The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals (Paperback)

by Missy Chase Lapine (Author)
Key Phrases: purple puree, nutrition highlights, sneaky ingredients, Make-Ahead Recipe, Orange Puree, White Puree (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"The Sneaky Chef is a brilliant and timely concept." -- Chef Daniel Boulud

"The Sneaky Chef offers frustrated parents a simple, practical solution to getting their kids to eat healthier food." -- Nancy Samalin, best-selling author of LOVING WITHOUT SPOILING

"Here are lots of good ideas and recipes that will work for you if you are at wits end." -- Vicki Lansky, author of FEED ME I'M YOURS

"Missy Chase Lapine is not only the best at what she does, she's the only one who does it" -- Rob Rosenthal, KitchenMC

Review

Natalie Morales, Today Show Host
"Moms and dads if you're at your wit's end trying to get your kids to eat healthy... well, fret no more! Finally, it's "The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue." As the mother of a very picky eater, the only way to get my son Josh to eat his veggies is to sneak it, and Missy's recipes are not only creative and delicious, they are a lifesaver for this often over-worried mom."

Tyler Florence, Chef and Author
"As both a father and a chef, I can tell you that it's sometimes easier said than done to get kids to eat right. But I've got to say, the Sneaky Chef series makes keeping your kids eating habits on the right track not just infinitely more manageable, but fun at the same time."

Patricia Hametz, MD, MPH / Director, Center for Best Practices in Childhood Obesity Prevention / Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian
"By creating delicious foods made with healthful ingredients that your kids will actually eat, Missy Chase Lapine succeeds in allowing family meal times to be fun and stress-free. She is helping us all to instill good eating habits that will set the stage for a lifetime of healthy eating for the whole family."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Running Press; illustrated edition edition (April 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762430753
• ISBN-13: 978-0762430758
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (295 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,462 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

369 of 385 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I can't say enough good things about this book!!, May 29, 2007

By	Amazon Shopper (Southern CA) - See all my reviews

This book is truly amazing. I have two children who won't eat a mini-carrot between them, and they are now downing veggie after veggie without suspecting a thing!! Here is the funny thing- it works on my husband too! He claims he doesn't like sweet potatoes, but he has eaten them in so many things now- I just wait and tell him afterwards (haha, guess what you just ate?!). Do I feel guilty about sneaking veggies? Not at all! Whatever I can do to help my family be healthier, I would do in a heartbeat. I have a couple of hints- first of all, buy all of your veggies at once and spend about 3 hours one afternoon once per month making the five most common veggie purees. Pour them into individual serving size freezer bags and then put all of the little bags into a gallon bag (one per type of puree), label them, and you are good to go! This is much easier than trying to puree veggies for each meal, it would become so time-consuming that you would be tempted to change your mind at the last minute and make something easier (and less healthy). I grab a bag out of the freezer, quickly defrost and then stir it in with the kids mac n' cheese, chocolate pudding, and all sorts of other "treat food" that all of a sudden become vitamin-rich dishes. I also pre-make some of the breading and flour mix too, and keep them vacuum-packed...it really simplifies things at dinnertime. Likewise, I make the breakfast cookies in a triple recipe, and save them and freeze them for a quick, easy and healthy breakfast. The meat recipes in this book are also excellent- the sloppy joes, meatballs, and the meatloaf- as well as the baked ziti and the pizza- are especially fabulous. This is the first book that I have felt compelled to write a review about, but I felt I absolutely had to do it! We have been eating almost exclusively on recipes from this book for a month now and we all feel so much healthier. Kudos to Missy Chase Lapine! Thank you!

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed thoughts but overall favorable, October 10, 2007

By	Michele Richard "buttercuprx" (Florida) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Let me first say I like this book and I am glad I purchased it. I echo other reviewers who question the idea of hiding foods instead of teaching your children to enjoy them. However, this is certainly a way to sneak some in while you are attempting the teaching.

