Right up front, let me just tell you that if you want a literate book review, check out
Richard's comments on A Thousand Splendid Suns. I loved the Kite Runner and can't wait to read this one.
My book review, on the other hand, is on Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. I am one of those crazy people who can sit and read a cookbook and be completely engrossed. I enjoy cooking and it is my simplistic way of showing people I care about them. Mainly, I love eating good food so reading about it is entertaining to me.
This cookbook has generated a lot of controversy. Jessica is married to Jerry Seinfeld which some pundits are saying is why she got on Oprah. She is also being accused of copying a similar concept in a book called the Sneaky Chef. Personally, I have a hard time believing she stole a concept that just came out in April. I've never seen any industry move that quickly.
The book contains recipes using pureed
vegetables and fruits in dishes that don't
typically contain them. Like mashed potatoes. Or brownies. Another criticism is that the author is not teaching her children to eat properly by hiding
vegetables in their food. If you read the book, that is not the case. She advocates serving healthy selections like fruits and
vegetables alongside the other dishes. This is a way to get an extra dose of veggies into kids without creating battlegrounds over food. Which in my limited experience is a sure fire method of ensuring that kids hate whatever food it is you're fighting over.
I've tried a few of the recipes, including mashed potatoes with pureed
cauliflower, a variation of the scrambled egg recipe using pureed
cauliflower in an
omelet, pancakes with pureed sweet potato, brownies with pureed spinach and carrots, spaghetti sauce with pureed carrots, and banana bread with pureed
cauliflower and banana (go figure). I've been pleased with the results. But it is a lot of work to steam and puree veggies before even beginning the recipe. Once I have a stash in the freezer, it is much easier to cook on a regular basis.
In some cases, like the pancakes, the addition of the pureed
vegetable changes the color.
Taz thought they were delicious and liked the orange color. In fact,
Taz has eaten and liked pretty much all the things he's tried... well, except the brownies. But that's mainly because he saw me putting spinach in them.
The brownie recipe warns cooks not to eat them warm as the spinach taste apparently is evident until they cool completely. Scouter and I liked them but they were definitely not as sweet as any of the brownies I've made before. Next time, I will probably add some honey or brown sugar to sweeten them more. I may add frosting to this batch.
Rainbow is my picky eater and so far, she won't eat any of the food I've made from this cookbook. Which is not unusual, veggies or no.
Would I recommend this cookbook? It depends. If you want to add vegetables to your daily diet without visibly eating more vegetables, the recipes are good. If you have a picky eater, he or she will probably not eat these dishes as the consistency and taste change somewhat. I haven't tried the mac and cheese or chicken nuggets yet, so I am hopeful but not optimistic that Rainbow will eat them.
Scouter and I like it though. So if I accomplish nothing but adding more nutrition to the meals he and I eat, then that's okay.
If you like cranberry, mohitos, or margaritas, you have to try Southern Living's Frozen Cranberry Margarito. It looks festive and tastes great! Can't ask for more than that...
