An added bonus is that the majority of the recipes are suitable for freezing and ideal for batch cooking.

The chapter that I really liked was missy independent because I have a militant 15 month old who will not accept any help with eating. Tuna and sweetcorn cakes and cream cheese pastry slices were recipes I had never heard of but they have now turned into firm favourites.

Another bonus is that many of the meals such as chicken and pumpkin risotto are fine for adults as long as you add any seasoning afterwards. The recipes are well described and generally have no more than 5 steps, so they are suitable for less confident cooks.

Overall I was very impressed with the book. I found it far better than Annabel Karmel's similar book because there were more freezable meals and more ideas suitable for adults as well was children.

Nikki

www.amazon.co.uk

Since we all know how much kids like to act grown up she has found a perfect way to let the little ones think they are eating like mummy and daddy. My particular favourites were burrito wraps, mini pizzas and vegetables with exciting dips. Maizels doesn't leave out the vegetarians either, with veggie alternatives for most of the meat dishes too.

All in all I found this book invaluable and would recommend it to all my friends

Karen

www.amazon.co.uk

Adam's lunchbox is always extremely predictable, sandwiches, fruit, cheese, yoghurts and a biscuit and although he's happy with what we gets I thought it would be good to see if I could make it more interesting!

The book arrived and I have to say that most of the recipes look gorgeous and appropriate for both adults and children! I got the most out of the first section of the book in which there are all sorts of ideas and practical advice to help you be more creative. From a good list of lunchbox additions that you can buy in the Supermarket to advice about getting the right balance of nutrients. I also really liked the section on sweet treats that included lots of gorgeous cakes and biscuit recipes that all had an element of healthy eating too!

Unfortunately I've not been able to keep up with my initial enthusiasm to try out the recipes. For one it was quite time consuming and secondly I'm not great at keeping lots of ingredients in the house so I found that special trips to the shops were needed. Also my son's not very adventurous so the more grownup sandwich fillings and hot food options which looked wonderful to me didn't work for him.

Overall I feel that it's a great book to dip into for unusual or special recipes and most suitable for older school children, maybe juniors upwards."

Janet

www.cookingforchildren.co.uk