SHHHH! It's A Secret!

The book above was written by Jerry Seinfeld's wife, along with the help of a dietitian. She has 3 kids and was struggling when it came to dinner time and getting them to eat what she considered the "good food" and they considered "yucky food".

So she came up with this wonderful book, full of recipes, nutritional guidance, and so much more. Joshua is not really a picky eater, but sometimes it is hard to make sure he gets all the nutrients that he needs. The trick to these recipes is that the "extra" ingredients are all pureed veggies or fruit. I took the time to make my grocery list with 5 of the meal recipes in the book, 2 breakfast recipes and 2 dessert recipes, just to try it out. I shopped for all my ingredients and then went home and washed, chopped, steamed and pureed all the fruit and veggies. I am not going to lie and say it was easy, because it was not. It took alot of time in the kitchen and alot of clean up. I did buy as much frozen veggies and fruits that I could, so that cut out a little time. I bagged, measured and marked all the purees and but them in the freezer. I measured them out so all I would have to do is grab the measurement that I needed when it came time to make the meal. The long, tedious process has paid off I must say. Every meal this week has come from the book and every meal has not disappointed! They have actually turned out really good. Joshua ate them right up with out ever knowing what I put in there. Here is a little list of what I have made since Sunday:

Chocolate brownies with pureed carrots and spinach(sounds gross? it wasn't; they actually had a great taste and everyone loved them!)

Banana Bread with pureed cauliflower.

Turkey Chili with pureed red bell pepper and carrots.

Spaghetti and Meatballs with pureed carrots and squash

Tonight we are having Italian Meatloaf(with pureed carrots and zucchini) and mashed potatoes(with pureed cauliflower).

I have not replaced the vegetables that I make as a side dish with my meals just because there are veggies in the main dish. This is just an added bonus of nutrients and antioxidants! This book is great! I didn't think the meals or the desserts for that matter would taste as good as they have. There are tons of ideas in this book for meals and all kinds of things for picky eaters. Even if you do not have a picky eater it is still a great book, because it provides all kinds of variety for adding more vitamins and such to your meals.

I found this book at Kohl's' and it was only 5 bucks!! I think it retails at 12.95(which is still not bad). I would go take a look at Kohl's first, but if you can't find it there I am sure it is at a book store or online. It is totally worth the money.

To me it just helps me reinforce and boost what I am already doing and that is providing healthy, wholesome meals for my family!

P.S. Anybody can do this, just set aside some time on the weekend and prep everything and then during the week all you have to do is pull out the correct measurement of the frozen puree. The prepping in the beginning is time consuming but the meals are easy to make and only take about 30 mins to make. If you have a baby you can set aside some of the pureed fruits and veggies to give to them as baby food(saves money and you know what your baby is eating) You can put the purees in an ice cube tray, cover and freeze it. One cube is considered to be 1 oz of food. Just an added idea for mommies with babies!!

Kids do not always have to know what they are eating as long as it taste good, right??