Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food Hardcover-spiral – Illustrated, October 14, 2008

I purchased "Deceptively Delicious" back in January but was initially tentative about trying this cookbook due to the fact that I had to make a puree for every recipe. Once I got over that hurdle and decided to make the "Green Eggs" I was hooked. I then wanted to try other recipes because the eggs were so delicious. They are the easiest recipe in the book and basically require you to sauté baby spinach, which you then incorporate into scrambled eggs. You do need a small food processor to make the recipe but you could also use a blender.The next recipe I tried was the "Ranch Dressing." It was good on salad but not as good as a dip. The "Greek Dip" was delicious for dipping veggies (celery was especially good) and crackers not to mention pita bread. The recipe uses chickpeas and artichoke hearts and I found I could make it in a blender. My food processor only holds about 1 cup of ingredients so for this cookbook you may want to buy a larger food processor.The last two recipes I tried include the "Turkey Chili" and the "Oatmeal with Sweet Potato." For the turkey chili you need to puree carrots and red bell peppers. I had never steamed red bell peppers before but it worked well and at the same time I cooked the carrots in the boiling water. Less to clean up later! For the turkey chili I added an additional tablespoon of chili powder and 2 teaspoons Emeril's Original Essence because I felt the recipe needed a little more seasoning for adults but it was perfect for kids. I think the reason the recipe needed more salt is because it calls for low-sodium chicken broth. Instead of the kidney beans I used some butter beans I had in my pantry. For the turkey recipe it would have been helpful to know how many carrots and red bell peppers you would need. I found you needed about three carrots and 1 ½ bell peppers. Other than that fact the recipes are very easy to make and don't take as much time as you would expect them to. The oatmeal recipe is delicious with the addition of pumpkin pie spice and peanut butter.All of the recipes I've tried so far have worked very well which has encouraged me to try even more. Since I have more sweet potatoes left over the "Hot Cocoa" with pumpkin pie spice sounds delicious. You may also want to try "Blueberry Cheesecake Cupcakes with Yellow Squash and Spinach," "Frozen Yogurt Pops," "Macaroni and Cheese," and "Chicken Salad with Cauliflower."Once you make a puree and realize how easy it really is you will love this cookbook! Highly Recommended even if you love eating your veggies. I try out new recipes every week and this is one of my favorite cookbooks this year.~The Rebecca Review

Like this cookbook for so many reasons. Have several cookbooks that base their recipes on purees. Like this one because the purees are flexible and varied. Most of the recipes have turned out vary well.Baking the choclate chip bean cookies now, although using pecans instead of walnuts. The cookies have proved popular with even non health food eating people! However, I did change the recipe a little in that I chop the beans after draining them. By the time one chops them some are rather mushed but that works out just fine.Family also loves the avocado choc pudding an unlikely combination but really works. We process it until almost smooth. Husband likes a little bit of texture to it.Have found breading recipes don't work as well as hoped.Spinach in brownies, great disguise! Turned out more like fudge though. Very moist and dense.Love some of the muffins. Peanut butter Jam muffins were great. Made with almond butter. The "jam" I used was simply dried apricots soaked overnight and then pureed. No sugar added so lots of nutrition as well as sweetness.Note: the cream cheese centered muffins/cupcakes are nicknamed "ugly muffins" in our house. Taste great (and I reduce the sugar as I so in most recipes) but the spinach is very visible. Tends to separate out and be in a layer after the baking and the color is horrible. Hence the nickname ugly muffins. But my son is picky about texture and taste so if can get one bite in and it tastes good we are ok. Anyway, we like them and so many veggies in one sweet treat!My son is picky enough that he doesn't eat most of the items used to disguise the other items. Example: He doesn't eat mac and cheese! But this recipe book has enough ideas that I have found new ways to sneak his veggies in.He is 3.5 and now knows I sneak them. He has a choice to eat them straight or disguised and always chooses disguised.By the way, we did everything by the books to start him right, including eating a wide variety of things when nursing and pregnant and introducing him to a wide variety of foods as a beginning eater. Hopefully he will outgrow this pickiness but for right now I am just concerned that he gets his nutrition.So my motto is never let a desert go wasted - make them all count with disguised veggies! No his diet is not made up of deserts, but they are certainly a great place to increase his veggie intake.One of my favorite things about this book, in comparison to others of this genre, is the flexibility of purees in given recipes. Also, it is a beautiful cookbook! I, too, am convinced some of these recipes simply don't work and try to imagine that they were actually tested before published. But so many great recipes that do work for us that they more than make up for the ones that don't work!