Deceptively Delicious the Cookbook - a parody

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 2 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #6,994 in Food, #173,432 overall

Food Fight: An "Honest Review" of "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld

The book that is taking America by storm! Find-out what all the hype and hoopla is all about.

Read what the expert reviewers have to say about this best selling book by Jessica Seinfeld, wife of well known comedian, Jerry Seinfeld.

Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food

What do the Reviewers think about "Deceptively Delicious" 

A Parody

Description: Jessica Seinfeld offers a program that gets kids to eat their vegetables without them knowing! Basically she sneaks veggies into their most beloved meals (thats right, she cheats).

As a mother of three, Jessica Seinfeld, like many busy parents, used to struggle to get her kids to eat right. In Deceptively Delicious, she shares her solutions: easy, mouthwatering recipes, that even the most overwhelmed families can make, packed with unseen veggies, pureed, so kids will never suspect (unless they're able to read). Jessica has at long last come to the conclusion that the "ends justify the means" in this war of nutrition.

Deceptively Delicious has all of Jessica's winning combinations, including cauliflower in mac and cheese (gag...) and spinach in brownies (OMG!). She also shares tips on making healthy snacks and improving store-bought foods, (by adding pureed fiber) as well as, advice on creating a positive environment around the kitchen table, by lying about what's in the dessert.

Deceptively Delicious is a godsend for all devious parents who want healthy kids, at any price, peaceful family meals, and to never again have to say, "Eat your vegetables!" It works very well until the kids ask, hey mom, how come you're not making us eat vegetables anymore?

Jessica, like many mothers, is more obsessed about her kids eating vegetables, than in their learning larger life lessons like honesty and integrity. She is sick and tired of honest explanations of why vegetables are good for you (d.... it)!

Jessica Seinfeld, after much trial-and-error - and many mealtime battles - discovered a foolproof system: delicious and easy-to-make stealth recipes that sneak in pureed veggies, so kids will never suspect, or learn that the foods they love, are actually good for them! Jessica has provided these stealth recipes to the U.S. Military as a possible weapons delivery system.

Not only is Jessica Seinfeld sneaky and devious, but its now reported that her cookbook, Deceptively Delicious, was actually written by a team of experts, large enough to form a soccer team, including a writer, chef, nutritionist, art director, photographer, agent, editor, project manager, and others. Originality and authorship are not salient features of most celebrity or spouse-of-celebrity cookbooks, yet instead of taking Seinfeld to task for that, the media have latched on to a peculiar claim: Seinfeld has, of late, been accused of plagiarism. The allegation: She lifted ideas from Missy Chase Lapine's The Sneaky Chef, which was published earlier this year and is also about hiding vegetables in kids' food. The plagarism charge is now being handled through the courts.

Jessica Seinfeld, when not a sneaky cook, is the founder and president of Baby Buggy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing clothing and equipment to New York's families in need. She is the wife of Jerry Seinfeld, with whom she has three children and this is her first book.

Some critics have felt that the BEST part of the book is all the parenting tips. Everyone who has children should buy this book to learn the secrets of deceptive parenting. These tips are creatively dispersed throughout the book with quotes from (famous sneak)moms, Jessica's children (gee mom this mac and cheese tastes fishy?) and of course Jerry (no soup for you!). The format, layout, and design of Deceptively Delicious are totally retro and work brilliantly.

Meanwhile, Missy Chase Lapine says, see you in court! She reports that she and her publicists pitched the Oprah show five times without success. She also points out she submitted her 139-page book proposal with 31 recipes and 11 purees twice to HarperCollins (Seinfeld's publisher), once in February 2006 without an agent and again with an agent in May 2006. (Yeah, but was she related to a famous televsion comedian - no...)

So the question is asked, who will ultimately wear the crown of "Sneakiest Mom" and own total control of the stealth puree recipes empire? And...what will happen when these affected children grow-up, learn to read and confirm that their mothers lied to them...huh? It's like an episode right out of Seinfeld.

deceptively delicious  

by Jessica Seinfeld

This book is the BEST!!!, October 13, 2007
By Lynn "loves to cook" (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

