Kids' Cookbooks

I decided to try Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook, Deceptively Delicious. The idea being that you puree up various vegetables and sneak them into recipes the kids are sure to adore. So far we've sampled:

-tofu nuggets rolled in broccoli and breadcrumbs (thumbs down all around).
-sloppy joes with red pepper and sweet potato purees (I thought it was pretty good but my kids detected pieces of onion which apparently I should have pureed, too, or left out entirely, and wouldn't eat it. Sophie also refused to eat her sloppy joe on a hotdog bun, even though Jessica said kids would think it was "fun." Really, I should have known better.
-green eggs (spinach puree) and ham. Kind of souffle-like. Aaron ate a little. Sophie - none.
-pink pancakes (with beet puree, ricotta cheese and grated apple). Aaron and I liked these for dinner last night. Sophie ate none. (Are you detecting a pattern here?)
-A few more left to try: A fruit punch, a fruit and yogurt combo that gets frozen like popsicles, and an artichoke and chickpea dip for veggies. *Update: Sophie refused the dip and the yogurt pops, too. After I pureed away the afternoon. So predictable.

So, not a huge success overall. Though sometimes I wonder if Sophie will eat anything.

I MUST put in my two cents about something, however (*updated with links): I have SO MUCH MORE FUN reading Ann Hodgman's cookbooks. One Bite Won't Kill You is obviously for kids and is fun to read whether you try out any of the recipes or not. Ann is happy if you put bacon or chocolate in every recipe. She includes a recipe for deep-fried onion rings and serves them for a main course (with the caveat "No way am I doing all that work for a side dish.") She does use spinach in some recipes. Her (adult) cookbook Beat This includes cool recipes like "Best-Named Recipe - Gall Bladder Cake." Okay, I contributed that one. It's a plug for my grandmother's recipe. She made it when my grandfather, who was a doctor, didn't need the buttermilk for a gall bladder x-ray for a patient. (Apparently drinking buttermilk makes the x-ray show up much clearer - but sometimes the patient didn't need the x-ray after all, or there was some leftover.) It's a nice plain chocolate cake, really. "Suitable for breakfast," Ann says. Check out Beat That also.

See, Ann Hodgman is much more fun than Jessica Seinfield, whose book is, you have to admit, kind of prissy, with lectures about table manners and how her kids just love those green eggs.

That is all I have to say today, because I am off to revise my book manuscript once again. Happy May Day to all!