Deceptively Delicious?

I have the Deceptively Delicious cookbook and have tried many of the recipes with good results...my favorite is the banana bread with cauliflower! I like most of the things I have made with a few exceptions. I have also heard good things about the Sneaky Chef cookbook. I think they are probably both good choices and she would enjoy either one.

Check them both out from the library then decide which you like better.

Hi,

I have The Sneaky Chef and I love it. Besides all the recipies, you can add the veggie puree to almost any meal. Great idea.

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well, those books SOUND great but the thing is if you "hide" veggies in things, your child will NEVER get used to eating them normally, which can affect what she will eat later in life. she has to be presented with the veggies now so that when shes older she wont be unsure of them. it seems that kids hate veggies, but it takes many many many times for a child to accept a new food. some easy things to do are to put cheese on it, the good old butter and salt trick (i know, not the favorite addition to veggies, but it works), and just keep offering them. perhaps she only gets one very small spoonful. she might actually eat one or two only and thats it, but at least you arent wasting a whole portion or something. never give seconds of anything else in the meal unless she eats that veggie.

also, many kids, my son included, MUCH prefer raw veggies to cooked. try presenting veggies to her raw. be creative, tell her broccoli is trees, carrots are logs, whatever you have to do. a little ranch dressing goes a long way here.

be creative. search the internet. theres a ton of info out there on how to get kids to eat veggies. ;) hope you find something that works. but, like i said, just keep offering it, and act like theres nothing special about it.
i heard one once that might work: put it on your plate, and tell her that its only for big kids and mom and dad. it might not work though because she might be MORE than ok with that LOL.
put veggies in mac and cheese. cant go too wrong lOL

I borrowed DD from the library and copied the recipes after a friend recommended it. I liked the recipes but thought that the prep time and storage for the veggie (all pureed) was a bit much. I wanted to use the recipes for my newly eating table food baby. Consequently she had no issues eating veggies and loves all the green, orange and red colors. I did find the recipes interesting, the chocolate avocado dip was great. I am sort of an on the fly cook and do not use recipes much, but that is just me. Also no need to hide veggies here. I do think the concepts and recipes were interesting and would love to eat/try them all.... if someone else were cooking. I am sure they are great. I'm not much for following an extensive recipe but there are a few that I can use anytime. Ex: add pureed cauliflower to scrambled eggs, easy. I would get both from the library and read through first.

I agree with what JL and Christina said. Both books are very similar, and they both take a ton of time. If she's like me, she'll stick to the purees for a while, then let the books sit on the shelf. Although I think it's worth a shot, as others have said, it makes a lot more sense for her to change her eating habits. Plus, the whole idea of "hidden" veggies is lost when you know what's in them. Just the placebo knowledge of knowing that there's veggies in there might turn her off. BUT, if you're going to get one over the other and she's not a big cook, I would go with Sneak Chef. The recipes are much simpler, and there's tricks to just add veggies to boxed foods, instead of cooking everything from scratch.

Hi Anne Marie,

I have the book by Jessica - and I LOVE veggies, but there is no way I am going to puree cauliflower for every dessert I make! Besides, cauliflower isn't even the best veggie out there...in her book she does have other veggies, but it is one book that sits on the shelf.

Good luck,
J. L.

there are a lot of good vegetable juices she may be interested in. V-8 splash is really good and there is a new kids juice box that is sweet, but made mostly out of vegetables.

As a person myself who hates vegetables but is being forced to eat them in order to correct nutritional imbalances in my body, I can symphasize with your sister-in-law. My naturopathic doctor wants me to eat seven to nine servings of fruits/vegetables/day. Say what? LOL I'm lucky if I eat ONE serving.

I was eating salads with lots of raw veges until I grew tired of eating salads. Then I happened to be in Costco one day and saw a lady demonstrating the Vitamix machine. Wow, did that make a difference! I can now "drink" 3-4, sometimes 5, cups of veges/fruit/day for breakfast and not get sick. And I still have lunch and supper to get "the rest" of the veges/fruits in. Sometimes, I'll make two smoothies a day.

My breakfast smoothie consists of (everything is organic): blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, summer squash (good for potassium; I can't eat bananas), zucchini, carrot (w/top green), celery, kale (spinach is also good; I can't eat spinach), cilantro or Italian parsley (a good diuretic, if one retains water), and cabbage (a wonderful product for fiber and regularity; hint: it helps with constipation); I also add ground flaxseed and a tsp of Raw Hanuka Honey.

You only need a little of everything. Once all of this is added to about 1-1.25 cup of water and everything is blended together (at the rate of about 240 mph), you have a smoothie or a gelato (mine is usually a gelato, because I freeze all of my veges and fruits).

Granted, the VitaMix machine is quite expensive, but it was the best investment I ever made for my health.

And now, I'm going up to make myself my morning smoothie/gelato!

What forms has she tried to eat veggies in? I ask this because I cannot stand eating veggies out of a can! I think its everything rolled into one..smell/taste/texture and the added salt. I don't mind frozen veggies at all though. The absolute BEST places to get veggies is (like another poster said) at farmer's markets and stuff like that. Organic is usually a little better too. I noticed when I started buying organic carrots that they've actually got a sweet taste to them even if you eat them peeled and raw! Steaming fresh vegetables is almost always going to taste better than the alternative. She is going to have to learn to like them eventually even if she starts out with the purees. I had to get my husband into veggies too and once he found out that he really did like a few things he became more inclined to try other veggies, even ones he had previously tried and didn't like. Now he eats a pretty good variety. This was important to us because of the fact that we started having kids, I didn't want kiddo to think they didn't have to eat it because daddy wasn't eating it.

I don't know about either of the books you listed, but wanted to suggest another one. You don't even actually have to get the book as they have most of their stuff listed online. Look up "Cook yourself thin" they have lots of yummy recipes that aren't incredibly involved. They have healthier alternatives for ingredients in pot pies (veggies are in there too!!) to make them overall more healthy, tacos, deserts (one of the deserts has beets in it and its actually GOOD). Just another source that you can look at! Their book is good, I have it.. but like 90% of their recipes are also on the website.

What a good present idea! Being sneaky is a good way to start, but it does take a bit work. You need to puree everything.

Eventually, your sister-in-law will need to learn to like veggies.

One reason many people don't like veggies is because they've not eaten "real" vegetables. The veggies sold in many convential groceries are pretty gross. I find that when I spend the extra money to shop for veggies at organic co-ops, farmer's markets, etc. the taste is truly spectacular. So I don't care if it costs a little more, because I end up not throwing out spoiled, uneaten food!