My kids are not THAT picky, but they are children after all so of course they would prefer nothing but cookies for the rest of their lives.

I have made all the purees so far and have tried many of the recipes. I have also used the concept in my own recipes with great success.

Like other reviewers, I am also wondering how much nutrition is left in the food once you boil it down to nothing. In some cases, I have added the water I boiled the veggies in to recipes in other ways. Don't know if that helps anything, but it made me feel better about it.

Now for my disappointment about the book...the recipes don't have nutritional values listed. yes, there is a list of nutrients provided by the sneaked in foods, but no real nutrional value - ie calories, fat, fiber, etc. My next project will be to calculate nutritional value based on my old recipes versus adding the new recipes. I am not certain how much I am actually changing the value - in other words, am I doing a fair amount of work for little improvement? The sneaked in foods seem to be in such small amount sometimes I am just not sure that there is a real value in it. I guess something is better than nothing, but since my kids already eat fairly well, I am not convinced that it is worth all my extra effort.

I should say for the record that I have 4 children -infant, 2,4 and 13. The overall concept is not THAT much work, but I decided to go gung ho and made every puree over a couple of days - many tiny containers in my freezer now with 1/4 cup dollops of purees. Also, I have a managerial job where I work 50-60 hours weekly away from home. I cook meals ahead of time and leave them for stay-at-home husband to put in the oven. He is NOT in on the sneaking (just for fun). I have included my 13 year old in the plan b/c she is a very healthy and adventurous eater -so this is our little joke on the rest of the family. As I mentioned before, I have been able to incorporate the concepts into my own recipes and have had no problems so far. I usually cook large quantities in advance - ie 4 gallons of chili or meat sauce - then separate and freeze for quicker meals later. The purees figure quite well into that plan because I can whip up a batch and add the entire amount to my stock pot instead of measuring out these tiny amounts for later. AND I have not had any problems with my frozen dinners. I can tell no difference from before I began adding the purees.

My last concern about the book is that (much like me in this post) she spends almost the first half of the book going on and on about how great it is before ever starting to tell me what to do. Also, the recipes are certainly not difficult or gourmet quality, but they do require a little bit of cooking knowledge. Sometimes they act like I haven't a clue about the kitchen "makes about 1 cup of puree...double the recipe if you want more" (gee, never would have thought of that). Other times they can be a bit ambigous "makes 8 large muffins...scale quantities for smaller muffins" - well "large" turned out to mean the normal size muffins, not the larger muffins I had hoped (not a big deal, you just have to figure out what they mean).

Overall, useful book...gave me several ideas I had not thought of before. I have been able to use the recipes in the book as well as incorporate the concepts into my recipes. After several weeks and many recipes, we have had great success...no flops, and no one has suspected a thing.

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what we needed!, September 30, 2007

By	gourmetmamma (Houston TX) - See all my reviews

I wanted to serve one meal to everyone in our family and quit playing short order chef. I never have wanted food to become a battleground for my kids. And, I wanted to incorporate more veggies and fiber in to all of our diets. This book has some fantastic ideas on how to alter my cooking to accomplish my goals.

I made macaroni and cheese last night and watched both my boys (2 and 3) devour sweet potatoes and carrots without a complaint. This stuff works. I cooked more carrots and sweet potatoes that I needed for the puree, and served some of the chunks on our plates. I enjoyed the cooked carrots, and my kids didn't throw the chunks of veggies off their plate onto the floor. One of them actually licked the carrot in curiousity. I'll continue to serve sneaky nutrition AND undisguised versions on the plate. Eventually, my kids will eat the undisguised versions.

What works for me is to plan on preparing ONE puree a day, preferably when it is quiet. I freeze the puree in ice cubes by the tablespoon, and then can add them as needed to recipes. I can rotate thru the purees and not feel overwhelmed. And if I skip a day or two, I have frozen reserves to fall back on. That also lets me make the purees using on-sale produce.