Trick or treat? Jessica Seinfeld’s new cookbook for parents
Jessica Seinfeld — wife of Jerry – is no stranger to tricking her family. But her trickery comes in the form of healthy, white lies. She released a must-have book for every parent yesterday, Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, which provides stealthy and easy ways for parents to hide healthy food into their kids’ favorite and not-so-healthy ones. Being a mother of three — Sascha, 6 1/2, Julian Kal, 4, Shepherd Kellen, 2 — with Jerry, this was a project that beganin her own home and she now hopes to share with families everywhere. Her goal was to help parents learn how to sneak healthy food into everyday things that kids actually love to eat.
She told People what inspired her to be a sneaky chef,
I was making butternut squash puree for my baby and mac ‘n’ cheese from a box for my other kids. I realized the colors matched exactly. So I added the squash to the mac ‘n’ cheese and they didn’t notice. I was so excited! I thought, ‘What else can I hide?’ It became an obsession.
So what else does she hide?
Sweet potato in pancakes, pureed tomato in taco meat, spinach in brownies…I’ve met kids who say they hate spinach — ‘Eww, it’s so gross!’ I’ll give them a brownie and tell them, ‘That was FULL of spinach.’ They don’t know what to say.
Jessica doesn’t have to trick Jerry, 53, who she says is a good eater, but should she stuff some of his loathed asparagus into a meal, he wouldn’t mind.
He would love it. He thinks this whole thing is so much fun. He would say, ‘I stand corrected.’
She told Posh Cravings that getting her children to eat vegetables before was a chore. But, now they happily eat their meals and usually even their veggies on the side, just because it’s no longer demanded of them. The trick to getting a balanced meal on the table every night, according to Jessica, is to make your purees in advance. For example, she preps hers on Sunday for the week. And then pops them out as she needs them. Every recipe in the book was tested and approved by her family and she admits that not every recipe worked the first time.
All the other recipes required LOTS of trial and error. There have been plenty of recipes I’ve tried on my family where they say, ‘This is disgusting!’ And that’s the point — if it doesn’t work for them, I move on to something that does. The recipes that made it into this book are fully tested and approved.
Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food
Source: People, October 15 issue, and Posh Cravings
Do you have any tricks for getting your kids to eat veggies, fruits and other good-for-you foods?
- Posted on Oct 6, 07 at 12:19PM
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- 22 Comments
October 6th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
I SO need this cookbook!! My 3.5 year old has suddenly stopped eating any form of veggie and his loud protests are starting to effect what the 1 year old will eat. I am going to have to try that mac and cheese trick.
October 6th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Hey Mama’s and Papa’s if anyone has tried this book let me know, I’ve heard about it but have no idea if it’s worth buying it. thanks!
October 6th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
This book, and its concept is not new.
There are other books just like it out there.
Its how Zucchini bread and carrot cake came about.
The amount of veg you have to add to be unnoticeable isnt enough to make up a decent RDA serving.
The best thing to do for yourself and your kids is to become a foodie yourself and not pass subtle food biases onto your kids.
Most people who consider themselves foodies or gourmets dont have problems feeding their kids anything.
I grew up in my uncles very popular (60 yrs old and still running) restaurant and had a mother who was a prize winning cook and I have alot of food service experience to my name as well.
My mother never cut our crusts off our bread, or had to hide veggies under cheese or even butter. We had artichokes and asparagus and I still LOVE Le Seur peas out of the can straight. Peas and pea soup were delicious and Squash with lots of pepper and and butter is yummy. I grew up eating frogs legs, antipasto and lobster and beets and LOVED them. And the first sushi restaurant that came to the delaware valley I begged my aunt to take me at age 16, and havent stopped eating sushi since.
I grew up with cookbooks all over the house and never did my mom make veggies or exotic food seem bad or yukky.
They were adventures!
Stop being scared of food and your kids wont be…
Just My Opinion…
October 6th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
I still don’quite get this book. Ok, it’s a great thing to get your kids to eat their veggies… but what exactly are you teaching them if you have to hide it in ther food? It seems like a quick-fix… you get them to eat their veggies now, but will they eat healthy as adults? If it comes to the point where you have to hide healthy food in pizzas or browies to get you child to eat, doesn’t that tell it that there’s something wrong?
My mom used to that, instead of teaching us to eat healthy, she would hide veggies on our favorite foods. As an adult, I actually resent her a little for that, I never know, when she serves something, if there’s something I don’t like (but that she thinks that I should eat) hiding in there.
