Deceptively Delicious Part 1 - Meet My Kitchen Cabinet

If you remember a little while ago I took a trip to Borders and purchased Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. Well, when I bought it I was still making my way through last months menu and meals so I haven't yet tried any of the recipes, but now I am ready to embark upon a Deceptively Delicious experiment on my family. I am really hoping that the whole hiding-veggie-purees-in-foods-that-kids-like thing works and that they also turn out to be foods that Adrian and I enjoy as well. So I'm going to do updates here on my blog recapping how it all works out for us.

The book is set up in a really clever way were Jessica first introduces her family and what their food likes and dislikes are. For a cookbook, it was really quite a funny read. SO, I thought I'd totally steal that idea and introduce my own "kitchen cabinet" as she calls it.

Jenni - Hi I'm Jenni and this is my "Kitchen Cabinet", my all-important staff and advisers (just had to steal Jessica's lines:)). My 3 children are going to be my official Deceptively Delicious recipe tasters and I am sure they are going to be very tough critics (especially taster #2). Wish me luck as I try to trick them (and their dad too) into eating more veggies and fruits.

Oh, but as far as my own taste preferences - I think I'm a great eater. I love vegetables. I love fruit. I love carbs and junk too and that's the stuff I really need to do better at limiting. Oh, if only I hated chocolate and hamburgers. But as far as things I don't like, the only thing is fish/seafood. I even wish I liked fish, but no matter what I do it seems too fishy for me. Adrian seriously wishes I could change this because I think his idea of a perfect date would be to go to a movie and sushi bar. My big loves as far as good-for-you-foods are avocado, asparagus and mushrooms - so the mushroom and asparagus fajitas at Chevy's are right up my alley. Yum!

Taster #1 Sophie, our oldest, is 8 years old and she is my best eater (with the exception of taster #4). Often times Sophie will try to get Taster #2 to try whatever I cook, by saying "Look Ben, I'm eating it and it's yummy." This seldom actually works, but I appreciate her efforts. She does still have a slight texture issue so she likes things separated rather than all mixed together like in a casserole. (It used to be horrible - she wouldn't even eat jam or fruit yogurts because of "chunkies", but that turned around when she was about 5.) She has always loved veggies though, so I've really had no trouble getting her to eat nutritious stuff. One funny thing is that she hates berries. She likes berry flavored things and strawberry and raspberry jam, but not the real thing ever.

Taster #2 Ben, our middle child, is 3 1/2 years old and my toughest taster. He is the one that is actually the impetus for this whole experiment. He cries and whines every single night during dinner unless we are having mac and cheese or pizza. He will not eat veggies... Wait potatoes are vegetables, so he does eat fries, tater tots etc. He is not apt to try new foods unless it looks like a dessert or candy or something he already likes. I got him to eat scrambled eggs recently by calling it popcorny eggs. He loves fruit though, all kinds of fruit - apples, oranges, berries, mango, pineapple... I guess he just has a huge sweet tooth. I can get him to eat probably 2 bites of veggies upon threats of no more milk or noodles till you take a bite, but I am getting sick of making dinner time threats. Oh, and surprisingly Ben loves prunes. Of all the things for a picky kid to love, right?! But for a kid with his particular bowel problems prunes are a good like to have. Hopefully the additional fiber he will be getting from these purees will help. (Oh, if he reads this someday when he's older I bet he will not approve of that particular tid bit of TMI - sorry Ben.)

Taster #3 Nina, our youngest, is 15 months and a pretty good eater. I am really hoping she keeps up her eating habits, but then again at this age Taster #2 was eating green beans like they were french fries, so I realize things can change. She loves fruits and has a couple veggies that she will eat - frozen peas and corn. Her favorite foods are plain pasta, pieces of meatballs, cold cereal (especially Special K and Cheerios), and bits of apple or peach. It is very hard to get her to eat green veggies with the exception of frozen peas and I did get her to eat an asparagus tip yesterday, but it was because she was looking away when I put it in her mouth.

Taster #4 Adrian, my husband, is a great eater and very supportive at dinner time telling the kids to be nice and eat whatever mommy has made. He loves spicy foods, so he is my taste antithesis, but I try to make him spicy things on special occasions. He hates anything that resembles Hamburger Helper, even if it's just a casserole with hamburger and a sauce in it. Adrian will always say any meal I have prepared tastes great, but the true test is if he will take the leftovers to work for lunch. Through this test I have surmised that he is not a huge fan of soups or casseroles - though he always claims certain things just don't reheat well, but I'm not buying it Babe.:) In general I think Adrian is a protein and carb lover so I am on this quest to get him to eat more veggies too.

(BTW, the pictures of me and Adrian are of eating the most fantastic peach pie we have both ever had at the Hub restaurant in Heber, Ut. I swear that pie's special ingredient must have been cocaine because after one bite we were both hooked and went back twice in a 3 day period just to have another slice. We took pictures with Adrian's camera phone just to document the wonderful pie-eating experience!)

Soon I'll be doing my big shopping trip (I also have to buy a food processor), writing up my menu, and making my purees, so stay tuned for the next "DD" post.