A tasty lunch with a guru!

On Monday I pootled off to London for a lunch date,having been invited by Dorling Kindersley to meet Annabel Karmel and discuss her new book and range of sauces and snacks.

I was joined by some fabulous Mummy bloggers, the lovely Katie Hill who blogs for i village HERE and Mumsrock.

Now when I initially got the invite I was in two minds, one because the gorgeous husband was off work and we've been having a stay cation whilst Monty recuperates frpm his operation so didn't want to swan off and leave him with the kids. Also the fact that I have gone down the baby led weaning route and Annabel is a puree guru.

However I was soon persuaded otherwise when the lovely contact from DK mentioned that Annabel would be only to happy to talk to me about getting Monty to enjoy food again after his operation. I also was reminded by a friend that Annabel doesn't just do purees, but also amazing finger food and family recipes too. I looked at my bookshelf, where many Annabel Karmel cookbooks already reside and decided I'd be silly to pass up such an opportunity.

Annabel was great when I opened up about Monty's eating quirks since he's had such a bad time with his ear nose and throat problems. I explained how little he eats and although what he does eat is very healthy, his diet is quite limited as he'll only eat certain things.The things that he does eat Annabel thought were great but I really would love him to have a bit more variety.

Annabel suggested:

• as Monty has a preference for lunch/snack/tapas type food to relax and go with this. So for example he likes wraps so she suggested lots of different fillings or making quesilladas.
• choosing a new bowl or plate that he likes and only serving small amounts so he doesn't feel overwhelmed
• knowing that it will get better!Annabel set my mind at ease that it is understandable he eats so little after having a permanent cold for two years.
• hiding fruit or veg in his food, blending more veg into soups or sauces. A needs must attitude!
• Stop worrying.He doesn't eat a large variety of fruit.He only eats dried fruit,or bananas. She said not to worry as dried fruit is fruit after all!
• Cooking and baking with Monty, she even gave me one of her toddler cookbooks to keep and it has some great recipes for family meals in.

Annabel has some great  products out such as dried fruit which is (unlike most other brands) not fried and doesn't have oil added to it, corn snacks a bit like puffed rice cakes and fabulous sauces that have NOTHING  nasty added.  Check out her website for details here but honestly I have studied the ingredients and done the taste test- huge thumbs up!

And if you are just about to wean and want some fab recipes and really good inspiration for finger food then you can buy the Weaning book HERE.