Deceptively Delicious

Deceptively Delicious is a new cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld, wife of Jerry. Apparently she was on Oprah and talked about it, but I, oblivious as always, missed it. However, suddenly this book kept cropping up in every food conversation I had with anyone, especially our various babysitters. Eliza had just entered into what I'm sure is the first of many phases of finicky eating, so the principles behind the book caught my attention. Basically, it's about sneaking healthy food into "regular" food so that kids will eat it. Think lots and lots of purees. I'm sure it's mostly geared toward the older picky eaters in the world, but since we were really moving away from any and all baby foods, I decided to pick up a copy.

One of the best decisions I've ever made.

Seriously, we've tried several recipes at this point and haven't hit a dud yet. Eliza has loved all of them: macaroni & cheese with butternut squash; pink pancakes made with beets; twice baked potatoes with cauliflower puree; and most recently, turkey lasagna with sweet potato and cauliflower purees. She's in a no-meat phase, but happily chowed on the turkey at lunch today. It was amazing. As an added bonus, this stuff all tastes so good that Mac and I eat it too (well, we were a little "eh" on those pink pancakes, but we don't like beets, so what can you do? I froze the rest and Eliza still loves them). Nice to know that when she is old enough for family dinner, there will be food we can all eat!

I also count us lucky that Eliza already enjoys many interesting foods, like quiche and broccoli (preferably with cheese). She also appears to realize that American cheese is not, in fact, cheese and should not be eaten. She'd much rather have some cheddar or muenster or those cute little Babybel cheeses. Yummy! And the girl does enjoy a grilled muenster cheese with avocado. Who wouldn't?

For those with kids, go buy this book. For those who know someone with kids, buy them this book. I think that should cover everyone. :-) If you want to sample a couple of recipes, Oprah has those too!

Now if only there was a comparable guide to good napping every day.

And since we weren't blogging when Eliza first started solids, here's a pic of her first "meal" - really watery cereal (rice?). Such a baldie!