Deceptively Delicious

Now, I don't normally do the "mommy blog" type posts. But I HAVE to share this with you all. I am IN LOVE with this book. (click on post title to go to the www).
I saw this book being advertised on Oprah a few weeks ago. Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry's wife) is the face behind the concept. (She may very well have come up with the concept herself, but i am always dubious of mass marketing ploys).
Anywho, in short, she was tired having the vegetable arguement with her children at meal times, so now adds vege purees to almost everything she cooks. This really works!! In the last week my children have eaten
*chocolate muffins with beetroot in them - BEETROOT!!
*hotcakes (pikelets) with Kumara (sweet potato) - they loved them
*chicken nuggets covered, in fact more like smothered, in broccolli - BROCCOLLI!! and not a word of complaint
*Macaroni bolognaise (my kids don't eat spaghetti) with silverbeet -
*Choc chip cookies with chickpeas - the chickpeas just melt in your mouth, you don't they are there and they look like peanuts.

tonight we are doing butter chicken with pumpkin. The kids have no idea the veges are in the food. You can't taste them, and in fact, most times it seems to inhance the flavour of the food. The chicken nuggest were just fabulous, broccolli and all.
It may seem like a simple concept, and you may wonder why you need a cookbook, but I have found it really useful and interesting to read.
Doing up the purees was not a hassle. I did 5 different veges last Sunday (took about an hour), put them in the fridge, and have just dipped into them at each meal. Jessica recommends freezing serving sizes, which is a great idea.
I paid about $40 NZ for this book, and I am more that happy. It is hard cover (which was unexpected as I am sure I ordered soft cover), spiral bound...an absolute must for a high use book.
It gives you step by step instructions on required equipment - which you really don't need, a saucepan and a blender would do. Optimum cooking times for veges are listed, and the recipes are easy to follow if you ignore things like "non-trans fatty low fat table spread" HECK, I just use butter!! The recipes also tend to call for egg whites only, I used the whole egg. I think the overall concept is "healthful food", but I have grabbed the "adding veges to everything" concept and run with that. Jessica does state that she tried and failed many vege combos in foods and not all worked, but I think experimenting will be fun.
My only critque would be that, while the measurements are in cups and tablespoons, the cooking times are only in farenheight. I would of like to have seen celcius too.
Over all, if you are a mum, or a grandmum, or anyone that has anything to do with kids, I highly recommend this book.

ps. I have told my children what they have eaten after they have finished!!
pps. for kiwi readers I ordered from Fishpond.