Vegan recipes for babies? Bummer.
343145
I practiced baby led weaning with my last child (baby #3). It was great and I vowed never to go back to spoon feeding! However, I have twins this time around (#4&5) and I thought that spoon feeding would help them to get going on solids faster. Silly me, I should've known better. After about a month of attempting spoon feeding, I am switching my seven-month-old babies over to the baby led weaning method. I got this e-book to give me a refresher and get some fresh ideas. This book was nice for that, but it was unfortunate that there were typos. I appreciated the recipe part somewhat, but was bothered that just about all of the recipes were vegan. I strongly believe that babies need meat and other animal foods for optimal nutrition, and so this was disappointing. But, with all that said, it is a book to good book to get you started on baby led weaning, a practice which I highly recommend.
546791
I don't want a book of classic french or italian dishes that were adapted  I was looking for dishes that are original classic vegan dishes from around the world...this i not it.  Another person using meat subsitutes ... I wish someone would research dishes from around the world that are tried and true classics and happen to be vegen not forced to be vegan.  If you are looking a another vegan, tofu book this is for you
615933
It is unfortunate that the recipes in this book our overshadowed by her judgemental opinions on meat & dairy.  Calling Dairy "snot" is neither helpful or inspiring.  If she is trying to turn the reader off of animal products it is not accomplishing this for me, in fact, it makes me want to chuck the book altogether.  I want facts and even personal stories, I don't need the judgemental comments.
2088992
I bought this book to give some variety to my repertoire of allergy-friendly baked goods for my son with dairy, egg and nut/peanut allergies. So far, I'm not really impressed. The recipes SOUND good, with tasty-sounding names and nice descriptions, but the two recipes I've made so far have been less than great. (Just FYI, I've baked professionally, so it's not that I'm a crappy baker who can't follow directions.)

I had high hopes for the Lime Coconut Bars, since regular lemon bars use eggs and there's nothing I could easily use to make my own substitute for him. Well... the crust, even though baked for the proper amount of time/browning came out SO hard, it was even hard to cut. Then the filling, again cooked for the proper amount of time and to the appropriate thickness, never set up that well in the fridge. Perhaps if you're looking for a cookie that is cold (it has to be stored in the fridge) and topped with an unappetizing-looking, pale green-flecked pudding, you'd be happy...but that's not what most people are looking for IMO. As a side note, the flavors weren't bad, but the appearance, texture and temperature made this a flop. (I may use some of the techniques for making him some pudding, though.) :)

On to the Peary Berry Muffins: again, high hopes. This recipe wasn't so bad, but the muffins never baked through even though I baked them until they had gotten as brown as possible, probably because of an excess of moisture from the pears (I used quite hard Anjou pears, so they weren't overly juicy, either). I sliced the muffins in half and toasted them, and the flavors were good enough to make them worth eating. A little Earth Balance margarine and it made a tasty breakfast.

I came away from the last attempt thinking that perhaps the bar is set a little lower for vegan recipes, since maybe people are so desperate to have a substitute for their favorite animal-based recipes! If I try another one and it has a different result, I will be sure to adjust my rating.

I gave it two stars since for the low price of the book I gleaned the pudding idea.
3985644
I could not FULLY appreciate this cookbook because I had to pick and choose around the recipes so as to be careful not to introduce certain "hazardous" foods too soon.  The book states WHEN to introduce certain foods, but have different guidelines than what the APA is stating.  Maybe because this is a British author?  FOr instance, I will not be giving eggs to my baby until around 1 year.  Also, some recipes call for butter or berries and other "off limits" foods that I plan to avoid until after 1 yr.  So I wasn't able to get a 100 baby purees out of it - but I did like some ideas about what foods are good mixed together (
ex. sweet potatoes and apples).  And I liked her tips about freezing and storing baby foods, so not a total loss.  Just take this book with a grain of salt and remember she is not a peditrician - so be sure to check with your doctor about when and what to introduce.
4716333
I am interested in eating a plant-based diet because, philosophically, I don't feel right about eating animals, and factory farming is a horror story.  Another reason I want to stop eating food from animals, among others, is that I would like to reduce my carbon footprint.

So far, I've looked at several recipes in which there have been suggestions to wrap or store things in plastic.  Plastic, especially the disposable wrap kind, is so bad for the planet.  Haven't the author's heard of The Pacific Garbage Patch?  Such behavior of using plastic wrap would be counter to my goal.  We all need to get beyond plastic!  There are also the health risks associated with plastic leeching into food.

