best” with recipes contributed by bloggers.
- Lastly, the authors share 50 “secrets” for getting picky eaters to try new foods. I like it because none of the suggestions involve “hiding” veggies in other foods, which isn’t always bad, but it does have the potential to break trust. Although the authors do add various creative ingredients to recipes, the objective of the cookbook is to get kids to try new foods so that includes showing them what they are eating!
- Many of the recipes are have few ingredients, which makes it easy to throw together in a pinch as well as assisting those managing food allergies (quick scans for ingredients and easy substitutes).
I want to reclaim the phrase “kid-friendly” back from the dark side. Whenever I hear it, I immediately think “chicken nuggets.” Instead I want to think of some of the healthy food from this cookbook: Cherry-O Granola, Banana Brownie Waffles, Fruity Chicken Kebabs, Bacon and Egg Salad Rolls, Orzo Zucchini Bake, Shepherd’s Pie, Salmon Noodle Bake…and on and on…
No Whine with Dinner shares recipes for foods that I would eat, but made fun for kids to eat and even to help create. Real food can be made fun enough for kids to eat. Hold the chicken nuggets please!
FCC full disclosure: I received one free No Whine with Dinner book to review. I was not given any cash compensation for sharing my opinion on the product. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely mine. If I claim or appear to be an expert on a certain topic or product or service area, I will only endorse products or services that I believe, based on my expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.
If your son keeps getting viruses perhaps you should have his vitamin D levels checked. I believe you said previously that you are deficient so it wouldn't be surprising for him to be, also. Vitamin D deficiency can be the cause of getting so many viruses.
In the meantime, give him some mango juice. (mangos are antiviral and seem to help my kids when they are sick)
Vitamin C and zinc are important factors in building up the immune system. A balance of other vitamins, including A, B (all of them), D, E and minerals form a delicately balanced mechanism, which I won't even pretend to understand, but if in doubt, "everything with moderation" is a good rule. 🙂
One product I use daily, is capsules of something sold under the brand name of "Probiootti Plus" in Finland, which has four different cultures of beneficial bacteria, lactobacillus acidophilus, lactobacillus paracacei, lactobacillus rhamnosus and bacillus lactis. All of them are gut-friendly bacteria that provide added protection against infection, aid digestion, prevent the stomach from going entirely bonkers after antibiotics and I would almost recommend trying a product like that, as most of these beneficial bacteria are in refined milk products such as cheese or yoghurt, or in products that may be a little harder to "sell" to a child, i.e. sauerkraut and dark sourdough rye bread…
That book sounds really great! I'm not a fan of the hidden vegetables, not only because of the trust issue but because I think it just reinforces the idea that vegetables are not-kid-food or taste-terrible, etc, so that kids don't even want to try them.
And just the names of those recipes are delicious!
Sounds like a great book!!
I would actually like that cookbook for myself! 🙂
My kids are food NIGHTMARES–I may have to check this one out, thanks for the review!!
–Jenn