Deceptively Delicious: A New Cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld

I’m sure you’ve heard about this new cookbook, and the controversy about it (which I will address at the end of this review), written by Jessica Seinfeld (yes, Jerry’s wife and mother to their 3 children).  I love the concept behind it, especially with a picky toddler refusing to seat 90% of his veggies.

According to her website, www.deceptivelydelicious.com, "Jessica Seinfeld, like many busy parents, struggled to get her three kids to eat healthily. After much trial-and-error — and many mealtime battles — she discovered a foolproof system: delicious and easy-to-make stealth recipes that sneak in puréed veggies so kids will never suspect the foods they love are actually good for them! Deceptively Delicious has all of Jessica’s winning combinations, including cauliflower in macaroni and cheese, and spinach in brownies. She also shares tips on making healthy snacks and improving store-bought foods."

Armed with a new 7 cup Cuisinart food processor, I tackled making Jessica’s purées first. So much easier than using my now broken blender, this food processor easily puréed the vegetables. I loved that Seinfeld gave directions on how to cook and purée every veggie under the sun.  Spinach was steamed first and then pureed. I quickly figured out how much 1/4 of a cup was and I liked the method of putting the purées into little ziplocs. Then I went full steam ahead the next day, roasting and puréeing a butternut squash, steaming and puréeing a whole cauliflower, several yellow squash, and finally several zucchinis. I followed her hints to write the dates created on the bags with a sharpie. I froze practically all of the purées (since our kitchen was about to be demolished and I really wasn’t going to be able to cook that much).  That night I made her chicken nuggets, which were so easy to make! My husband,son and I loved it. I was surprised that Ben didn’t notice that under the breading, the spinach made the chicken green. My husband and I thought the spinach gave it a great taste and we couldn’t get enough of it. The recipe’s a keeper!!  That night I also made a family size box of Annie’s Mac and Cheese and put yellow squash puree in it. Ben loved that too!  I froze meal size portions afterwords for easy serving during our construction.

Since we are now in the middle of construction, I obviously can’t cook anymore, but that doesn’t mean I can’t use the purées!! I kept out a yellow squash puree and keep adding it to Ben’s mac and cheese (in the little Beechnut or Gerber containers). It does work a little better, if you mix it in a new bowl to serve. He can’t tell the difference and I know he’s getting his veggies. Unfreezing the bagged purées in a bowl full of hot water is also easy. She recommends cutting on of the corners of the bag to pour the puree out (another good idea).

Now I am also adding flaxseed meal to many of our dishes also, as Jessica recommends.  II used it top the corn muffins I made last week (from a mix) and didn’t affect the taste at all. As soon as we have a kitchen again, I plan on making many more of Jessica’s recipes. Oprah recently featured Jessica (and loved the food). Jessica’s tips and recipes can be found on Oprah.com. A portion of author’s royalties will be donated to Baby Buggy.

Also following Jessica Seinfeld’s advice, I keep offering a small selection of veggies at every meal for him and I always offer him what we are eating (an entree with a vegetable side dish too).   Sometimes my little fussy eater will actually take a few bites. My husband and I love to eat vegetables, so I hope my son will come back to eating them voluntarily, Until then, I’m going to be deceptive! 

Click here to buy this book!

Writer’s Note: Since I reviewed this book and Missy Chase Lapine’s book, The Sneaky Chef, recently, I feel qualified to comment on the NY Daily News’s recent Rush and Molloy story about Jessica’s book. Click hereThe Sneaky Chef.  I feel, even though the concepts in the book are similar, the puree recipes are very different. In Seinfeld’s book, one vegetable at a time is pureed for use. Lapine’s book’s purees are done by color (the white puree, for example is cauliflower and zucchini, with a little lemon juice). Yes, some of the recipes are similar, but they both use kid friendly recipes like Mac and Cheese, chicken nuggets…etc..  How different can you really make those recipes? For chicken nuggets, It makes sense to add a vegetable puree to the egg mixture, before you put it in the breading and cook it! I enjoyed both books and feel that they should serve as a companion to each other, rather than replace the other. The more suggestions on how to get my child to eat his veggies, the better! to read my review of

According to Vogue’s September 2007 article, Talking Fashion: Norwich Notes, Jessica Seinfeld had some help with her book. Chef Jennifer Iserloh (www.skinnychef.com) helped develop and test the recipes. She also had input from nutritionist Joy Bauer, parenting experts Jean Mandelbaum, Ph.D and Pat Shimm, and the Foreword was written by Dr. Roxana Mehran and Dr. Mehmet Oz.

– Nancy

What do you do to stop mealtime battles? Do you agree or disagree with the Deceptively Delicious methods?

Comments

Tammy on October 25th, 2007

TWO books which are:

both cookbooks
shown to the same publisher
in the same year
with the same UNIQUE recipes
on the same UNIQUE cooking concept
by authors who live in the same city
with nearly IDENTICAL book covers
both pitched to OPRAH

IS JUST A COINCIDENCE. No way, I smell a rat!

Writer’s note: Sorry, I don’t think so.

yaosa on October 25th, 2007

To each his/her own and I wouldn’t buy the book or use the method.

I come from a long line of chefs on my mother’s side of the family and I found that taste is always changing. Just the other night, my son who is 8 years old, began to eat raw tomotoes. I, myself, would not and did not eat raw tomotoes until my early 20′s and now I prefer to eat them on their own with salt and pepper and a dash of olive oil and lemon everyday. My daughter is a grazer and when she was 2 years old refused to eat any cooked food unless it was dry and crackly. She wouldn’t eat raw fruit either. Of course, I racked my brain but I ended up giving her sprouted grains and omega fish oil, emergen-C and juice plus (vegetable and fruit) powder. She ate yogurt, cheese and eggs and greens. She is now 5 years old and eats fish and chicken and apples and plums and greens and crackly foods of course:-)

My point is that in a culture which already drowns the food, I think it’s better to teach children how to acquire a palette not drown it and cover up the taste and texture of food into mush. I think children will grow into their tatse in food if they are exposed but not forced and pushed into eating.

