Weelicious: 140 Fast, Easy, and Fresh Recipes Your Kids Want to Eat! by Catherine McCord

Weelicious: 140 Fast, Easy, and Fresh Recipes Your Kids Want to Eat! Reviews

• 
  Lissa

  A new family cookbook from Catherine McCord, Weelicious is subtitled "One Family. One Meal."
  
  As a working mother, this is my dream. Being able to cook one meal that my whole family will eat. Fast, Fresh and Easy? Yes please. And if it makes leftovers or can be made ahead and frozen? Even better.
  
  I skipped right over the baby puree section, both because I no longer have a toothless infant, and because my kids didn't much like purees of any kind when they were younger anyway.
  
  For a Weelicious experience, I involved my kids in browsing through the colorful pages of this cookbook, choosing recipes and food they wanted to try to make together. Then I made a grocery list and we went shopping for the ingredients for six different recipes. Most of the ingredients were things we had around the house already, and we just needed to get fresh produce.
  
  
  
  Here is my family review of the recipes we have tried so far:
  
  The Breakfast Cupcakes were a hit, and about as healthy as pancakes.
  My kids refused to try the Slow Cooker Lentil-Veggie Stew, although I thought it was delicious, and it made lots of wonderful leftovers for the grown-ups.
  Making our own Graham Crackers was awesome, the kids loved rolling out the dough and cutting the shapes with cookie cutters, and I loved giving my kids slightly healthier "cookies" that we made together.
  The Brown Rice and Veggie Casserole was delicious, with vegetables that were chopped up small enough to be indiscernible to my kids and the cheese prominently visible on top. We all happily took leftovers in our lunches the next day. I was glad it was a hit, because I made up two extra casseroles at the same time, to freeze for later.
  Corn Dog Bites on a Stick are pieces of veggie hot dog dropped into home made cornbread, baked in mini-muffin tins. Simply genius, and easy enough that we made this one on a week night after work. My kids would eat this every day.
  Veggie Nuggets were advertised as a replacement for the kinds sold in stores. My kids were not fooled, although I didn't think they were too dissimilar. We'll have more either way, since I made a double recipe and froze them for later.
  Spinach Ricotta Bites. Delicious and baked in mini-muffin tins. Apparently my kids will eat anything baked in a mini-muffin tin. This is genius.
  Mushroom Barley. Kids wouldn't try it, but the adults loved it.
  My kids haven't really had pudding before. Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pudding food processed blend of greek yogurt, cocoa powder, peanut butter, honey. Cold, thick, delicious.
  The book includes 40 pages of short articles on healthy habits, cooking, shopping, eating. She mentions her own lifestyle and nutrition choices for her family, like avoiding packaged snacks and choosing organics where possible, but she doesn't make her choices seem judgmental or the only option. Catherine McCord has a Weelicious blog with videos and recipes similar to the book.
  
  Because my household is vegetarian, many of the recipes didn't work for our food preferences, but there were enough vegetarian or adaptable recipes that I want to make again or try that I decided to buy this cookbook instead of paying late fees on the library's copy. If making meals that your whole family (even the preschoolers!) can enjoy together is a dream come true, check out this new cookbook for ideas and recipes.
  
• 
  Gretchen

  I checked this book out from the library to see if it had anything that would appeal to my family. I have mixed feelings about this book. Some of the recipes have lots of ingredients and are time consuming, and I wish some kind of nutritional information was provided. However, I wonder if leaving nutritional info out was disguise that many of the recipes are not necessarily healthy, just less bad for you because they are not processed.
  
  I wish also the author would be open-minded to the idea that not all kids are going to like all foods. She explains what an amazing sensory experience eating is and how kids have much better palates than adults, but not all adults enjoy every food even with our less than stellar tastebuds, so why should we expect kids to? Also, if it takes 15-20 exposures to a food before a child can be won over, what is a caregiver supposed to do with all the waste of 19 failed meals? How much freezer space can one family have?
  
  I know I am bitter, because I have spent weeks during summers watching my oldest plant seedlings, pull weeds, water plants and wait anxiously for her veggies to grow; witnessed her pick them excitedly and with pride; and then watched her be completely uninterested or downright disgusted by them. My kids enjoying helping in the kitchen and are perfectly willing to put the effort into making a dish without ever wanting to taste it.
  
