The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals

It has been an 8 year struggle to get my daughter to eat veggies! If only I had this book the day she was born... I would have started it immediately!I have made the brownies, frosting, pasta sauce, pizza, meatloaf and most of the purees since cracking this book open a week ago. Yes, making all of the purees in advance is a lot of work. But I recommend strongly that you devote a day and DOUBLE and FREEZE YOUR BATCHES. Once you have that done (stored in 1/4 cup portions in snack bags), YOU'RE ALL SET!I was wondering while boiling and pureeing and separating and storing if this was something worthwhile of an entire day. Then I made the brownies and OH MY GOD everyone loved them! And they have SPINACH IN THEM! My husband and I were cracking up. You will not believe how fudgy they are!My only recommendation on the brownies is to skip the oats. Even though ground in a processor they still lend a bit if grainy texture that almost didn't fly with my daughter. Without the oats, the consistency would be perfect and completely not questioned, spinach and all!As far as the purees, you cannot liquify them enough. The smoother the better... and then they are completely undetectable in any of the recipes or even your own dishes.And if you have a baby, a lot of the purees would also double as extremely fresh and healthy baby food. The sweet potato and carrot ("Orange") puree comes out just like baby food except it's fresh and healthy! Again, if I had this book 8 years ago, I would have incorporated this into our diets form day one.If you have a finicky eater, I recommend this book as a MUST HAVE. The pasta sauce and pizza has now been rated as "the best EVER" by my family. Again, I cannot help but laugh to myself... if only my daughter knew all of the veggies I'm cramming into her meals now! What's better is we're all eating healthier.Once you do a shopping list and make the purees, you will fit this into your day to day very easily. Just a bit of prep time and you're all set.

I am very happy with this purchase and have already recommended this to many of my friends who battle toddlers everyday regarding healthy eating. I like the book because it is written succinctly and entertainingly. As a full time working mom with a 32 month old and an 8 month old I have very little time to read. But I managed to read this in a weekend and have already implemented some of the tips. I have modified some of the recipes since I live in a rather rural area with grocery stores that do not offer a lot of the items mentioned in the book. But I did what I could with what I had on hand. So far so good! I pureed carrots for my infant the other day and thought I would throw some in that night's spaghetti sauce. My daughter (and my husband) gobbled it up, no questions asked and no idea they were eating something a bit healthier! It tasted great and I felt great knowing I had added a boost! My toddler refused to eat her oatmeal the other day which is unusual as this is one food she is almost always guaranteed to eat. I typically buy the packets of oatmeal and make it with water but I opted to give her quick oats made with milk instead. I mixed in a half cup of no-sugar added blueberry applesauce for flavor but she still didn't care for it. Today I gave her the same oatmeal and topped it with rainbow sprinkles and not only did she eat every bite she said "Thank you mommy for making my oatmeal pretty." This is a great book that offers a variety of ideas that I find very user friendly and easily modified. Strongly recommended! I LOVE BEING A SNEAKY CHEF!!!

The Sneaky Chef VS. Deceptively Delicious.First of all let me start by saying:!) I don't have young kids any more BUT2) I HATE veggies but I know I need to eat more of them, so any system that gets them into me and the grownups in my life: BRAVO!Yes, I'd recommend BOTH books and here's why. They each have their strong and weak suits.Pluses:DECEPTIVELY DELICIOUS hasA) pictures, which is helpful and funB) tips and comments by her taste-testersC) used one type of puree for each recipeD) is spiral bound so it will lay flat. The whole layout is really nice, just as a cookbook to read!E) doesn't beat you over the head with the whole nutrition thingTHE SNEAKY CHEF hasA) combination purees, which add a lot of variety and ease into the cooking partB0 really cute names for the dishes. Makes it easy to remember!C) isn't afraid to use butter and milk!D) goes seriously into the nutrition thing. Almost the first half of the book is a prelim and explanation of the whole concept.E) the recipes seem to taste a bit better!Minuses:DD. The recipes are a bit bland. If you're cooking for an adult palate, you need to add more spices. For example her "Chocolate Chip Cupcakes." substitute milk (even skim) for the water, add an extra T. vanilla and 1-2 teaspoons of cinnamon. One of the veggie purees her recipes call for aren't covered in the "how to prepare puree" part.SC: Very few pictures. It's not spiral bound but a trip to Office Max can take care of that for you. (Best tip I ever got regarding cookbooks by the way and found it here!)I wish both books went into greater detail about the pureeing part. They're pretty good but if you're not a veggie person to begin with, you might not know what is the proper consistency.I am looking forward to getting Missy's book for adult recipes and hope that Jessica rises to the challenge and does one as well.