Trick 'em with some treats - Deceptively Delicious

I wouldn't say that Monkey Man is the pickiest eater on the block - he eats more than just chicken nuggets and mac & cheese, but he's not exactly the most adventurous eater either. He has a few favorite veggies and unfortunately as we found out a few years ago, he's actually allergic to green beans (!) and navy beans - both of which were in the list of favorites. So sometimes it's a little struggle trying to get him to try new stuff. Every now and then I can make cheese sauce over steamed veggies, but isn't that kind of defeating the purpose of eating healthy veggies if you're going to drown them in cheese?

I love me a good cookbook, too. I have a pretty extensive collection of them and will sometimes spend an afternoon on the couch with a few of them looking for new things to try. Blame my mom for that, since she started me in the kitchen when I was old enough to stand up at the stove.

Parent Bloggers asked me if I'd be interested in checking out Jessica Seinfeld's new cookbook, Deceptively Delicious - and I thought it would not only feed my cookbook addiction, but also maybe give me some good ideas for other veggies to try with Monkey Man. I'm not exactly very adventurous in the veggie department myself, so I figured maybe this would be good for both of us.

The cookbook itself is adorable. Hard cover, spiral bound, and very pink. The pages are durable and probably wipable too (although thankfully I didn't have to test that part out). Jessica introduces her family, intersperses comments that are presumably from her kids as well as her husband Jerry (yes, that Jerry), and offers her own brand of advice when it comes to dealing with kids and their eating. There are great illustrations and photos throughout the cookbook and it's very visually appealing. I liked that part a lot.

The general idea of the book, if you haven't already heard all the buzz, is that she recommends using vegetable purees in recipes to boost the nutritional values of regular foods like macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, cheesesticks, and so on. Jessica collaborated not only with a chef, but also with a nutritionist to assemble the recipes. She goes step by step over what you need to prepare the vegetables, how to make the purees, what kind of equipment you need for the pureeing as well as any baking or cooking. It's really very thorough and I believe that anyone could successfully do it.

I decided that I'd put a few recipes to the test - nothing too complicated but something I could easily fix one night after work or on a weekend when we're running around like a bunch of maniacs. First, I tried the Pita Pizzas - I had some baby spinach that I had pureed the day before, so I was able to throw them together in just a few minutes. I liked that I could use things that I already had in my pantry - wheat pita bread, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese along with the spinach puree. And you know, they were good and perfect for something like an afternoon snack or lunch when you're in a hurry and the kids are starving. You could probably jazz them up a bit by adding other toppings too if you wanted to.

The second thing that I tried was the recipe for Mozzarella Sticks. Yeah, I know, not the most gourmet recipe but Monkey Man adores them in restaurants so I figured why not. This used cauliflower puree as well as flaxseed meal and you also have the option of adding sesame seeds (which I left off since I don't like them). Well, he didn't care for the flaxseed meal on them, so I am going to try them again another time using just whole wheat breadcrumbs. So it wasn't a total flop, just a temporary setback.

The last thing were the Aloha Chicken Kebabs. Jessica recommends using sweet potato puree and pineapple puree - well, I didn't have any sweet potatoes on hand so I used all pineapple puree instead. I also, after the Mozzarella Stick Incident, left the flaxseed out and just stuck with the breadcrumbs. These were pretty tasty too - Monkey Man didn't care for the coconut but she suggests leaving it off if it's too objectionable. Personally, I liked these and they were pretty easy to fix.

I'm anxious to try a few more of these, especially the desserts. The chocolate chip cookie recipe incorporating chickpeas looks especially intriguing and I've heard raves about them - and who doesn't love a good cookie? So that's next on the list.


Seinfeld devotes quite a bit of space to nutritional information and the benefits of eating fruit and vegetables. One thing that I'd change, however, is to add a little more emphasis about actually serving fruits and veggies with these dishes and not just depending on the purees to meet the nutritional needs of your family. She does mention it briefly but I think it could be easily lost with all of the other eye-catching features of the cookbook.

Is Seinfeld's idea new? Nah, mothers have probably been sneaking healthy stuff into our food since the prehistoric era. But what she has done is incorporate some great ideas into a format that is visually appealing and full of enthusiasm.

Check out Deceptively Delicious for the picky eaters in your house!