So the other night I went to T.J. Maxx. While I was standing in line, I saw several copies of Deceptively Delicious near the checkout. I'd heard about this book before, while Jerry Seinfeld (the author's husband) was talking to Jay Leno about it on The Tonight Show. (Or was it The Late Show with David Letterman? I can't remember.) At any rate, it's all about sneaking vegetables into your kids' foods. Even brownies! At the time, I remember thinking I should buy it and sneak vegetables into my husband's food. Ha ha.
Fast forward to Ben's well child checkup last Friday. The pediatrician asked me how Ben eats. "Well," I said with a smirk, "He doesn't eat any vegetables."
"Not any?" the doctor said. "None?"
"None. He will occasionally try corn on the cob."
"Not even sweet potatoes?"
No, Doc, no means no. :) Anyway, he gave us the suggestion of bathing our vegetables in melted cheese, which to me at least partially negates their nutritional value, but which I would be totally willing to do if I thought for one second that it would work! Ben is a typical picky toddler - if it doesn't look like he wants it to look, you can forget it. He used to eat lots and lots of things, and I blame my being pregnant with Matt, at a very pivotal point in Ben's taste development, for his 180. I was tired and nauseated; Ben wanted Spaghetti-Os; I was happy to oblige so long as he would eat and give me a little peace to go hang my head over the toilet bowl. Ha. Anyway, I don't work myself up too much over it because there are picky toddlers everywhere, and at least some of those moms did everything right. And their kids still won't eat broccoli. So I'm just going to chill about it. And stir sweet potato purée into his Spaghetti-Os.
Anyway, back to T.J. Maxx. I turned the book over and saw that its retail price was $24.95. T.J. Maxx was selling it for $6.95, which is cheaper than I saw it priced on Amazon, not including shipping. So I decided to pick it up.
When I got home, I looked through the whole thing. The introduction, the doctor's commentary, the nutritionist's two cents... the whole thing. I paged through the recipes and started to get excited about the handful of of things Ben might eat. Mrs. Seinfeld said something like, "Plan on spending about an hour a week...", so I did. I went to the grocery store and bought a butternut squash, two sweet potatoes, a red bell pepper, a bag of baby carrots, and a head of cauliflower. I borrowed my mother-in-law's food processor and her steaming basket and I planned on spending about an hour. Handily, the book includes instructions for how to steam or roast each vegetable, so I got right to work. Here is a list of what I did, and a rough estimate of the time involved:
I roasted:
1 squash (45 min)
2 gigantic sweet potatoes (75 min)
I steamed:
1 entire head of cauliflower (5 rounds at 10 min each)
1 red bell pepper (2 rounds at 10 min each)
1/2 bag baby carrots (2 rounds at 12 min each)
I then pureéd all of it, which took probably 2 minutes per batch. I measured out about 1/4 cup servings and put it into plops on trays lined with wax paper, stuck it in the freezer, and waited. The following morning, I peeled it off the wax paper and bagged it up. (Of course you can do this with ice cube trays... if you own any. We have an automatic ice maker [which, ironically, doesn't work], so we don't have any trays. But plops are fine.)
So far I have made Ben sweet potato pancakes, which he devoured, stirred sweet potatoes into his Spaghetti-Os (which he didn't even notice, and that is the point), made mac and cheese with cauliflower and squash, which he ate but didn't LOVE (see pic below!), made a grilled cheese and squash purée sandwich, and stirred a 1/4 cup of carrot purée into a store-bought muffin mix (see pic below). As annoyed as I was about the FIVE HOURS I spent in the kitchen prepping all those purées, and as much as Josh complained about the smell of steaming cauliflower, it is insanely easy to sneak vegetables into just about everything. Mealtimes are less frustrating for me, because I don't have to stress about Ben. I know he is getting veggies in there somewhere, so I don't have to try to force anything anymore! Even the Spaghetti-Os... Spaghetti-Os with sweet potatoes stirred into them are still Spaghetti-Os to Ben, but to me they are suddenly nutritionally valuable.
I found a Cuisinart Handy Prep 3-cup food processor for a steal at Sears ($39.99), and as soon as I find one, I'll add a steaming basket to my kitchen collection, too. I bought a box grater at Wal-Mart. I am feeling so domestic. And the best part? Even if this totally flops, I have a few bags of puréed veggies which I can feed to Matt in a few months. And a really fun food processor. :)
Enjoy the pics!
These muffins are from a mix, with carrot purée stirred in.
This mac and cheese has both cauliflower and squash in it - and Ben ate it up!
8 comments:
You go girl! It's funny because I made Cooper some mac and cheese last night and added some of Addy's sweet potatoes to it to see what he would say...He had NO idea and ate it up. He eats his veggies...its just everything else.
Good for you.
If anyone in your family eats rice, you can buy a rice maker with a steam basket—it works great for vegetables. Of course, if you're not going to eat the rice, you're better off with the dedicated steamer.
Awesome! I think I gave up after awhile because my kids will at least eat broccoli, peas, and green beans. Coupled with K.Lo not enjoying anything with sauce, which rules out a lot of the recipes. But it's an awesome concept and I'm so glad Ben is responding to it!
Ooh! I love it! Both of my kids are (fortunately) pretty good eaters when it comes to variety and eating fruits and veggies, but James...not so much! Think I could trick him? :)
Kara - Some of the recipes include things like garbanzo beans, navy beans, etc. It might be helpful for blending those things in! There is even a chocolate chip cookie recipe with beans in it. Crazy! Oh, and a mac and cheese recipe with beans. I can type one out for you if you like.
Scott - You can steam vegetables and rice at the same time? She mentions using a rice steamer for the veggies. I am betting you could do either, alone.
Pen - If Ben ate broccoli, peas, and green beans, I would never have bought this book. Bravo, Mama, you don't need it! :) And isn't it funny how some kids LOVE sauces and others hate them?
And, Kate - Yeah, I like to tell Josh he is the problem. :) I said, "I read in a book that children's eating habits mirror their father's. So if you don't eat vegetables, Ben won't, either." He said, "My dad NEVER ate vegetables."
Exactly.
You can get a steamer through pamered chef and a friend of mine is having a party. It is a collaspable one that you put in any pot and put the water underneath. I can't remember how much they are (but under 20 bucks) I have a book downstairs if you are interested.
That book is great! Abel loved the spinach blueberry bars, great ideas.
I am impressed! I did make Mac and Cheese for Deron (Because he almost as picky as Ben and he's 37- men!) and put cauliflower in it. Well he ate but was less than thrilled at the fact there was onion (which was sauteed and soft) that he could find because it was 'crunchy'. Heaven help me.
Luckily we don't have kids so he doesn't have to set an example, and he has good genes on both sides- dad's side lived to 101 and 98 (? or something close) and Mom's side is still alive- 91 and 89. So I guess he'll be ok no matter what he does.
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