Purée vegetables in foods such as cakes and cookies

[Sue-Zee-Q]

Recently I read about Jessica Seinfeld's (Jerry Seinfeld's wife) book Deceptively Delicious as she was interviewed on Oprah about it. She had a problem with getting her three children to eat vegetables, so she started making vegetable purées and sneaking them into their food, including baked goods such as brownies and cookies and cakes etc. She even found a way to make chicken nuggets which were 'battered' in vegetable purée. What do you think of this method of cooking? Is this something you would try? Are you curious about how the food would taste? Would you do this?

 

[letscook]

i have 3 grandsons, 8,4,7mths the oldest eats horriable. Won't try things, Its a constant fight. He has gotten better lately. what the other 2 eat a day is about what the oldest eats in week. I fear the future for him with bones loss etc. So yes I would try anything like that to get stuff in him. In fact he did try zuccini bread and likes that.
Going to try carrots in an apple muffin,

 

[Angie]

When we were kids, Mom would make Beetnik Bars...chocolate bars with beets in them. I loved them until I found out what was in them!

 

[Sue-Zee-Q]

Hi letscook, I understand the fear of a child not eating very much. My youngest eats like a bird and will only eat soups that I have cooked with cream! I tried cutting the cream out because she had a cold, she woudln't eat so I thought it was better to give her the cream even with a stuffed nose than for her to eat nothing. She started eating immediately.

 

[Sue-Zee-Q]

Hi Angie, the Beetnik bars sound interesting. Do you have a recipe? Probably not eh?

 

[Katie H]

I did that sort of thing all the time when my children were youngsters. The oldest will be 37 this year, so it's been a while. Before they knew it they were eating broccoli and spinach and all sorts of other veggies. However, I do have to add that they never ate commercial baby food either because, right from the beginning, they ate what we ate. I just ground up our food finely and seasoned it less when they were tiny. The few foods they seemed to dislike were introduced to them in my sneaky manner.

Saw the Oprah show with Jessica Seinfeld. Pretty interesting and her recipes sounded very good. I should try some of them on Buck. He's a stinker when it comes to eating fruits and vegetables.

 

[Dina]

Hey Sue-Zee!We saw the show too. I tried this the other day for my kiddos but didn't work. My daughter had a hunch I had put something different on the cookies since I'd just seen the show. LOL I made the oatmeal raisin cookies with banana and zucchini puree but they didn't even touch them. Argh! I am planning to make the raspberry bars with spinach puree in them. What have you tried? Have your kids liked the veggie treats you make? Here's the link for the recipes Deceptively Delicious Recipes

 

[CherryRed]

My sister got in trouble once for refusing to eat oatmeal to which my mother had added orange juice.

My mom made the oatmeal and snuck a bit of orange juice in because my sister refused to drink it on its own. She set the bowl down on the table and went upstairs to get ready for work. Shortly after, my stepdad came down to make sure we'd be ready for school on time. He asked my sister why she hadn't eaten her oatmeal, and she said it tasted disgusting. She demanded that he make something else for her, or she would not eat at all. My stepdad, who had no knowledge of my mother's earlier orange juice addition, launched into a heated rant about how ridiculous my sister was being. He made a point of asking her why she'd been able to eat the oatmeal without a problem for so many months up until that day. After all, the stuff in the bowl was what she'd been eating for the rest of the school year. She continued to protest and was eventually sent out without breakfast and grounded.

Later that day, my stepdad related the story to my mother. . . you can imagine how they felt when they had to explain the mix up to my sister and unground her. Moral of the story: parents aren't always right? I don't know, but it sure was funny!

 

[Sue-Zee-Q]

I actually didn't see the show, I read about it in email (I subscribe to news from Oprah's site), I am curious to try some of those baking recipes though, but part of me thinks it might be a bit "Letitia Cropley",(from the Vicar of Dibley) famous for her strange recipes such as parsnip brownies and lard and fish paste pancakes.

