Deceptively Delicious - Simple Secrets To Get Your Kids Eating Good Food [Hardcover]

Jessica Seinfeld (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Harper-collins Publishers; First Edition edition (2007)
• ASIN: B001HVNX3C
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 8.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (904 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #328,615 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jessica Seinfeld is the president and founder of Baby Buggy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing clothing and equipment to New York's families in need. To date, Baby Buggy has donated nearly two million essential items to New York families through domestic violence and homeless shelters, parent programs and court child centers. Working with more than 80 social service partners, Jessica has made Baby Buggy an integral part of the children's services network in New York City.
She is the wife of Jerry Seinfeld, with whom she has three children. This is her first book.
Jessica says, "I'm a busy mom with three kids, a job, and a husband who travels constantly, but I'm uncompromising when it comes to my kids' health and nutrition. Leaving that to someone else is out of the question. My parents had three kids and both worked too, and we always managed to eat healthy meals as a family. That's the standard I've always wanted to meet. So when I started creating recipes from my pureed veggie experiments, I had three criteria: my kids had to love the food, the preparation had to be quick, and the process had to be simple. Believe me, if I can do these recipes quickly and easily, ANYONE can."
Jessica on picky eaters: "First and foremost, remember that not every meal you prepare for a child will be a success. Kids at this age are naturally testing preferences, pushing boundaries, and changing their minds. That's part of their development and those are urges not worth battling. As I learned the hard way, the more pressure you apply, the more kids will "hate" certain foods. And, while it would be nice if kids had a "spirit of adventure" when it comes to food, I've found it's best to eliminate adventure and stick to the basics--foods they already love, laden with added nutrition they don't know is there. Finally, be consistent, firm and patient. I have a rule in my house: you don't have to eat what's on the plate, but what's on the plate is all that's being served. Eventually, they come around."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

248 of 250 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Let's Compare: "Deceptive" Vs. "Sneaky", February 8, 2008

By 

Mia "Who Digs Movies and Music" (OH USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food (Hardcover-spiral)

Deceptively Delicious VS.The Sneaky Chef

First of all let me start by saying:
!) I don't have young kids any more BUT
2) I HATE veggies but I know I need to eat more of them, so any system that gets them into me and the grownups in my life: BRAVO!

Yes, I'd recommend BOTH books and here's why. They each have their strong and weak suits.

Pluses:
DECEPTIVELY DELICIOUS has
A) pictures, which is helpful and fun
B) tips and comments by her taste-testers
C) used one type of puree for each recipe
D) is spiral bound so it will lay flat. The whole layout is really nice, just as a cookbook to read!
E) doesn't beat you over the head with the whole nutrition thing

THE SNEAKY CHEF has
A) combination purees, which add a lot of variety and ease into the cooking part
B0 really cute names for the dishes. Makes it easy to remember!
C) isn't afraid to use butter and milk!
D) goes seriously into the nutrition thing. Almost the first half of the book is a prelim and explanation of the whole concept.
E) the recipes seem to taste a bit better!

Minuses:
DD. The recipes are a bit bland. If you're cooking for an adult palate, you need to add more spices. For example her "Chocolate Chip Cupcakes." I suggest substituting milk (even skim) for the water, add an extra T. vanilla and 1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon. One of the veggie purees her recipes call for aren't covered in the "how to prepare puree" part.

SC: Very few pictures. It's not spiral bound but a trip to Office Max can take care of that for you. (Best tip I ever got regarding cookbooks by the way and found it here!) It's a bit "textbook" like. I get the whole nutrition thing already.

I wish both books went into greater detail about the pureeing part. They're pretty good but if you're not a veggie person to begin with, you might not know what is the proper consistency.

I understand that Missy (The Sneaky Chef author) is writing a cookbook for adult with hidden veggies and I hope Jessica will do the same!

217 of 225 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hmmmm..I thought this was going to be easier!, October 16, 2007

By 

Alissa Fitch Clark - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food (Hardcover-spiral)

I also was so excited for this cookbook to arrive. I immediately rushed to the grocery store to get $50.00 worth of vegetables and other baking ingredients.

My first attempt was the brownies, and my victims were all adults. The look on their faces was priceless. Not so good because of the very weird texture to them.

Next, eggs with cauliflower for my 3 year old. Hmmm, he was wondering whey the eggs that have always been yellow, have now turned white. Add a little cheddar, and bam, they are yellow again.

The blueberry cupakces with cream cheese filling, total disaster. They looked horrible, and tasted even worse. I didn't even attempt to try to get anyone in the house to eat them

Hamburgers....you would have thought I was feeding my husband horse meat. They were NASTY! Very slimy with a funky aftertase.

What I learned is that you don't need this cookbook for recipes. Puree some veggies and slip them in the everyday food you make. Don't go overboard, and chances are your kids won't know the difference!

193 of 203 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice recipes but lots of prep time, October 20, 2007

By 

HappyMom (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food (Hardcover-spiral)

After seeing this on Oprah, my child and I decided to buy it. My child is one who actually eats and enjoys vegetables but we were both intrigued by the idea of incorporating extra vegetables into our diets.

The book is well-organized, offers detailed information about both the recipes and the benefits of the major ingredients, and I really like that the tone is not a "lecture" on the benefits of vegetables. She doesn't talk down to the reader but offers lots of helpful suggestions.

I do have one suggestion for busy parents - use organic baby food. I don't have a food processor and I don't have a dedicated block of time to clean, cook and prepare all the purees for the week. For about $.65 (or less) per jar, I can have 1/2 cup of organic winter squash etc. that has already been cleaned, cooked and pureed for me. Plus, it will keep on the shelf until I need it so I can buy extra when they go on sale.

Furthermore, I have started adding the purees to the recipes or boxed mixes I already use. I added 1/2 cup of mixed vegetables to a batch of Pamela's gluten-free brownie mix tonight and it was delicious. There was no noticeable change in texture and we could not taste anything but rich chocolate.

Don't be afraid to experiment :)