Book Review – Deceptively Delicious

Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food by Jessica Seinfeld

2010 0412Easter20100111small Book Review Deceptively Delicious

In January of this year, I made a rather grandiose New Year’s resolution, public knowledge. Here, on this very site, I stated that my goal was to take my sorry self from “domestic disaster” in the kitchen to, at the very least, “competent-enough-not-to-be-shamed-at-school-bake-sales.” First lesson learned? Never, ever make New Year’s resolutions in public. Second lesson? My child couldn’t care less whether I ever make anything other than spaghetti and meatballs. Who was I trying to impress anyway?

Despite the fact that I had to shame myself into it, I’ve become quite an autodidactic chef. This is a fancy way of saying, I taught myself the difference between a Bernaise and a Hollandaise, and I now know that the word “parboil” is not a mispronunciation of “hardboil.” There was an incident involving the fire department – I wish I was kidding about this – but that’s par for the course when learning to cook, right? Right?

I digress. The point is that if I can do this, so can you, but it’s always nice to have a little help along the way, whether it’s a cavalcade of large red trucks with wailing sirens, or simply a good cookbook. Today, we’ll skip the bells and whistles, and go straight for the bookshelf.

Primary among my supporters in this endeavour to improve my kitchen prowess was my mother. This might have had to do with the fact that it was her stove I set on fire, or maybe she was just being supportive. Either way, she gifted me with what has become a staple in my recipe repertoire – Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, by Jessica Seinfeld.

As I mentioned, my son would never look past spaghetti and meatballs – and there are lots of other kids who feel the same – but let’s face it, that’s not going to work out in the long term. Living in an increasingly health conscious society, we hear horror stories of childhood obesity – primarily in America (sorry friends) – after years of feeding our kids, and ourselves, processed, fatty, sugar-filled foods. We all know this has to change, but that’s easier said than done. How many of us come home from work at the end of the day, and want to slave over a hot stove? Isn’t it easier just to pop some nuggets and fries in the oven and call it a day?

Jessica’s primary objective in writing this book was to create easy recipes, incorporating healthy foods, families can make and enjoy together. Her recipes allow parents to give kids, “what they want and what they need at the same time.” What they want are things like macaroni and cheese, burgers and chocolate chip cookies. What they need are complex carbohydrates, proteins and essential fatty acids. Jessica’s takes these traditional, child-friendly, staples and reinvents them by adding…vegetables.

You heard me – vegetables. Even in those chocolate chip cookies.

Intended for parents, this is a novel approach to getting your children to expand their palettes without the stress of nagging them through dinner to eat their veggies. The book is broken down into three sections explaining the what, the why, and the how-to, incorporate vegetable purees into cooking and baking, to create simple meals that are deceptively delicious.

Recipes include breakfast, dinner and dessert samplings, with easy to follow ingredient lists, and instructions. Replete with pictures of the finished products, it’s easy to see how anyone could be fooled into thinking that what they’re eating is standard fare. The trick is that at the beginning of each recipe, Seinfeld gives us the sneaky bit – the non-traditional vegetable(s) that we’ll be adding to the mix.

Some of the more surprising additions include Banana Bread (with cauliflower), Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (with sweet potatoe), and Brownies (with carrot and spinach). The key is to add the required purees, as well as healthier alternatives (like whole wheat flour instead of all purpose), to recipes that children already enjoy, making them healthier.

The book is brimming with delicious eats for the whole family. How do I know? I had to try, of course! I made Jessica’s Coffee Cake (with butternut squash), and the results were to die for. This book has definitely become required reading, and eating, in our house. It’s sure to be a hit at yours as well.

Bryna is a mother, blogger, public relations professional and humanitarian relief worker. She currently works as Communications Specialist for Engine Communications in Belleville, Ontario.