That’s why I never hid anything in my 6 y.o.’s food. I always approached as “if I don’t make a big deal of it, it will become normal for her”. I always served her veggeis and healthy food just normally. If we’re playing in the park, instead of bringing along some cookies, I always have some fruit or steamed veggeis for her to snack on, and she eats it as if it was a treat. Hopefully that means she’ll grow up eating healthy and will still eat healty as an adult. I had to re-educate myself to eat that way, so me and my husband could be an example for her, of course it was harder and more time consuming than buying pre-packed foods and hiding healthy stuff on it, but if it mean my daughter carries these healthy habits into adulthood, than it’s absolutely worth it!
October 6th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Tune into Oprah on Monday – she’ll be on promoting the book and recipes and really impressing Oprah!!
And Dr. Oz thinks it’s great!!
October 6th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
This sounds like an great way to get extra veggies into kids, but do we really have to “sneak” it? My kids are 61/2 and 4 years old and I usually don’t have much trouble w/the fruits or vegetables. They’ll even eat asparagus and spinach, maybe we’re just lucky, but we’ve always made it a point to have veggies at lunch and dinner and fruit at breakfast and for dessert. In preschool, my 4 year old stated that his favorite food is broccoli. Again, this is a good way to get the extra helping of veggies in, but I don’t think people should rely on this as the ONLY way.
October 6th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
WOW!
I typed that huge post and nothing!
What was wrong with it?
*smh*
October 6th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
The Sneaky Chef is similar to this cookbook. You can check out the reviews of both on amazon.
October 7th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Okay, this is a funny discussion/topic. I have never had to sneak food to my kids. Yeah, they don’t eat everything I put in front of them, and would much prefer hot dogs to a veggie plate, but they still eat fairly healthy.
We don’t eat fast food (unless Daddy is in charge of dinner), sodas, candy (except for Halloween, etc.), or really junky foods. I don’t keep really unhealthy foods in the house. If they want a snack, they reach for some cheese or fruit (I have yet to find one they don’t like). I do buy snacks for them that aren’t the healthiest, for those days when they don’t want apples or carrots, but I buy those 100 calorie packs of snacks, so at least I know they aren’t od’ing on sugar.
My oldest loves broccoli (cooked only, please), spinach, mushrooms, carrots, peas, and beans (especially soybeans). My youngest loves celery, carrots, salads, and soybeans. So, I make sure that I always have those veggies on hand. One for lunch, one for dinner, no questions asked. Then, I don’t feel so guilty on the hot dog or mac and cheese nights.
October 7th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
I need to get this cookbook for myself.I try to eat healthy but I admit I still have a slight veggie phobia.I think it’s just the college lifestyle.I’m kind of shocked people are being critical of the idea behind the book.I think it’s a great idea and there are plenty of people who would love to have this book.
October 7th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
I don’t understand how sneaking spinach into brownies constitutes as healthy. How many of those brownies would a child have to eat to get the correct vegetable intake? I’m going to watch Oprah to see what’s the big deal with this book, however I agree with most of you that it’s about not fussing over the veggies yourself that will get your child to eat healthy.
October 7th, 2007 at 7:34 pm
Okay people!
Go here and view the recipes
http://www.deceptivelydelicious.com/site/image-gallery.php
SORRY 1/2 cup of veggie puree to an entire cake or meatloaf isnt enough for even the smallest baby.
This book is deceptive.
October 7th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
I have a 4 month old but I am going to buy this book for myself. And yes, I am serious. I’ve always had food issues..even as I child. I refused to eat baby food…this goes back a looong way. It’s always been a very stressful issue in my life (so please don’t attack me).
I intend not to pass on my food issues to my daughter but the reality is, it’s better to get the veggies into kids like this book suggests than not at all.
Strangely enough, friends of my family had 2 girls around my age that my parents would compare us to, saying “so and so have to clean their plates..they aren’t allowed to say yuck”…well so and so both resent the fact that their parents forced them to eat everything on their plates, as they don’t know how to self-regulate when they are full now…food can definitely be a complicated issue.
October 8th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
So Jessica is teaching her kids to love cakes, brownies, and doughnuts? sounds healthy…
October 9th, 2007 at 11:25 am
I was doing the same thing 23 years ago for my son and daughter…..putting pureed fruit into mash potatoes, etc….its not rocket science…..but I guess you have to be married to a celebrity to gain recognition…go figure……!!!
