I’m willing to do just about anything to get my kids to eat the foods they need. I have made up songs and dances about eating. We get Eliza to eat by telling her the food will make her “BIG AND STRONG” as we all raise our arms and flex our muscles. (Annoyingly, Zach likes to do this, but it doesn’t encourage him to eat.) I have really enjoyed using “Deceptively Delicious” by Jessica Seinfeld to sneak veggies and other nutritional foods into their bellies. I’ve probably tested at least half of the recipes in the cookbook, so I wanted to give my “review,” if you will, of the book thus far.
1. Yes, I would recommend it. If you have general cooking knowledge, you can easily follow the recipes in this cookbook. Additionally, all of the baking recipes I’ve tried have been fantastic and I love thinking that my kids are getting a little extra nutrition from their sweets.
2. The “fried” recipes don’t work so well: Chicken nuggets (p.75), mozzarella sticks (p.91), aloha chicken kebabs (p.95), and tofu nuggets (p.100) haven’t come out like I’d hoped. I did change the chicken nuggets recipe substantially to make it work better. I’ll send that out in a different post. But generally speaking, vegetables mixed with egg don’t really stick to the foods very well, and thus the breadcrumb coatings don’t stay on very well.
3. These recipes work well and are easy: French toast (p.49), oatmeal (p.68), pita pizzas (p.96 – you can also use broccoli), tortilla cigars (p.144), avocado spread (p.136 – this goes well with the tortilla cigars or tacos), tacos (p.148 – they’re just a little advanced for our kids still), chocolate pudding (p.159), chocolate peanut butter dip (p.163), frozen yogurt pops (p.167), and chocolate fondue (p.174).
4. My family’s favorites: Meatball soup (p.72), Italian meatloaf (p.79), mashed potatoes (p.80 – and you can add parsnips instead of cauliflower), beef stew (p.83), buttered noodles (p.108), burgers 2 (p.115), spaghetti pie (p.116), and lasagna (p.131).
5. Great baking: Banana bread (p.54), peanut butter and banana muffins (p.58), brownies (p.156), doughnuts (p.160), carrot cake muffins (p.185 – so moist and you don’t even need the frosting), and yellow cake (p.186).
6. I can’t get these to work: Pancakes (p.57) and pink pancakes (p.143). See the photo above, but I am seriously wondering if these are missing the eggs. I’ve tried to cook these as flat as possible, but still they don’t seem to cook on the inside. I’ve cooked them up to 15-20 minutes total (and they’re supposed to take about 5). I will not try them again unless perhaps with egg to see if that helps.
7. These are not tasty: tofu nuggets (p.100 – they’re just gross), burgers 1 (p.111 – everyone said they tasted like veggie burgers, but I liked them), and grilled cheese sandwiches (p.135 – maybe if you severely cut back on the amount of veggie puree).
Those are my initial thoughts. I have a lot more recipes to try, and I’m thinking of getting Jessica’s second book, “Double Delicious: Good, simple food for busy, complicated lives.” If you have either of these books and can recommend recipes or share tips based on what I’ve found, please comment!
I can't even pee in peace 
(disclaimer: i don’t have the book so she may already do this…)
alton brown inspired me to use oatmeal flour in some of my baking. it works particularly well in banana bread because the bananas have so much moisture. throw oats into a food processor until they reach a flour-like texture and then substitute for half of the flour in your banana bread. yum yum yum =)
Um, NO, she doesn’t use oatmeal flour!!! At least not in any of the recipes I’ve tested so far. She does use whole wheat flour, ground flax seed, and oat bran/wheat bran in small amounts here and there I think. So I will TOTALLY try that! Thanks for the tip!!! I can’t wait to rub your belly.