Deceptively Delicious
Using Jessica Seinfeld’s Cookbook in our Katy home
I put Jessica Seinfeld’s cookbook, Deceptively Delicious, on my wish list the year it came out. I received it as a Christmas gift and immediately began cooking from it. Her premise is that we can puree vegetables and include them in recipes to boost the nutrition of a meal. The idea is that as children eat the muffins you serve them or the chicken nuggets you’ve made for dinner, they are also getting a serving of vegetables, which they may not otherwise have eaten.
When I first began using the book, I was already pureeing foods for my first-born. She was in the baby food stage, and so I’d chop and steam and puree huge amounts of vegetables at once and have them on hand in the freezer. Then, it was fairly easy to have pureed veggies on hand for the Deceptively Delicious recipes.
As time went on, my only child became more demanding, and then became the first of two. I went from being concerned about feeding my family something healthy to just being concerned with finding something to feed my family in the first place. I admittedly let my convictions on healthful eating slack.Â
Recently, though, I took a good look at what my children had eaten in a week’s time. The nutrition was more acceptable than I anticipated it would be, with one major weakness: veggies. Even when my girls were presented with vegetables at lunch or dinner, they’d ignore them for the most part.   It would be fair to say that in a day, my children probably eat one full serving of vegetables each.Â
So, I dusted off the Deceptively Delicious cookbook again, looked at our menu for the week, and made some slight adjustments. Instead of my usual way of making quesadillas, I inserted Seinfeld’s recipe. I did the same for three meals, and depending on how this week goes, I plan to use the breakfast recipes next week, too.
I don’t have the time I used to have to devote a full day to steaming and pureeing vegetables, so instead, I begin baking or steaming the vegetable I need at the beginning of naptime. Once it is cooked, I stick it in the blender and quickly churn it up. For this part of my life, small tasks (like pureeing one head of cauliflower) seem to fit in to my day much more easily.
I am excited about thinking of the health I am providing my children, and so far, they have enjoyed the recipes I’ve presented them with. I’m not going to stop putting broccoli in it’s purest form in front of them, but until they decide they are dying for another helping of it… I know there is Deceptively Delicious to help me out.
What about you? Do you sneak vegetables in to your family’s diet? Share your helpful hints below!
