DadTalk

Pasta Meals

Children need tonnes of energy for their busy little lifestyles, carbohydrates help sustain their body’s energy requirements.

As adults we have to limit our Carbohydrate intake in order to maintain a healthy bodyweight. However, it is still an important part of our diet as it’s the carbs that provide us with the slow release energy. Children, on the other hand, who need tonnes of energy for their busy little lifestyles need carbohydrates regularly to sustain their body’s energy requirements!

If you asked any one of my three children what do they want for dinner the response is pretty much guaranteed to be pasta! The only problem is trying to give it variety as well as keeping it wholesome and nutritious. Award winning children’s food guru Annabel Karmel MBE has created the perfect recipe book that basically ticks all the boxes for family cooking - “Top 100 pasta Dishes”.

These recipes are perfect for babies, toddlers, children and parents! All the recipes can be adapted to cater for the grown-ups so you don’t need to prepare and cook more than one meal.

The dishes all have an element of pasta in them but each one will have a different meat, fish, poultry or selection of vegetables so it is perfectly balanced nutritionally for your whole family.

When I first picked up the book I was initially excited as I have fond memories of using Annabel Karmel’s “The new complete baby and toddler meal planner” to wean my children. I was also slightly apprehensive as the recipes looked similar to what I would expect in an adult’s cookbook i.e. not a blender in sight! My concern was that my kids wouldn’t eat this food…but I love cooking so it wouldn’t be a problem to experiment – and I know for sure my husband will eat anything the kids refused.

My first attempt was’ bow-tie pasta with bacon and peas’. To my complete surprise they loved it! They even ate the peas which is practically unheard of - I think mixed with the bacon and cheese the children didn’t fear them so much. My next attempt was the ‘salmon, prawn and dill lasagne’; admittedly I eliminated the prawns due to a shellfish allergy but proceeded with the rest as normal. It went down a treat with my children: Harrison age 1 who’ll eat anything, William age 4 who has a slight issue with sauces and food combining and Ella age 7, who like Harrison will eat anything. William was the one who I thought would turn his nose up at this one due to it having sauce as well as mixing food – but he ate it all. He was promised chocolate ice cream afterward if he tried it which I think did the trick but if they have a “good for you meal” then a “not-so-good for you” pudding it doesn’t seem so bad!

So now almost halfway through the recipes we’re really enjoying them, grown-ups as well!! I think one of the key things about this book is that children need to explore different flavours and textures. They need to eat what the family is eating as a meal as it becomes expensive when cooking something to suit everyone. By cooking a wide range of food, and introducing things earlier than you would normally, helps eliminate a fear of certain foods.

The recipes are separated by baby, toddler, poultry, meat, fish and vegetables, so whatever the age range you are cooking for or whatever your ingredient preference, this book with a rrp of £9.99 will grow with your children and last you a lifetime!

For your copy head down to your local book retailer, www.rbooks.co.uk or www.annabelkarmel.com.