Book Review: It All Begins with Food




It's no secret that I love the baby and children food brand Love Child Organics. Leah Garrad-Cole, its founder, is a Canadian mama who created a whole brand a revolving around the idea of providing easy yet healthy and organic baby and children food options. 

You may remember that I made all of my son's purees when he was a baby, but the Love Child Organics pouches were our go-to choice whenever we were traveling or on the go. We still buy them to this day, along with pretty much everything the brand has to offer. Cookies, nutrition shakes, cereal bars, you name it, we love it. 

So when Leah wrote her very own cookbook, I knew I would love it. 



But it had to pass the ultimate test: my husband, who's the chef in our house had to love cooking its recipes, and they had to be family-friendly (obviously) but grown-up enough to satisfy our demanding palates (my husband cooks very elaborate recipes, very well, so I'm used to being spoiled!). 

I am happy to report that It All Begins with Food passed the test with flying colors. Not only is my husband happy to search for new recipes in it every week, he also loves making them and we all love to eat the end result! 


What we love about it

- It features a lot of different kinds of recipes, from finger foods to family meals, easy lunches or purees for the littlest ones

- The recipes are both traditional and original, but never intimidating (well, they are to me but then again, any recipe intimidates me). They are easy to follow, and include a very helpful symbol system

- They are HEALTHY but also TASTY: we all love them, including my son

- Did I mention they are healthy? Leah includes a ton of great-for-you ingredients, along with helpful tips on what to choose, how to choose it, etc.

- It features a lot of information and charts about clean food, food quality, meal prep tips, baby's first introduction to solids, etc. I absolutely love that Leah has notes regarding choking hazards in both the Introduction chapter and the recipes. Too few people know children under 5 shouldn't eat popcorn! 

- Leah included a metric conversion table: she is a genius and I am forever grateful for the hours of googling conversions she saved this French gal

How we use it

We plan our meals for the week every Saturday morning before we go grocery shopping. We browse cookbooks and choose recipes we want, being mindful of the meat/vegetarian meals ratio (we try to eat meat once a week, twice at the most) and making sure we have a wide variety of ingredients. We have a few favorite cookbooks but It All Begins with Food is definitely a weekly staple!  

  

If you have children and want healthy options for meals, snacks and treats, this book is for you.
If you're still unsure, here's what you can expect: 

- Purees recipes
- Finger foods recipes
- Smoothies recipes
- Healthy breakfasts
- Easy lunches
- Family dinners
- Healthy snacks, treats, cookies and various fun foods-on-a-stick
- Basic healthy and natural recipes you can build on (think sauces, almond milk, food coloring, etc.)

Get it here.

* Leah did send me the book complimentary for review purposes. However my love for Love Child Organics and this book are 100% honest and unbiased. I was a loyal LCO client long before we collaborated.  

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