Secrets of Deceptively Delicious Revealed!

Vegetable purees!

That's the secret behind Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious! I bought the book Sunday and have been pouring over it since. She keeps tons of pureed veggies handy and adds them to everything she makes. No, nothing new really, but nonetheless helpful to this mommy who sometimes finds herself in a food rut. Actually, we've been doing something similar ever since we got our juicer but nowhere near as much as I'd like to.

Jessica's recipes are perfect for preschoolers and will certainly be tempting to my 9 year old step-daughter. What I like about the cookbook is that the recipes and cooking instructions are simple, fast and easy enough for me to cook. My anxiety about cooking usually comes if I have to cook a complete meal for my husband. It seems so complicated and I guess I think it won't be good enough. But I can whip up some tasty snack for my little one like it's nothing, probably because there's no pressure, her tastes are still forming, and I'm reasonably sure she'll like it.

The Deceptively Delicious recipe I'm most skeptical of, and dying to try, are the Brownies featuring spinach puree. Jessica recommends that you don't serve these warm because the taste of the spinach doesn't disappear until they've cooled. Hmm. Not sure about that one but I'll give it a try soon. Maybe in everyone's Christmas brownies I have to bake this weekend. Or maybe not.

Once you read through the recipes, it's easy to get a feel for which purees work best with which types of dishes. This way you can make your own original recipes and add the appropriately deceptive veggie puree.

Now I just have to get a food processor so I can puree the day away!

Here are some other cookbooks with recipes that show you how to hide veggies in your family's food: