While cruising the Interweb, I came across this cry for help from a mom trying to feed picky eaters with already-cooked carrots, cauliflower and squash she was given. Apparently, her husband and sons refuse to eat those items.
The suggestions focused on pureeing the vegetables to hide them in foods her family would eat. One commenter suggested the book Deceptively Delicious
Ironically, some have accused Deceptively Delicious author Jessica Seinfeld (wife of Jerry) of dishonesty in using others’ ideas. The Sneaky Chef
For this blog, though, the important thing is the tactic of avoiding waste by pureeing and inserting vegetables into recipes, not who published it first. Besides, as the Slate piece points out, it’s not a new practice. Just one that we may have forgotten about.
Have you used any of these cookbooks? Or do you have a sneaky strategy you’d like to share? I’m all ears.
7 Comments
The tricks in those cook books are nothing new to this old mom!! Applesauce and cottage cheese mixed into pancake batter was my favorite way of getting a few food groups into finger food.
Awesome–I thought pancakes were only finger food in my house!
The way to get picky little eaters to eat well is to sneak in the healthy stuff while ALSO introducing healthy food at every meal.
We do a “no thank you bite” that the kids have to do. I even make their friends practice this family tradition.
I think of my kids as being picky, but they eat WAY better than any of their friends. You should see the look on their friends’ faces when I serve black bean burgers or salads.
It’s amazing how the gag reflex can be so easily instigated by a humble leaf of lettuce.
-Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
http://thenonconsumeradvocate.wordpress.com
I’ve used these cookbooks to get even more veggies into our diets. My little girl eats most vegetables, most days, so it’s from a nutrition standpoint that I’ve used it. And heck, who can’t use that???
One thing that I did sneak into her food, and occasionally still, do is meat. We don’t eat a ton of it, but would like her to have some of the nutrients occasionally…so we puree it and put it into sauces she already loves…like steak into marinara.
Some sneaky tricks to incorporate more veges in dinners and lunches (for families and kids) include:
-Pureeing: Definitely for soups, broths, and other fillings
-Smoothies: Veges with some very sweet fruit such as apples, strawberries, and yogurt is another good trick.
-Breads: It acts like a “thickener” such as zucchini bread, banana-carrot-nut bread, etc.
-Tortillas: Mixing spinach and other greens in with chicken covered with cheese is also a good trick. The cheese and sauce usually over power the spinach or other green tastes.
Regards,
Sustaino
http://www.sustaino.blogspot.com
Frozen spinach pulverized in the food processor turns to a fine almost dust like texture and can be added to just about anything. I frequently add it to pasta sauce, soups and just about anything else I can hide it in from my husband (big kids sometimes also need help with veggies).
It is good to have at least more than one cookbook on this idea to choose from. If you consider how
many cookbooks that are available with the same recipes, there can be no charge for dishonesty. To add another ingredient to the recipe is just making a recipe of your own. If it makes a child eat a food that is good for him, it is just a clever idea.
The drawing at the beginning of this article was excellent and definitely made the right point.