 

[Angie]

Hi Angie, the Beetnik bars sound interesting. Do you have a recipe? Probably not eh?

I'll see if I can get it from mom!

 

[jpmcgrew]

I dont have kids by choice but I thought if you start them young on vegetables they will like vegetables HBs grand daughter did not like vegies but when I made a beef stew loaded with vegetables she loved it the next time she came to vist and said she hated onion rings but would eat the breading I asked her to just take whole bite she loved them.She also hated other things but when I gave them to her she ate them.I think the biggest problem is when parents ask them what they want want and give them all these choices they are going to pick the worst food.When I was a kid I was not given a choice I ate what was put in front of me or did not eat.Granted there were a few things I could not eat like steamed cabbage it literally would make me throw up,ham to salty,mayonaise too rich, brussel sprouts I would eat them but was not crazy about them.The thing is I grew up when there really was no fast food and yet I liked most vegetables my thing was sweets as I was so limited in getting those.
Bottom line is kids will eat just about anything until you give them choices as a kid I got no choices it was eat it or dont and go to bed.

 

[jpmcgrew]

I think sneaking in vegetables in a kids diet will back fire on you as they never really learn to enjoy them.Disquising vegetables in some other form is not going to make them want to eat them on there own when they get older.I like the the idea of making vegies in in cute faces and other ways works better.Better yet get them to grow a couple of vegetables they will be proud to eat what they grew.And again lastly start them early in the first place they need to know that mac and cheese and pizza and so forth is a treat not part of the normal diet.

 

[Sue-Zee-Q]

JP I think to some extent you are right. I think today that we make such a big hype over what people eat, but I think if you just keep offering them something eventually they will either develop the taste for it, or they won't. Force feeding does backfire as it makes them more stubborn to not eat. Probably somewhere in the middle is the best way to go, but I think you have to tailor it to each child/person. I have two completely different eaters, one would eat everything I put in front of her, and the other one will only eat creamy purées (nothing hidden though) and if I don't cook the vegetables in cream, she won't eat it! So I have to wait and see what she is like when she is older (she's only a year old now).

 

[jpmcgrew]

You are right Sue-Ze-Q there are some things a kid just doesnt like at all.That was me with the steamed cabbage the smell alone literally made me nauseous.I think kids will tell you they dont like things in hopes of getting what they want.Its hard to figure it out.Of course alot of the school lunches are not helping you as they will offer the same crap to eat although I hafto say some the schools are starting to offer healthier fare.

 

[Caine]

I raised my son by myself since he was 9 months old, and I always gave him two choices: Take it, or leave it. I never tried to fancy his food up, or hide in within something else, like the medicine capsule you hide in your dog's bowl of Kenl-Ration.

He is now 25 years old, soon to be 26, and the only thing he leaves is flan, and sweet potatoes, and he has since it came out of a Gerber jar. At least he's consistent!

 

[college_cook]

I don't really know if parents do this anymore, but something that worked with me when I was young was that my dad used to refuse to let me leave the dinner table until I had at the very least tried the food in question. It was a battle of the wills, but I was doomed from the start because how long can any 5 year old sit alone at the table without being bored out of his skull? What happened was that I realized that as the food got cold, it got even more unpleasant to eat than it would have been otherwise. It didn't take me long to figure that out, and as a result I learned that it was best to give everything a try and not make a scene. Of course now, there's all sorts of things I wish I could try but probably will never get the opportunity to.

 

[Sue-Zee-Q]

Here in the UK, the schools are inspected by a national organization, and if they don't offer healthy food to the kids and play 'big brother' and set a policy that the parents have to follow with lunches, they are marked down by this organization. There are so many teen parents here that they have to be the 'nanny state' and tell everyone what to do. So if too many people send junk food for their kids to school for lunch, a notice goes home to everyone. The organization gave my daughter's school a lower mark because so many parents sent in chips in the kids' lunches. The principal goes around and inspects the kids' lunches to make sure that they are having 'healthy food'. Common sense has gone out the window. What is it like in your schools those of you who have school aged children?