  I will try some of these recipes and see if my kids come around. Some of the flavors seem up our alley. I appreciate McCord's philosophy and the incredible effort she must put in to feed her kids.
• 
  Sarah Jean

  I was skeptical about this cookbook that it would be too cutesie, but in the end I have bookmarked more than 33 recipes I want to try to make. Mostly from the breakfast and snack recipes. The dinners really didn't appeal to me.
• 
  Melissa Morris

  I'm someone who can cook but doesn't like to. I'm a mother of a toddler. While Weelicious presents many fresh recipes that promise toddler appeal, the recipes are time consuming while promising to be quick. There are no cook times listed for the recipes, so you don't know what you're getting into when meal planning for the week.
  
  There are also those insidious ingredients that are pre-cooked. Example: "cooked wild rice" which takes up to an hour before it can be added to the recipe. In other words, add an hour to cook time, making it a no-go for a weeknight around here.
  
  Recipes also include instructions that require you to stir or whip constantly for up to 10 minutes (does she tie her toddler to a chair?) and fiddly assembly instructions (I'm looking at you, lasagna rolls, chicken taquitos).
  
  This may be a fun cookbook when looking for meals the whole family will enjoy, but it is certainly not a utilitarian one.
• 
  Chelsea L

  I got this book at a consignment sale by chance and it was packaged with some baby food molds that I wanted. I’m glad I came across it! I love the idea of one meal for the whole family and work to do that for my family every day. The recipes are mostly simple to make with normal ingredients that are easy to obtain. Lots of vegetarian/plant-based options and many of the recipes can be modified to be vegetarian as well which is important to us. I look forward to incorporating a few of these ideas into my usual rotation!
• 
  Heidi Rogers

  Her philosophy on feeding kids is pretty close to French Kids Eat Everything, which is close to how we try to feed our kids. There were a couple recipes in here that were so good, so easy, and so loved by all of our family that I put them in our favorites. I recommend the rice cooker mac n cheese and the BBQ salmon.
• 
  Kate

  I was excited to finally get to look at one of Catherine's cookbooks, having seen her so much on Food Network. I'm a fan of hers from watching her judge contestants' food on Guy's Grocery Games, and now the Big Bad Budget Battle with Ree Drummond. I am especially looking forward to making the breakfast muffins. Lots of good recipes, and not just for the kids....for some of us adults too!
• 
  Emily Monroe

  I enjoy this cookbook. I wish my kids liked all this food as much as the author's kids seemed to, but maybe we'll get there!
  
  I found this because I loved The Smoothie Project, but I found that book to be a lot better than this one.
• 
  Vanessa

  Love, love, love this book! The beginning reads like a blog, followed by easy and refreshing recipes the whole family will enjoy.
• 
  Dolly

  I recently read
  Weelicious Lunches: Think Outside the Lunch Box with More Than 160 Happier Meals and realized that I'm far from being the wholesome granola mom I thought I was. I was humbled by the author's committement to cooking healthy foods that are appealing to young children. I sometimes struggle with what our girls choose to put in their lunchboxes, but on the whole I try to provide healthy choices. That also goes for our family meals.
  
  We cook mainly homecooked dinners and sit down as a family just about every night. In fact, I have the makings of lasagna on the counter now, with a sauce simmering on the stove, just waiting for me to put it all together.
  
  We don't always choose low-fat options, but I try to balance the fattier foods with lots of fruits and veggies. I wasn't sure how many of the recipes I would incorporate into our family meal rotation, but I was interested to see what she recommended. I do appreciate that many of the recipes are simple enough to make and appealing to young children.
  
