Review: Organically Raised by Anni Daulter

Organically Raised, Conscious Cooking for Babies and Toddlers

A cookbook with a conscience, Organically Raised shows parents how to replace bland processed shelf staples with flavorful, pesticide-free meals that babies will love, laying the groundwork for a lifetime of good nutrition and enthusiastic eating.

Organically Raised shows families how easy it is to make safe, wholesome food at home and create lasting family mealtime rituals. The simple, seasonal purées for new babies and inventive recipes from around the world for toddlers and young children provide parents with all of the tools they need to raise adventurous eaters.

The cookbook also includes important information about nutrition for children, common food allergies, a handy feeding journal, and inspiring “Mama Mantras” to help parents prepare meals that nurture their children’s bodies, minds, and spirits. With photographs featuring delicious, healthy baby food and recipes that focus on a few basic fresh ingredients, Organically Raised makes cooking for babies and young toddlers easy and appealing to even the most inexperienced cook.

One of the things that most captivates me about a book is the cover and this one definitely peeked my interest. It's bright and colorful and makes me want to dive right into it's pages.

Now the book is geared to babies and toddler food, both of which I no longer have in my household, unless I decide to have another baby just so I can cook all this marvelous food, and don't think it didn't cross my mind, even if for just a second before I reminded myself that my baby making days are over LOL

Author Anni, is a mom and professional cook, and in this cookbook she talks about her journey from being a new mom to becoming the owner of a baby food company -Bohemian Baby Fresh Organic Food.

The book is filled with recipes and resources, along with an autobiography, which I truly loved. It felt like everytime I turned the page there was some new little tidbit for me to enjoy. What's even greater and may make it even more appealing to some is that Anni Daulter managed to get Gwyneth Paltrow, Gwen Stefani and Christy Turlington to endorse her book.

I have wanted to move towards organic food for a long time now, but truthfully the whole process of change scares me a bit, but Anni does a great job of giving a reference guide and almost like an instruction manual on Organic Food, which I found very insightful.

Another great thing in the book are the "Mama Wisdom" and "Papa Wisdom" tidbits on the sidebar, from other parents who share their experiences of feeding their children.

Overall, this is such a good book to have if you have children, and though it is geared to babies and toddlers, I have seen a few recipes that I could easily adapt to my own children who are now 11 and 7 years old.

Here's a recipe from the cookbook, you can find more by visiting Anni's site at Organically Raised.

zac’s mac ’n’ cheese twist

Makes 10 servings

• 1⁄2 cup + 2 tablespoons butter
• 8 slices whole grain bread (crusts removed),
• cut into 1⁄2-inch squares
• 51⁄2 cups whole milk or rice milk
• 1⁄2 cup unbleached or all-purpose flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons wheat germ
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1⁄8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 4 cups grated Cheddar cheese
• 11⁄2 cups grated Romano cheese
• pound elbow macaroni
• 1⁄2 cup soft tofu, drained and cubed very small

1. Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Butter a 9 °— 11-inch glass baking dish.
2. Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter and toss with the bread. Set aside.
3. Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently.
4. Melt the remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a large pot over medium heat. When the butter starts to bubble, add the flour and whisk the mixture for about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the hot milk. Continue cooking the mixture, stirring continuously, until the liquid
5. bread cubes on top.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the cheese mixture bubbles and the bread cubes brown.

Thank you Anni Daulter for providing me with a copy of this amazing book for review.