Baby food - all mixed up?
By now, many of you have likely heard of Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook, Deceptively Delicious, which teaches parents how to blend pureed veggies into kid-friendly meals like mac n' cheese (cauliflower, anyone?), in order to beef up the nutritional content. (Another example: spinach in brownies!)
Well, now, one major Oprah appearance and a slew of magazine interviews later, there appears to be some controversy regarding the book: Missy Chase Lapine, who wrote a very similar book entitled The Sneaky Chef in April 2007, is saying there are a number of similarities between her book and Seinfeld’s. "There are at least 15 of my recipes that ended up in her book," she is quoted saying in USA Today. Though she admits that it can be very difficult to prove with recipes.
Regardless of what happens, I think it’s an interesting concept – slipping some veggies into your kids’ favorite foods to ensure they get the vitamins they need. Although I do think at some point, there should be an open-and fun!-discussion about the importance of vegetables in the diet. We should start teaching kids at a young age the fried potatoes and ketchup do not a veggie make.
iVillage has a slideshow on iVillage members talking about how they get kids to eat veggies-check it out here.
There’s also a tool for introducing people to great fruits and vegetables, including some lesser-known varieties, that have different benefits such as anti-aging properties, are low-fat, promote athletic endurance and more. Check out the “Best Foods for Your Diet chooser tool.”
Comments
I'm a little skeptical about this especially the spinach in brownies. It's one thing if the kids know and understand that mom's brownies are healthier than the ones at Starbucks but it's another if they think that brownies are good for them regardless. As for putting veggies in pasta sauce and meatloaf I thought that was commonplace but I guess not.
I bought Missy Chase Lapine's book a few months ago, and I really like it. My kids are very young and have autism (our daughter, who is 4, is completely non-verbal right now, and our son, 6, speaks at a 2 year-old level), so having a discussion on nutrition just isn't possible right now. We can get them to eat certain veggies, but trying new things is very hard. Sometimes, getting my daughter to eat ANYTHING is a battle,lol! These recipes have been a lifesaver.
There's an interesting take on this debate at http://www.slate.com/id/2176564/fr/flyout FYI.
Leslie
