While the bloggers who reviewed Deceptively Delicious had varying degrees of success with the recipes they tried, nearly all of them came away with an appreciation for Jessica Seinfeld’s goal in writing the book: to get kids eating healthy food.
(Oh, and nearly all of them adored the art direction - lots of pink and kitschy retro graphics and type. This book’s got great counter appeal.)
It’s no revelation that most kids balk at eating vegetables. As one blogger succinctly put it: “Many kids simply don’t have the taste for veggies yet, but they can benefit from the fiber, vitamins and minerals found in them.” Another blogger added: “For some kids, it’s the texture of food that makes them repulsed. Pureeing foods they don’t like makes the vegetables go down much easier.”
And it’s not just kids that shun veggies. Several bloggers admitted that they were interested in Deceptively Delicious as a means of getting the entire family to eat more vegetables:
- “[My husband] will eat veggies, too, but only a few specific varieties, and only if prepared in certain ways.“
- “Never mind my kids, my husband won’t touch vegetables. At all. Ever. Well, occasionally I can get him to eat a small salad, but it’s usually drenched in some yummy-yet-fat-laden dressing…The idea of getting him to eat some roughage in the form of trickery was very appealing to me.“
- “We all ate cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots - and no one noticed the veggies, even me…cauliflower and carrots are something no member of this family willing prepares or eats.“
- “I’m not just loving [the recipes] for [my son], I’m digging that I’m tricking myself. Any way I can get more food in my food and not notice is alright by me. “
A few bloggers did raise a valid point regarding preparation and presentation as a means of encouraging kids to eat. One mother told of how “I introduced them to raw red bell peppers by slicing them into thin sticks, standing them up in a cup like a bouquet and serving it with a side of hummus. Worked like a charm, and I saved myself the trouble of hauling out the Cuisinart.” Another suggested “finding different ways of preparing the vegetables to make them more appealing to kids on their own merit, not because they are hidden and undetectable.”
And others were not enthused by the prospect of pureeing. One mother, who often gets home from work at 7pm or later, admitted: “I hadn’t realized that we were going to have to puree…I’m wimpy when it comes to food (unless it’s dessert) and sometimes lazy.” Another mother agreed: “…for just about every recipe, you have to puree the veggies. At first, I was really turned off by that. I didn’t really feel like I have time to puree anything.” A third confessed: “I used jarred baby food for some of the recipes instead of pureeing the food. Definitely not cost-effective. Definitely easier than pureeing the food myself.”
But one skeptic gave it a whirl and wrote: “While I did initially think the purées were going to be a pain, they turned out to be way easier to prepare than I originally thought.” Yet another advocated “Jessica’s system whereby you do your purees on Sunday night, store them in ziplocs, and then reach for them whenever you prepare a meal - even breakfast.”
But whether they puree or not, these bloggers routinely put great effort into cooking, because as one noted: “…it allows me to monitor what goes into my family’s bodies. I know exactly what I cooked with, how much I used, and can be assured that it will often times be on the healthier side versus fast food.” Another blogger, who lauded the author and the book for having “done more to take stress out of my life as a mom than any parenting book I’ve read,” lamented that “there are no nutritional numbers for any of the recipes in this book. How much am I gaining by adding one or two tablespoons of pureed cauliflower to our mac and cheese? I’d like to know.”
That’s not to say that the bloggers didn’t recognize the vast amounts of nutrition information presented in the book. On the contrary, several commented positively on that point: “I especially liked the section detailing exactly WHAT is in a vegetable that makes it healthy, as well as the nutritional guidelines for children.” But many also agreed that they would have liked to have seen “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.”
All of those points aside, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Which recipes were fabulous, and which ones fizzled?
First, the fabulous:
- “These recipes went over particularly well at our house: French toast, pancakes, applesauce muffins, pancakes, chicken nuggets, rice balls, mozzarella sticks, burgers, ranch dressing, tortilla cigars and of course, those brownies!“
- “Two of them in particular were resounding successes: Chicken Nuggets (broccoli) and Italian Meatloaf (carrot). When I cooked the Chicken Nuggets I baked them rather than cooking them on the stovetop in a small amount of oil. For the Italian Meatloaf, next time I’ll cut the celery even smaller, as my 7 year old balked a little bit at the sight of green in meatloaf. Of the recipes I tried, these two came out the best.“
- “Another one of their favorites is the Tortilla Cigars that are made with yellow squash and carrots.“
- “My veggie-phobic son and husband gobbled up my Macaroni and Cheese (with pureed navy beans) and asked for seconds…They downed heaping spoon-fulls of Mashed Potatoes (with cauliflower), and inhaled my Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (with banana and zucchini) in record time.“
- “The frozen yogurt pops were a big hit - of course, who doesn’t love a good frozen mixture of yogurt, pureed berries and a bit of sugar? As an alternative to higher fat ice creams, I’d definitely make these again.“
- “I tried adding some butternut squash puree to our mac n’ cheese. I served this to some guests and everyone cleaned their plates.“
- “…my favorite recipe of deception of all is the chocolate fondue. The fat in this scrumptious dip is avocados. Avocados, pureed carrots, cocoa powder and powdered sugar make the most amazing chocolate fondue you’ve ever had. How ingenious to figure out that avocados also turn brown when they’re mashed - just like chocolate.“
And a few fizzles:
- “Scrambled Eggs (cauliflower) and Tofu Nuggets (broccoli). I knew the Tofu would be a long shot - dipped in egg and spinach or broccoli puree then rolled in a mixture of breadcrumbs, flaxseed meal, Parmesan cheese, and paprika. All three kids ate one small bite of one small nugget. Which leaves us with the Scrambled Eggs. Normally my kids devour scrambled eggs. Not these. The texture was a bit off, as was the taste.“
- Chocolate cupcakes with avocado: “The texture was different than normal, more dense. And you needed to eat them just after they cooled but before they were cold, or you could taste the avocado, so the window of opportunity was pretty small. I offered one to my finicky eater and she - I’m not kidding - licked it and threw it on the floor.“
As for the controversy surrounding the practice of hiding vegetables in food, one mother likened it to every other aspect of parenting:
And another described her own deceptive tactics that she used years ago, further emphasizing another blogger’s wry comment that “Jessica Seinfeld did not invent the idea of sneaking healthful vegetable purees into children’s meals - and nowhere does she make that claim in her excellent cook book“:
Finally, a third summed up the essence of Deceptively Delicious perfectly: “Because when all is said and done, it’s a beautiful book with easy recipes and wholesome ingredients aimed at keeping our kids healthy - shouldn’t all books be so noble?”
To purchase your own copy of Deceptively Delicious, click here!
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