Again, it’s just my opinion.

christina on October 25th, 2007

I’m all for eating healthy and making recipes & store-bought foods healthier. That’s a terrific thing! But, many people talking about these books are thinking these pureés somehow add up to a serving of vegetables and they don’t. 1/4 cup in an 8″ by 8″ batch of brownies isn’t much, and doesn’t count for a serving of vegetables. I use applesauce instead of oil in recipes b/c it makes them healthier, not b/c the applesauce makes it a serving of fruit.

Principesa on October 25th, 2007

The concept isn’t new at all.

I must say the controversy is interesting. Perhaps if Lapine was married to someone famous, she would be enjoying the notoriety that Sklar-Seinfeld is. Minus the $18K worth of shoes to Oprah.

Lastly, how do kids learn to eat such foods if they are being disguised within others? Defeats the purpose of exposing them to the joy of nutritious foods, don’t ya think?

nikkimonique on October 25th, 2007

I saw Jessica on Seinfeld and she said she still puts veggies and fruits on her childs plates in addition to the food with purees b/c she wants them to know that veggies are important to eat.

jessica bird on October 25th, 2007

I bought Seinfeld’s book and made most of the recipes. The blueberry crumble (with spinach) is TO DIE FOR. The chicken nuggets were not good, neither to me nor to my kids. But the chicken and rice balls were incredible. So I guess you just have to go with what tastes good for your family. I have no problem with being sneaky. My kids DO eat their vegetables but I feel better about letting them eat brownies if I know there’s spinach in them, and why not sneak EXTRA veggies into their regular food? It can only help.

finnaryn on October 25th, 2007

As a parent who has a child who will eat NO veggies whatsoever, I am more than happy to “trick” him for the time being. I will still put the veggies on his plate, but as long as he gets even a fourth of a serving of veggies, it’s better than none.

Amy on October 25th, 2007

My husband brought the book home for me because he heard me talking about seeing her on Oprah. My three boys eat their veggies, and a decent variety of veggies. But, I did like the fact that the recipes were “kid food” (chicken nuggets, etc.)with veggies added. I wonder as another post said if they are getting very many actual servings, but I really feel any bit helps. I even like feeling like my hubby and I are getting more of a variety. While we might have a serving or two on our plate at dinner, that might be all we are getting for the day, which is not enough. No, Jessica does not have a new idea, but I liked the fact that she did the research and organized it for me, something I wouldn’t have the time or money to do. I laughed to myself when reading my book thinking there are probably some great cooks out there that have been doing this for years to their kids and never thought about writing a cookbook. I don’t think she copied off of Lapine, but I do think she had an advantage because her last name is Seinfeld. Unfortunately, that is the way America is turned right now. If you have celebrity status, you are going to get first priority. I did see Lapine (I think I have her name right) on a news clip on the internet, I didn’t watch it, but I would enjoy the publicity if I was her. She is getting more than if Jessica had never done the cookbook. I have not made many of the recipes yet, but I do have a freezer of purees! I have even been adding them to the recipes I normally cook with success. I do think it makes things more moist, which I like. Just my two cents, I think you have to keep offering veggies to your kids. I truly believe that the more you off it to them the more they will get accustomed to the taste and texture. I think texture is a big thing with kids. When kids go from eating baby food to broccoli, it’s not going to fly. It feels funny in their mouth. Figure out ways to lead up to different textures and it won’t all seem so foreign to them. Also, it has helped that if one of mine started “liking” something one night at dinner, I serve it several nights in a row. The rest of us get sick of it, but I think it helps the child remember they like it. If you go two or three weeks without serving the new veggie, your going to start all over again. And, one more, don’t worry about thinking your child is not getting enough to eat. When they have eaten some of what you are serving but won’t eat the veggies, would rather be done, let them. Eventually they figure out that if they are hungry they need to eat what is on their plate. I don’t beg or plead, our dinners are matter-of-fact, this is the way it is. If can see they are not eating, they are done. Remember their stomachs are much smaller than ours and there are times when even adults are not as hungry as others. Pay attention and you will know how to read your kids signals. Anyway, take it or leave it!

Natural Baby Products, Natural Choices for Natural Products for a Natural World on October 26th, 2007

Natural Baby Products : Welcome to Natural Baby Products – Dental Care Music , Natural Baby Products, Natural Baby Care, Natural Products

MOM2boys on October 26th, 2007

Although I do not disagree with being deceptive when it comes to nutrition, I will not purchase this book due to concerns of plagiarism from Missy Chase Lapine’s Sneaky Chef book. Missy Chase Lapine should be given credit for her book being published first, and that she is actually a chef, and not a sidekick to a celebrity wife. It is not difficult to figure out who is truly being deceptive here. Of course there will be minor differences between the book, but the idea is the same and some of the recipes are just too similar. I respectfully disagree with this reviewer that these are companion books, and agree with Tammy that something is not right with this.

Natural Baby Products, Natural Choices for Natural Products for a Natural World on October 27th, 2007

Natural Baby Products supplies natural and organic baby products for the health and wellbeing of your baby.

madam pince on October 27th, 2007

I’m with Mom2boys and Tammy. Jessica Seinfeld wouldn’t have gotten this cookbook published if she weren’t Jerry Seinfeld’s wife. Were I in the market for this type of cookbook, I’d choose Missy Lapine’s.