I got this book awhile ago…before Maile came down with her gluten allergy and decided I wanted to try sneaking veggies into my kids meals. No child is pickier than MY child. Foods that they I KNOW they like because they ate them as babies/toddlers, they will no longer touch. The worst is when they won’t even TRY a bite of something and I’ll tell you what, I’m a total push over mom. I don’t force them to eat stuff…I should. I will. I’ll try. Baby steps.
That’s not to say that it isn’t offered to them. If I make broccolli, for example, I put some on their plate and encourage them to try it, but usually they’ll opt to fill up on something else that they do like. I’m not trying to have a big fight at the dinner table over food.
The Sneaky Chef was written by Missy Chase Lapine and then in an exciting Hollywood twist Jerry Seinfeld’s wife came out with the same book three months later and called it Deceptively Delicious. I actually have never seen Seinfeld’s book so I can’t vouch for how similar they are, but rumor has it some of the recipes and writing is suspect. Then Seinfeld went on Oprah and became an instant success and Lapine got her panties in a bunch and they’ve been battling back and forth ever since. I don’t know if an official lawsuit has been filed or what…but it’s been a pretty exciting literary battle.
That being said!! I happened to snag a copy of Lapine’s book from the library and like it SO much that I went ahead and bought it. In the first half of the book Lapine provides a bunch of different puree concoctions that she calls by color.
So far I’ve only tried the orange puree…
I just peeled and chopped up a couple of carrots and a sweet potato and then boiled them for about 10 minutes.
Then I stuck them in a food processor and pureed away.
I did it! What do you do with all that yummy goodness you ask?? You just dump about 1/4 cup into whatever food it can be blended with. I put it in spaghetti sauce, french toast mix, quesadillas, and macaroni and cheese.
I think the next puree I try will be the purple one…I’ll let you know how it goes!