Cooking family recipes with Annabel Karmel for Busy Mum’s Cookbook launch

When I was asked to participate in a cook-along with UK’s no 1 baby chef Annabel Karmel and blogger A Mummy Too the other week, I made sure the email read ‘cook-along’ and not ‘cook-off’. I’ve made that mistake one time too many, and I’m fully aware I need to learn more about cooking as opposed to be entering cooking competitions.

The challenge is that I don’t have much time cooking for the family on weekdays, and that’s what made me excited about the Annabel Karmel opportunity and her new book Annabel Karmel’s Busy Mum’s Cookbook (Ebury Press, £20)–the first family cookbook from the bestselling baby and toddler cookbook author.

After cooking two of the recipes from the book with Annabel at the cook-along in her London home last week (watch us cooking Courgette Spaghetti HERE) and chatting to her about the book, I realised Busy Mum’s Cookbook, which includes 100 simple family recipes, will be spot on for active London mums like me.

I need more inspiration to cook nutritious and exciting weekday dinners and tempting party food, but I seldom open a cookbook. One of the reasons I don’t use cookbooks more often is tediously long lists of ingredients, meaning we’re unlikely to have all the things needed for the recipe, and if we do buy everything, we’re highly unlikely to use all of them again.

In Busy Mum’s Cookbook, Annabel includes recipes with as little as six ingredients, and recipes that can be prepared in 20 minutes, which is exactly what I need, considering I usually have the duration of one episode of Charlie & Lola to cook a family meal.
I also like that Annabel has tested the recipes on her own family, and I feel she has a great understanding of what children like and how to make family meals exciting.

At the cook-along, she introduced me to the spiraliser, a kitchen gadget that apparently became popular last year without me registering its existence. After trying making her Courgette Spaghetti with her spiraliser, however, I was completely sold, and felt I needed one straight away.

Annabel’s Courgette Spaghetti recipe from the book tasted delicious, and I know three-year-old Big Girl will love eating vegetables presented as pasta. It’s fun and creative, and the dish was the ultimate weekday dinner.

With this cookbook in the kitchen, I may even start serving suppers at play dates and surprise Daddy T with something super impressive like Annabel’s Beef Wellington.

I’m feeling inspired!

Annabel Karmel’s Busy Mum’s Cookbook is out today and available to buy from Amazon. To watch us cooking Courgette Spaghetti, click HERE)

Tags: Annabel Karmel, Busy Mums Cookbook, Cookbook, Cooking, Family meal, Nutrition, Pasta, Spiraliser, Vegetables