Review: Ella's Kitchen The First Foods Book

Not many people know but I'm very bad at cooking. Even the simplest things can taste and look awful, having said that I understand that L can't have pouches and jars all her life and I'm willing to give a cooking a go again.

I have stopped giving L her favourite jars for few weeks now, what seemed to be so normal and comforting for me is gone for good from our lives. Jars were my saviour as L would refuse normal food and I was convinced that baby-led weaning is not for us. But I came to realisation that I was wrong, now I know that if we started with baby- led weaning earlier she would be more accepting. I spoke with health visitor about portions L has, she tends to have a little bit and the rest goes on the floor, which seems to be perfectly normal but I want her to eat better.

To help me with that Ella's Kitchen have kindly provided the First Food Book (RRP £14.99/£4 with Prime)

"We think weaning should be full of fun, scrummy tastes, and lots of big smiles, so we've created the First Foods Book - the purple one!

Packed with 130 yummy recipes for weaning right up to the big table, there's everything you need to know to help your little one on their tiny taste bud adventure!"

The First Foods Book is great for new mums and dads as covers all aspects of weaning: when to start, how to start, what is allowed to eat and what's not from the perspective of "nutritionists, baby experts and real mums, dads and carers".

The book is suitable for babies who are starting their weaning journey up to a year. It includes more than 130 recipes "from single-veg purees to exciting combinations, full meals" and finger food ideas.

Every recipe includes cooking time estimate, the number of people the recipe is meant to serve, ingredients list, the recipe itself and the photo.

What I like the most about the book is it's index page, you can find any recipe by looking up the ingredients you already have in the house.

I hope my cooking will only get better with a help from the First Foods Book.

Here is courgette fritters I made today (I need to work on that one):

Disclaimer: I was sent the item mentioned above for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

L eats- Ella's kitchen

L is a big fan of pouches, when she is not in the mood to eat solid food or a jar, pouches are always a saviour! I was so delighted to receive Ella's Kitchen products for a review as was eyeing them up in my local supermarket for ages.

Our mission is to develop healthy eating habits that last a lifetime by offering a range of tasty, natural and healthy 100% organic foods for babies and kids, which are handy for mums + dads and fun for little ones.
We think it's important to always approach things from a child's point of view. So, we've taken simple, natural ingredients that ooze goodness and created foods, and packaging, that should really connect with kids - with flavours, colours, textures and even names that will appeal to all of their senses.

We have received: 

- from 4 months pouches: parsnips, prunes, peas
- from 6 months pouches: lots of lentils, parsnips & peas; cauliflower cheese with butter beans; tomato and lentil bake with red peppers
- baby finger food range

Parsnips pouch (70g, £0.79) 

Contains organic parsnips 75%, water 25%. 
It tastes smooth, the parsnip flavour is there but it is not overpowering. L have tried parsnip pouch for the first time and at first wasn't sure about it and wouldn't suck straight from a pouch but the moment I put it on a spoon she accepted it without a problem.

Peas pouch (70g, £0.79) 

Contains organic peas 50%, water 50% and are L's least favourite.
I have tried it myself and it seems that regardless of a brand peas purees have a strong flavour which you can either like or hate.

Prunes pouch (70g, £0.79)

Contains organic prunes 100%. 
This pouch was a well needed "medicine" for constipated L and it did it's trick well. As prunes are quite sweet in general, it had a strong flavour but not too bad. It was a little bit messy though as I allowed L to hold the pouch and due to the dark colour the mess was more obvious than with other flavours.

The orange one pouch (90g) 

Suitable from 6 months and contains organic apples 51%, organic mangoes 30%, organic bananas 10%, organic coconuts 9%, a dash of organic lemon juice concentrate. 
I can't seem to find a single pouch for sale but you can purchase a pack of 5 pouches for £3.25. I have noticed previously that mango is a very overpowering flavour that is the case with the orange one, having said that it tasted nice and L finished it in few seconds.

Cauliflower cheese with butter beans pouch (£1.29) 

Suitable from 6 months and contains organic vegetable stock 44% (water and organic vegetables: swedes, parsnips + carrots), organic potatoes 19%, organic cauliflower 15%, organic whole milk 11%, organic cheddar cheese (milk) 6%, organic butter beans 5%. 

Cauliflower has overpowering flavour, but still a nice smooth texture.

Tomato lentil bake with red peppers (£1.29) 

Suitable from 6 months and contains organic lentils 46%, organic sweet potatoes 32%, organic red peppers 12%, organic tomatoes 10%.

This is my favourite pouch from Ella's Kitchen, tastes lovely. I must admit I enjoyed a smooth, not overpowering tomotoey-peppery flavour more than L, she is not a big fan of peppers at the moment.

Lots of lentils, parsnips and peas (£1.29) 

Suitable from 6 months and contains organic lentils 48%, organic parsnips 31%, organic peas 21%. 
This pouch has a strong, overpowering flavour of peas. As L doesn't like anything pea related that was our least favourite pouch.

Grab me melty puffs tomatoes leeks (£0.69) 

                Grab me melty puffs strawberries bananas (£0.69)

Ella's kitchen snack range is a great way of developing gripping, picking, grabbing skills and exploring of course.
These grab me melty puffs are suitable from 7 months. L is still a bit uncertain about a new shape and texture but she doesn't mind them at all. They are crispy, melt quickly once in a mouth and have very gentle flavours.

Pick me melty hoops cheese tomatoes (£1.49)
Pick me melty hoops vanilla bananas (£1.49)

These tiny hoops are suitable form 10 months old and are L's new toy. She likes to reach for the and grip few hoop at once. Same as puffs they melt and I’m are perfect for developing finger and thumb ‘pincer grip’.

                       Grip me baby biscuits apple ginger (£1.99)

Grip me baby biscuits are suitable from 10 months old and are great for out and about as they are individually wrapped.

We couldn't taste apple but ginger is certainly there. It will take a little bit of time to get used to a harder texture of biscuits. L tired to bite them but it is a little bit hard at the moment and she found that the easiest way is just to suck on them.

We like Ella's kitchen products for its funky packaging, L's face lights up when she sees colorful packaging and I like that it all products contain healthy ingredients without  hidden additives or nasty stuff. 

Ella's kitchen have kindly sent us jingly apple and funky vintage building blocks to encourage L to ‘pick’, ‘grab’ and ‘grip’. We have thoroughly enjoyed playing with them. I liked building blocks a lot and here is one of our creations.

Disclaimer: I was sent the items mentioned above as well as jinggly apple and building blocks for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.