Jack, Jessica and Me. Our adventures in Vegetable Deception.

Jack, Jessica and Me.  Our adventures in Vegetable Deception.

Jack showing what he thinks of veggies.

Recently I have run into a road block with my 20 month old son Jack, he absolutely refuses to eat vegetables.   When he first made the leap from baby food to real food he was eating vegetables like they were going out of style.  I spent six months bragging to everyone how my kid would eat any vegetable I put in front of his face, now that is no longer the case. His hatred of vegetables has gotten so bad that when I make spaghetti sauce with fine chopped onions, zucchini, mushrooms, red peppers, and green peppers he will take a bite and then slowly and diligently work the veggies out of his mouth before swallowing the pasta.  This will not work for me first I love vegetables and every meal I eat contains at least two and  second I think one of the most important things I can pass on to my kids to good nutrition, but this strike is starting us off on the seriously wrong foot. 

                Enter in my savior Jessica Seinfeld, wife of Jerry Seinfeld, mother of three and professional vegetable hider.  In her cookbook, Deceptively Delicious, Jessica introduces the art of pureeing vegetables and putting them into foods that all children will love; just what my anti veggie son needed a little trickery.  Following in the same idea employed by Julie Powell when she cooked her way through Julia Child’s cookbook Jack and I are going to cook our way through Jessica’s book.  We won’t have the same quick witted flair that Julie possessed, but we will fight through this book, at least until he is old enough to comprehend the phrase “you aren’t leaving this table until all those vegetables are done mister.”

Adventure One: Blueberry Muffins with Yellow Squash

I chose this recipe fist since muffins are basically cake for breakfast and what better way to start the deception then with cake.  Because I am a mom, a full time worker, and a student I bypassed on making everything from scratch as the recipe suggest, I bought some whole wheat blueberry mix in a box.  Jessica is married to a rich guy and doesn’t have to work; I don’t have time to be baking from scratch.  Jessica’s recipe called for ½ of cup of yellow squash puree, I decided to triple it, veggie intake is the goal here, as the old saying goes, go big or go home.  In this family we go big.  The first thing I noticed was it takes a lot of puree yellow squash to make a cup and a half, four whole ones.  I felt bad when the dried blueberries came out of the box so I also added another cup of frozen ones.  For those on a budget, like my little family is, it was a nice surprise that with all the additions to the ingredients we added 6 more muffins then the box said it would make.   These were an instant hit, not only with Jack, but with the anti-veggie eating husband as well.  4 yellow squashes in 18 muffins, not bad for breakfast, though I still maintain muffins are just cake with our frosting.

Adventure Two: Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Butternut Squash or Sweet Potato

It took my three times to get this recipe right and unlike the muffins I had to end up following the recipe to the letter.  The first time I tried this one I did a ½ cup of butternut squash puree and a ½ a cup of sweet potato even though the recipe only called for one or the other.  The go big or go home theory did not work here as the sandwich turned really potatoey in the middle and wouldn’t hold its form, a total disgusting failure.  The next time I tried it I kept both purees still and added more shredded cheese to the mix; this didn’t work either the oil that cam shooting out of this heart attack sandwich totally defeated the purpose of healthy eating and Jack was not impressed one bit.  The third time was the charm and I followed the recipe down to the last teaspoon of olive oil, finally a winner.  Jack devoured the sandwich with a side of beef vegetable soup which he took three bites of pushed away, I enjoyed the soup while Jack enjoyed the sandwich with no idea he was in fact eating more squash.  The hubby stayed not impressed with this meal and I am beginning to hear shouts of how mean it is to trick the little guy.    

Adventure Three: Spaghetti Pie with Broccoli and Carrots

This dish was right up my alley with it calling for two purees right off the bat.  The more vegetables the merrier.  This was a pasta layered dish that had meatballs made of hamburger and broccoli puree.  The carrot puree was mixed with the noodles and cheese and then you baked the entire thing.  I doubled the recipe for purees in this recipe as well.  The broccoli turned the meatballs green and my husband was over it, he wasn’t even going to try the dish and ordered pizza.   Jack had super fun making the meatballs, though I had to watch him like a hawk to make sure he wasn’t eating raw hamburger, which he tried and succeed in doing on several occasions.  This final product was so good, though it was defiantly a weekend recipe, it took a long time to make and both Jack and I were starving by the time we finally sat down to eat.  Another successful meal filled with hidden vegetables.

Adventure Four: Italian Meatloaf with Carrots, Celery, and Onions

The big winner to date!  Jack stuffs this stuff down his throat at such a fierce rate I have to monitor how much is on his plate at one time so he doesn’t choke.  Even my husband is on board with this dinner.  I doubled the recipe the second time around and froze the extra for quick meals later on in the week.  I decided to add mashed potatoes with cauliflower puree as a side and neither boy can tell it is not real potatoes.

Jack, Jessica, and I have cooked 23 of the 120 recipes in her book. Most have been hits, some are trial and error and some are terrible, stay away from the cauliflower Mac and cheese, it is just wrong to do that to good old fashioned Mac & cheese.  My biggest critic is my husband who wonders if our child will ever know what good taste like, I try to convince him this is good food, he respectfully declines.