Additionally, the recipes are very complicated.  Many of the savory main dishes require you to make another recipe in order to complete a particular recipe.

I gave the book three stars because the recipes do seem very healthy, and I like the unique the suggestions for substitutions.
3431762
I liked the idea of a cookbook that contained both Paleo and Vegan recipes.  There is a fair number of recipes to choose from.  I was surprised, however, to find canola oil used throughout a large number of recipes.  Another type of oil would have been much healthier considering that canola is genetically modified from the rapeseed plant.  It was for industrial use originally.  While some of the recipes were nice, I deducted for leading people into the use of the canola oil.  Please substitute some other oil if you decide to follow any of these recipes.  I rely heavily on reviews on Amazon and will only leave an honest, accurate review despite having received this item for a discounted price or for free.
241362
I'm always surprised at how many people I know have this book.  We were given this book as a present,  but I wouldn't recommend it.  With that said, it does have some positive aspects.  I like the intro that simplifies keeping a kosher kitchen.  The photos are also fun and colorful and my kids (ages 3 & 5) love to look through this book and it does get them excited about cooking.  My biggest complaint about this book is that the recipes are so unhealthy!  I wouldn't want my kids eating or cooking with most of the ingredients.  Having fun with your kids in the kitchen is a great way to teach them about nutrition with out them knowing it, and this book totally misses this point.  For example, she has you cooking with hot dogs and jars baby food!  If that doesn't bother you, you may like this book.  If you care about your child's health and want to have fun with your kids in the kitchen I recommend Julie Negrin's or Mollie Katzen's books.
72213
I feel bad writing a negative review, but at $20 a copy, I feel compelled to share some thoughts.  Flipping through, it was hard to find any recipes that I would even want to try.  I love the paleo diet, recipes from nomnompaleo and Well Fed being among my favorites. I was hoping to find some quick and simple recipes with this book that my younger ones would enjoy as well.  Unfortunately, meticulously looking at every recipe, I found that many recipes were very basic (simple fish dinners or kabobs, for example), or a twist on the very basic.  On the flip side, of the two recipes that I did try - the meat loaf muffins and the curry beef - the ingredients were not pantry staples or were hard to find.  No kefir lime leaves at our international grocer (?!), and I have no interest in stocking carrot juice for a single recipe.  Additionally, in the meat loaf muffins recipe - pls correct me if I'm wrong - salt was completely left out of the recipe.  I added it to the sauteing onions out of habit when I made it, and they were good (left out the carrot juice), but when my husband followed the directions (still sans carrot juice), they were incredibly bland and clearly needed seasoning, which you can't really do after the fact.  Sadly, I can't recommend this book unless you are a very basic cook and do not have access to the internet.  Sorry Julie and Charles.  I wanted to love it.  Perhaps for the beginner cook this is not a bad place to start.
2768702
Pros:

The Kindle layout is ok.  Not great, but better than I've seen for some cookbooks.

Cons:

Where do I start?  The title is misleading - is this a cookbook for vegans or vegetarians?  They are two completely separate things.  A vegan does not have any use for vegetarian recipes as they would contain ingredients that are outside of their diet.  And a vegetarian may find the ingredients too restricting.

Some of the recipes contain honey or yogurt, so the cookbook is definitely not vegan.

The book isn't consistent.  In some recipes it calls for the use of yogurt and in some recipes it specifically states "vegan yogurt".  In one recipe it calls for honey and vegan butter in the same recipe.  In another it calls for shredded cheese.  One recipe calls for yeast, but fails to tell you that it is nutritional yeast.  At least I hope so.  I inferred this after reading through the entire recipe and the author is not a very good cook if she meant for the reader to use regular yeast in a tofu scramble recipe.  Another recipe calls for faux meat.  What kind of faux meat?  TVP, soy crumbles, "chicken" strips, quinoa?

There is an introduction in the beginning of the book that  heralds the vegan lifestyle and discusses the health benefits of choosing such a diet.  However, the very last paragraph of the introduction reads, "With our healthy breakfast recipes for vegetarians you can start your day with delicious treats....."  Huh?  I'm confused.  Why are we discussing vegetarian recipes all of a sudden?  The whole point of the introduction was to discuss a vegan diet.

There is absolutely no information for beginners or those who want to tryout the vegan lifestyle.  What are vegan "eggs"?  What is agave?  Where do I buy nutritional yeast or vegan sour cream?  What is tahini?  As someone who has been living this lifestyle for more than 20 years, I am familiar with these things, but someone who is new would have no clue and the book offers no assistance.