  I used the book more as an inspiration to help us get out of any kind of stagnation, hopefully inspiring us to think creatively when making meals. It's a good book, but it promotes a level of homemade goodness that I will likely never achieve.
• 
  Christine Turner

  After her son was born in 2007, Catherine McCord sought out resources to teach her how to prepare fresh, healthy, appealing meals for young kids, but she came up empty. With culinary school under her belt and a hungry baby to feed, Catherine started Weelicious.com, a website that has since grown into a comprehensive offering of kid-friendly family meals.
  Complete with beautiful color photos, tips and tools, lists of pantry staples, feeding plans, and more than seventy new recipes never before seen on her website, Weelicious makes it easy to get kids eating healthy foods from their first bite. Catherine teaches parents how to turn their kids into great eaters who appreciate food and are open to exciting new flavors. You can stop being a short-order cook, and instead whip up unique, delicious, and healthy recipes that everyone in your family, no matter what their age, will love. From first-food favorites such as Sweet Potato-Coconut Puree and The Teething Cookie to family-friendly Veggie Nuggets, Rice Cooker Mac and Cheese, Chicken on a Stick, Shrimp Tacos, and Cheesy Chicken Taquitos to treats like Banana Bread Cake, Raspberry-Cream Cheese Heart Tarts, and Chocolate Velvet Beet Cupcakes, these recipes are perfect for little taste buds and sophisticated adult palates alike, and best of all, every single recipe has been created with health and wholesomeness in mind.
• 
  Tanya

  I have only made the pumpkin waffles from this book (we liked them), so I cannot really give a fair rating for the recipes. Based on other content, I thought it is a very helpful book for a parent starting their child on solids and also has appealing recipes for toddlers and young kids. I love the way so many fruits and vegetables are included and there are standby favorites such as spaghetti and Mac & cheese, but also lots of new recipes to explore. I have not seen a cookbook for kids with this many beet recipes to try, and some favorite veggies/fruits are served up in a really new way (such as avocados with grapes and pomegranates). I like that there are many soup recipes as I believe this is a great way to provide a simple meal with vegetables. The tips for how kids can be involved in the kitchen was great as I do think they make better choices when they are participants. I like the background stories behind the recipes presented, but found the blog comments distracting because they don't make me more or less likely to try a recipe. I think the pictures are more convincing and I am glad they were in color.
• 
  Laura

  I thought that this was a little over-done. Since I wasn't familiar with the blog or its readers, I wasn't nuts about bloggers comments all over the book. And it was a little difficult to gauge the nutrition information here, since it's not broken down for each recipe (though these are generally probably pretty nutritious, if not low in calories). She covers everything from baby food purees to desserts. I found some of the dinners to be the best - the miso glazed cod was great, and very easy. There are too many vegetables here for my picky eaters, but worth checking out if you're cooking for kids.
• 
  ashley

  Really beautiful cookbook geared towards feeding kids healthy, fun meals. I loved the pictures and a lot of the honest commentary. The recipes are pretty straightforward and simple, with creative twists. I especially loved the idea of making sandwiches in the waffle iron - pure genius. I felt it got a little high and mighty at times about the quality of food we feed our children (but my toddler thinks that goldfish are a food group, so I'm obviously not opposed to all processed foods). I think these recipes would be helpful for picky eaters, or if you are game to gear your family meals towards your children.
• 
  Nicole Abold

  I like a lot of these recipes and have incorporated a lot of the breakfasts into our daily lives. Though, I find most of her baked goods end up tasting the same! It was a good introduction to using healthier, alternative ingredients in many of my recipes. Lastly, I have tried her tactics on trying to get my 2.5 yr old to eat what I cook, unfortunately he has only come as far as wanting to help me with cooking, but has absolutely no more interest than before in eating it ! (Unless its in cupcake, cookie or brownie form :-p) The majority of her recipes were on the website (bummer, since I actually bought the cookbook). My advice: start at the website !
• 
  Amanda

  I appreciated McCord's philosophy towards food and getting kids involved in the food that we make. I've only tried a few of the recipes so far, but the one's I've tried have been good. The rice cooker mac n cheese was very good and simple. I think it would've been helpful to have a time set against each recipe as some of them are more time consuming than others. I did, however, appreciate the freezing tips and the blurbs on how her family uses these recipes before each of them. As my daughter enters Kindergarten, I'm interested to see what McCord does with the upcoming lunch cookbook for sending kids off to school with interesting lunchbox meals.
• 
  Jen Dent

