My Book

How to Grow your Family is the first cookbook of its kind: a collection of delicious and wholesome recipes to accompany expecting and new parents all the way through from pregnancy and into new parenthood.

I wanted to create a positive recipe book to accompany this exciting yet exhausting stage in life so the recipes are designed to make you feel happy and positive about the food you’re eating by focussing on what you can eat rather than what you can’t.

There are over 110 recipes in the book, broken down into 6 chapters: Trimesters 1-3, Feeding tired new parents, weaning and family food. Each recipe is approved by a qualified nutritionist and each chapter highlights the important nutrients needed during each stage.

As nutritional requirements and appetite changes from trimester to trimester, so do the recipes. The first trimester focuses on energy-rich food when all you want is carbs carbs carbs whereas trimester two incorporates more fish, fruit and vegetables when appetites tend to return to normal. In trimester three protein and calcium-rich small meals become more important and advice is given for batchcooking to prepare for baby’s arrival.

Learn how to make meals and snacks to support breastfeeding and master a few simple tricks like one-hand dishes for when you can’t put baby down. Advice is given for weaning, first foods and combining flavours as well as recipes for finger foods and healthy food for baby to eat on the go. Finally, the book concludes with family recipes that can be enjoyed together by everyone, young or old. Cooking for my pregnant wife helped me stay involved at a time when it can be hard to know what to do. This book is for anyone looking for some fun, healthy and delicious food to keep them going through these magical years.