Overall:

This book is rubbish!  I feel like the author threw in the words vegan and vegetarian hoping to make some money off that particular niche of people.  The book needs to be revised, rewritten in some places, edited for consistency and a theme for the book needs to be decided upon - vegetarian or vegan?

I would never use this myself, and I absolutely would not give it to a friend or recommend to anyone who is looking to get started in the vegan/vegetarian world.
1947110
As a vegetarian I am always looking forward to healthy recipes that are plant based. Both lowfat AND low calorie. I was disappointed by the lack of completely healty recipes and the addition of high caloric ones. The French Toast recipe alone has 61.5 grams of sugar per serving! That is about three times as much as you should consume in an entire day, if you are a woman. I would not recommend this book to those individuals who are trying to trim their fat. Lowfat often times means high in sugar and I believe this book is a prime example of that. There are numerous recipes that have agave in them and although most people think that agave is a healthier alternative to sugar it really may not be. [...] is a great source for information about it. One other small issue I had with the book was the minimal ingredient "recipes". Just a few of them but enough to bother me. The Salsa Chickpea Lettuce wraps contain canned chickpeas, a jar of salsa, some bell peppers, and lettuce. That is not a recipe to me. Rather a suggestion of a few ingredients to layer together. One recipe called "Quick Fruit Sauce" is merely a jar of jam that is processed with some water in a food processor. I am not trying to be super picky here but had I peeked at the book before I had purchased it I am sure I would have passed it up in favor of a healthier one. I believe the review at the top of the front cover, which claims the cookbook's low-fat, plant based dishes promote health in a delectable and wholesome way", is a bit misleading.  I really wanted to love this book but I just didn't. If you are not watching your calories and want a cookbook with super simple recipes you might like this one.
3669032
Mark Bittman is my fave, but as a vegetarian, this book was a let-down.  I thought it might be full of more great non-meat-based recipes, but tons of them are tofu/soy-based, which is controversial, both in terms of politics and health, and then, after 6, the non-vegan recipes are almost all meat/chicken/fish-based, as opposed to just not vegan.  For me, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian is the most phenomenal cookbook ever, as it is not so much a vegetarian cookbook (which often means tons of...soy), but a cookbook of wonderful recipes that do not have meat in them.  That cookbook is used frequently.  This will likely never be used, due to the competing ingredients of soy v. meat.
2132440
Nice food photography ... Disappointed with the recipes. Not what I was expecting...which would be more whole food and veggie offerings rather than fruit and sweets ... I'm Seeing a pattern with raw food and vegan bloggers and Cooks...they like sugar! Fruit in everything!!! No smoothie exists in their repertoire without fruit in it! And a ton of it! Doesn't sustain you or offer a balanced diet.
The Snack part, Well, I suppose we all have our definition of a snack... Aside: I wouldn't use roasted almonds to make a butter :( ...raw nuts!

Sorry it's not a good review... Imagine my disappointment upon receiving it
89989
The recipes are creative, but unless I want to hit up three international grocery stores and buy half of Whole Foods Market, they aren't feasible to make. I consider myself a well-stocked vegan PLUS I live in a big city and some of the ingredients had me scratching my head.
3674665
My 9-month-old absolutely adored the old recipe of this product, which was organic chicken, sweet potatoes, and brown rice pasta.  She would gobble up an entire pouch every time we offered it to her, and often ask for more.  Unfortunately, Happy Baby had to go and ruin a good thing by reformulating the product!  The new Chick Chick recipe consists of organic chicken, vegetables and quinoa, and my baby completely DESPISES it.  We've offered it to her several times now, and each time, she makes a face, spits it out and turns away from the spoon.  I see from several of the recent reviews that many parents and their babies feel the same way about the new recipe.  I can't for the life of me figure out why Happy Baby would change the formulation of its Chick Chick baby food when it was perfectly fine and delicious the way it was.  I definitely won't be buying this product again, unless Happy Baby goes back to the old formulation.  Grade: D-
1423474
Bought this book along with a couple other Vegan options.  There are far more pro-Vegan articles/stories than there are recipes.  Kind of a bummer.
3408381
This is advertised as a vegan recipe book, but I quickly discovered that many of the recipes are not even VEGETARIAN, let alone vegan! :O Some recipes called for chicken and chicken stock, and others called for milk, cream, and/or eggs. I am very disappointed.