Most of you know that Emma has some pretty severe food allergies. She is also EXTREMELY picky about what she will eat, so meal times have become a battle. Where she once used to adore all veggies, now she will only eat peas. Her list of foods can basically be tallied on my two hands. Needless to say I have been extremely concerned about what to do. We are quickly approaching cold season, and I would really prefer her immune system be up to par so we don't catch every single cold. This would require her to eat a little better than mac and cheese and goldfish.
Enter The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine. I was desperate to find some help, so I checked this out from the library. Now I intend to buy it and go find the author and hug her. Her concept is basically to create several different kinds of purees once a week ranging from carrot sweet potato puree to blueberry spinach. Then she has several different recipes that you disguise these things into. The point is basically that you are giving your kids veggies in their usual favorite meals, only they are redone so they are healthy but taste very similar. She claims that you can gradually increase the veggies and things until your kids are used to the taste and will even eat them outright. I admit I was skeptical at first. I made the Grilled Cheese Muffins for Emma this morning at breakfast and I waited for her to throw it off her high chair. Imagine my surprise when she ate not one but TWO!!! And then she ate another one for lunch!!!! I called my mom maniacally laughing screaming "I win!!!!!" The recipe called for 3/4 cup of carrot sweet potato puree and she didn't taste it!! My only caveat would be that I don't personally think it tasted all that great, though I could not taste the veggies. In other words, it wouldn't be the kind of thing you and your hubby would necessarily eat. But who cares?! You are getting your kid to eat veggies! I am currently making the breakfast cookies for tomorrow morning, and I feel the same way about them. They are a little bland to me. But I don't care at all if it means Emma will eat something that's actually good for her for a change. I would HIGHLY recommend this book. While I don't agree with the concept of being deceitful, I do think we as moms need to be creative and make these things palatable for our kids. If that means disguising it, then by all means I am ok with that. But I would not flat out lie as the author hints at doing in places. Anyway, it's a great book.
The other thing I want to recommend is callendula cream. Back when I was nursing Emma I was given a container of straight callendula cream for cracking and soreness while nursing. Well Emma has recently started sucking her thumb really hard and making it crack and almost bleed. I was looking around for my container of Aquafore (sp?) when I found the callendula. I thought, you know it's for cracking skin, and if it was okay to nurse with then surely I could put it on her thumb. I tried it and a few hours later you couldn't tell the skin had been cracking. I was so thankful! So if you have any issues like this, check out callendula. It's a nice safe natural way to deal with the problem!
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A note about the purees...I haven't made all of them, and I don't really intend to sit down and make them all. I found the recipes I thought I'd use and I made the purees that were needed for them. I don't have a million hours to do that sort of thing, and neither to you guys. Just thought I would mention that.
Hmmm....that book sounds interesting. I will have to look for that.
On the subject of sneaking in vegetables: a good way to do that for a mac-'n-cheese lover is to put a package of frozen butternut squash (thawed) in the cheese sauce of your mac-'n-cheese. Then, add a little bit of nutmeg. It doesn't taste exactly like normal mac-'n-cheese, but it is very good. It doesn't taste squashy at all. My husband doesn't really like veggies either, but he really liked this, and couldn't tell it had squash in it. Oh, and my kids liked it, too. I just thought I would share, since you said the Sneaky Chef is not really for grown ups.
glad to hear the sneaky chef is working! you might have to keep it up for awhile if she starts watching veggie tales and decides she doesn't want to eat bob and larry...
That sounds like a very interesting cookbook. Do they make a version for husbands? ;-) Hehe, no, I'm kidding. I did have to do things like that at first even for him, though, as he was on the bachelor's diet of meat and starch and throught that vegetables were something he could compensate for with a handful of vitamins. But, little by little, I won! Yay! I wanted to recommend a very very very yummy and healthy Japanese vegetable, actually, that I don't doubt you could get ahold of somewhere nearby. Go here for a picture and minor nutrition value: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabocha I personally am a BIG sweet potatoe fan, so imagine my surprise when I found out there are TWO such orange things in the world. I like it tossed in a tiny bit of olive oil and broiled with the skin (washed of course) or on the grill it's fantastic! :-) Check Harry's, Whole Foods, an international farmer's market (Buford Hwy), or any of the myriad of Korean/Asian grocers in Duluth area.
Where would one find the callendula cream? My guess is a natural foods store - maybe Whole Foods?
Kelley - You probably could find it there, or somewhere online. My mom picked up the little jar I have of it from a Naturopath's office near here. You could also ask your midwife where to find some. If you're planning on using this for nursing help, apply it right after feedings and wipe it off right before so your little one doesn't get a mouthful of it =)
Lisa - Thanks for the tip! I guess I can go back to butternut squash again. It used to be the only, and I do mean ONLY thing Emma would eat, so when I got her to eat something else I swore off making it ever again. Mind you, I was making it from scratch, and I was cooking 6-8 of them at a time. If they have it frozen, I will try it! The recipe sounds great. Thank you so much!
Sarah - I AM THAT HERO!
Anna - Thank you for the recommendation. That looks super yummy, and next time I am at such a store I will try to get some! I am always up for a new veggie to try!
I just saw a book by Jessica Seinfield (yes, Jerry's wife) called Deceptively Delicious which is a cookbook like that. She was making it sound so original.
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