Lorraine at Tea4llc@gmail.com
October 9th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Did watch the Oprah’s show with Jessica guest appearance, and would have to agree with Lorraine…Have two grown up children, whom I did the same…but when your married to a celebrity, you become noticeable…go figure…
October 9th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
While I think it is best to be honest with children and not pass food phobias to kids, this cookbook is still very worthwhile.
To me I think it is just one more way to get even MORE vegetables into all of us. And, what is wrong with that?
Since when is it bad for a mom to let her kids eat a healthier donut or brownie now and then?
To me it does not matter one bit that she is making money off of this or that she is married to a celebrity or anything else. I am very thankful for the cookbook because I don’t have to go through the experiments and mistakes… she has done that for me.
It was @ $18.00 at the Barnes & Noble online store. Really inexpensive to me.
October 9th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
I think parents should do what it takes to make sure kids are eating healthy…nothing wrong in tricking them to eat something while still offering veggies in their origional form and encourage them to eat those. I think Jenny has a good thing going and those who have negative things to say are just jealous they didn’t think of it first.
October 22nd, 2007 at 2:14 pm
tried many of the recipes and so far they are only O.K. at best. The brownies were awful, the spicach taste was still there even after completely cold. According to the book, the spinach taste is suppose to be gone after complete cooling. Two of the muffin recipes are just O.K., nothing to get excited over.The mac-n-cheese has a wierd texture but tastes alright, again not over the top great or anything. Since I pureed many different veggies already I will keep trying some of the other recipes, but not very impressed so far!
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:11 am
Jessica Seinfeld may have stolen the recipes. Read for yourself:
http://www.celebitchy.com/6800/jessica_seinfeld_busted_plaguarizing_recipes_from_earlier_cookbook/
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2007-10-21-seinfeld-book_N.htm?csp=34
October 29th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
My mom bought me this book (after seeing Jessica Seinfeld on Oprah). I have three kids and the eldest wouldn’t eat a vegetable without forcing himself to throw up. The middle one was okay with some veggies until his saw his big bro wouldn’t eat them, but they haven’t gotten to the baby yet.
I was extremely skeptical about this – celebrity wife, gimmicks, etc. – but I have to admit, I read the whole book and then tried several recipes. A few things you should know if you’re interested in this:
- Jessica Seinfeld never says that this is new to the world. It never occurred to her to do this, that’s all. There seems to be a big uproar over her “stealing” the concept, but the only advantage she has is celebrity. That’s nothing new! I admit I had a “duh!” reaction myself after reading her intro. This all makes perfect sense; I’d just never thought to do it.
- She makes it clear in her book that vegetables should be served with meals; even if you’re hiding other veggies. Her kids see both the hidden and plain-sight versions. I think she’s right.
- This is not all about desserts! Yes, she has several dessert recipes in here, but also several breakfast options and a good number of entrees. I don’t think she’s saying we should feed our kids all brownies and cookies. She’s saying she can sneak healthier ingredients in everything, even treats. If you can get away with it, why not?
I spent one night pureeing foods (butternut squash, zucchini, carrots, sweet potatoes and beets). Then I made two different recipes — the rice balls (brown rice, cheese, pureed chicken, butternut squash and zucchini), and the tortilla “cigars” (pureed carrot, chicken, and squash) My eldest reads very well, so he figured out right away what I was up to. The middle one helped me make the rice balls, and the eldest watched me make the tortilla cigars.
And you know something? My extremely picky kids cautiously tried these foods, and then happily ate them. Even my husband agreed that they were tasty. If nothing else, it’s taught my kids to (a) try new foods, and (b) understand that all veggies are not bad. Once they get used to eating the dreaded vegetables mixed up in other things, I think they’ll be less anxious about eating them in their original versions!
I don’t think it’s a given that children of foodies will automatically have mature and curious palates. If your kids do, then more power to you. I’m a huge foodie, and my kids are cautious of taste and texture, possibly related to some developmental issues.
Bottom line? Don’t knock it ’till you’ve tried it!
October 30th, 2007 at 5:37 am
By cooking/steaming a fruit or vegetable to only put it into something else that will be cooked further destroys any nutritional value the food will hold. The best veggies are those still served up raw. Heat breaks down the chemical compositions of the vitamin complexes.