  Good. Encouraging.Good for getting away from the idea of having to make separate food for baby and family. Great tips for people who are really daunted by feeding others. If you are very well versed in the kitchen, but are time strapped still I'd say you will find four-seven good recipes to take away from here for quick and easy preparations. But you may also be a bit bored. Digging on the parsnip muffins (which seems weird to write.) Otherwise the glossy lifestyle shots in here really turned me off. I know it's branding related to a very popular blog but it shot this review down a notch for me.
• 
  Christie

  I love so many of these recipes! I don't know when I've had a cookbook with this many recipes I've made from it, much less within the first month after receiving it. I admit some of the recipes are a little too extreme health food for me (the beet cookies taste like beets=dirt and we won't be making the broccoli pesto again), but overall, I'm very pleased. The snacks section is my favorite. I feel much better feeding my toddler apple sticks and well, even those questionable sweet beet cookies instead of store bought crackers and treats.
• 
  Michelle

  I'm almost always happy with the results when I make Catherine McCord's recipes, but getting my toddler to enjoy them has been more hot and miss. And it is frustrating to put all the effort in for him to refuse even to try it! Especially after working all day and commuting home, and then trying to whip up something wholesome and not too unhealthy for the grown ups. But I appreciate these recipes and the concept that we can maybe one day get to 1 meal for the whole family. (Where everyone eats the 1 meal I made!) I wish that pictures of each dish were included in the book though.
• 
  Samantha Hodge

  I am extremely unimpressed so far. I made three of the snack recipes tonight for my kid's lunches. I had to modify each one because they were not coming together and all three are completely bland. We gave up trying to get the apple oat bars (pg 136) to actually form into bars and my kids helped me squish it all into a tupperware. We will use it as a topping on our oatmeal in the morning. I'll try a couple more recipes this weekend, but I don't hold out hope for this cookbook.
• 
  Tina

  I love Catherine's take on how to get kids to eat their vegetables: get them involved in the food buying and making process! Her recipes were also easy to make with simple ingredients that I usually have in my kitchen already. I used this cookbook so much for the three weeks that I had it out from the library that my husband got it for me for Christmas, and I am so excited to have this cookbook permanently in my home!
• 
  Kelly Lamb

  I have a very picky toddler at home, and I found this cookbook to be an excellent resource for me. While not every recipe I tried was a hit, they were all fast and easy, and gave me some great ideas for adding variety to his diet. Plus, McCord has some great tips on how to get your kids more involved in the cooking process at home.
  
  http://www.thewellreadredhead.com/201...
• 
  Sue

  I have cooked a ton of recipes out of this book and loved them all. My toddler doesn't love all of them, but luckily they are adult-friendly. The recipes are fairly healthy but some are pretty indulgent for adults. She does have some shortcuts, like using store-bought BBQ sauce and salsa, but the recipes are mostly from scratch. Favorites include pumpkin waffles, spinach gnocchi, peanut butter granola balls, sweet salmon, and stuffed French toast.
• 
  Kim

  If you do not cook this book is for you. If you have picky eaters, this book is for you. If you don't have kids, this book is for you. Fresh foods out of your garden, or from the farmers market will help you with your choices. Lot's of real mom to mom advice about how to get your kids involved and how to even make your own baby food abound in this book.
• 
  Amanda Carr

  McCord's recipes are simple and sound good and make fun food for kids (and the whole family). Also, invaluable are McCord's inclusion of information about organic vs. natural; why she thinks it's important to make kids less passive eaters/aware about food and where it comes from, even from a young age. :)
• 
  Alisa

  The highlight of this book were the recipes themselves. The author goes over the challenges of getting picky eaters to eat and how important it is to have "the same meal", which I already believe in and strive to do. I want to check this book out from the library again because there were several recipes I wanted to try. Lots of fun ideas that are adaptable to both kids and adults.
• 
  Lee

  this cookbook is definitely geared towards parents with young children, but i liked it. The only recipe that still puzzles me is a popsicle made out of frozen peas, not pea puree, but a bunch of frozen peas...did like some of the snack ideas - cheaper and healthier, especially the sunflower seed brittle, the apple-cinnamon sticks or the apple oat bars.