Well let me begin by saying that I am not a professional chef, nor I am an uber-fan of the "Seinfeld" show - so I could care less who the author is. I also had a feeling that anything that deals with food and children and not being 100% honest with kids in this "kid-centered" world we live in would push a few buttons. And it did! I am a married mom of two boys and I am also interested in better health for my family. I do believe in eating fruits and vegetables in their natural state but let's be honest: Who among us eats five servings a day? I saw Ms. Seinfeld on Oprah and thought to myself, Well I have beeing doing the puree thing myself so let's see what she has to say. How are thre recipes? Pretty good, as a matter of fact. Here is what I did to try some of the recipes out:
First, I plugged my Bob Seger CD and got the ball rolling. The Beatles work just as well, the decision is yours. Then I washed my hands, put on my "Lutheran Jello Power" apron and said to myself: "It's Go Time!" I own a Vita-Mix blender which double as a food processor. I own a rice cooker which can be used to stream veggies. If you do not own a food processor or a steamer, do not despair. You can bake a lot of the veggies or put a colander in a shallow pan of boiling water to steam them. You can always invest in a steamer and/or food processor if you want, later. The first recipe I tries was:
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES: 5 star.They are delicious! The only tweaking I did to the recipe was I pureed the chickpeas before adding them to the batter. I also used brown sugar Splenda rather than regular brown sugar; when done you have a batch of cookies that have 1/2 cup of brown sugar plus protein in them!! There is no white sugar in this recipe and I also used whole wheat flour. Excellent!! I have actually made these twice in a week.
SPAGETTI AND MEATBALLS: 5 stars. My kids are not that into meatballs and they ate them. This was my first attempt at meatballs, ever, and they turned out great. I put the broccoli puree and the sweet potato puree in the spagetti sauce and no one tasted anything different.
CHOCOLATE PUDDING: 5 stars. I put the avocado puree in this and believe it or not my two sons complained that is was "too much chocolate tasting!" The pudding was that good.
MACARONI AND CHEESE: 5 stars. I tried putting the sweet potato puree in with a box mix and there was no taste difference. I mixed the puree withe the milk and you could taste the puree. The kids actually said it tasted better than before!!
FROZEN YOGURT POPS: 5 stars. Very good, very sweet. I do not own popsicle molds so I used those multi-color cups from toddler days (my kids are 8 & 10 yrs old) and although they worked great - I bought popsicle sticks from a craft store - next time I am going to use smaller dixie cups so the portions are smaller.
The recipes are mistake proof as well; I put avocado puree rather than the brocolli puree in pizza sauce to make pizza burgers (Jessica says to label your bags, guess now I know why) but it still tasted good. It actually made them taste a bit sweeter, like I had put banana peppers in the recipe as well.
One error I made was when I was done with the puree was I put all the puree in one large Zip-lock bag. Follow Jessica's advice and use smaller bags so you can pull out just how much you need. I pureed the following veggies the first day: Summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower, beets, carrots, avocados, spinach, zucchini and sweet potatoes. I bought a bag of frozen blueberries. I am little type A but I wanted all the puree to be available so I could try as many recipes as possible. If you want to try a recipe or two but don't own all the equipment (especially a food processor, which if you are going to do this long term you will need) try the sweet potato recipes. You can bake a sweet potato and mash it up with a fork and some water. And one sweet potato goes a very long way. I used three and I have enought puree to feed a day care. For a week. The avocado would be another one to try without all the equipment, as it is easily mashed with a fork and some water. The borcolli and caulifower recipes will require a food processor as they are tougher vegetables to mash, even in a steamed state.
There has been much discussion about another book that was published last spring and "competition" with this book. Well I am no expert but there is no way that this book could have been put together and published in six months. Why can't both books be on the market? I am sure both authors want the same thing: Better diets for us all. I have ordered the other cookbook as well, there is room for both on my shelf.
As for the argument that we are lying to our kids: Big whoop-de-doo. I have eaten more sweet potatoes, brocolli, califlower, carrots, etc. in the past week that I have in the past six months. Do I present veggies in their natural state? Yes. Do my kids always eat them? No. But at least they are presented and I know they are still eating them in the puree. Mealtimes should be about talking and sharing, not arguing over food. My younger son likes to help with cooking and baking and he knows the purees are in there and he could care less, as long as can still eat. I highly recommend this cookbook and as soon as I receive the other cookbook I will write a review of that book as well. This book, to me, is a great teaching tool about nutrition. My kids and I have gone through the recipes together and discussed which ones we want to try. Do my kids eat cake and ice cream? Of course, just not every day. We talk about nutrition in a matter of fact way: These are the things to make your body grow. Period. No arguing, no crying, no bribing. I am sort of like Dragnet that way: "Just the facts, ma'am!"
I also want to edit my review to add that I could not help notice that all the one star and rwo star reviews are very critical of the author's personal life. I sincerely hope that folks can see through such attempts at being critical of the author because she is once divorced and is now married to a celebrity. It is sad that such personal attacks are listed in what should be a simple book review.

Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food

Amazon Price: $18.96 (as of 12/20/2009) Buy Now

Battle of the Sneaks 

Missy Chase Lapine author of "The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals" is suing Jessica Seinfeld author of "Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food", for plagarism.

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Jessica Seinfeld on Regis 

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Lepine Versus Seinfeld 

Battle of the Sneaky Moms!

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

By Missy Chase Lapine

I can't say enough good things about this book!!, May 29, 2007
By Amazon Shopper

This book is truly amazing. I have two children who won't eat a mini-carrot between them, and they are now downing veggie after veggie without suspecting a thing!! Here is the funny thing- it works on my husband too! He claims he doesn't like sweet potatoes, but he has eaten them in so many things now- I just wait and tell him afterwards (haha, guess what you just ate?!). Do I feel guilty about sneaking veggies? Not at all! Whatever I can do to help my family be healthier, I would do in a heartbeat. I have a couple of hints- first of all, buy all of your veggies at once and spend about 3 hours one afternoon once per month making the five most common veggie purees. Pour them into individual serving size freezer bags and then put all of the little bags into a gallon bag (one per type of puree), label them, and you are good to go! This is much easier than trying to puree veggies for each meal, it would become so time-consuming that you would be tempted to change your mind at the last minute and make something easier (and less healthy). I grab a bag out of the freezer, quickly defrost and then stir it in with the kids mac n' cheese, chocolate pudding, and all sorts of other "treat food" that all of a sudden become vitamin-rich dishes. I also pre-make some of the breading and flour mix too, and keep them vacuum-packed...it really simplifies things at dinnertime. Likewise, I make the breakfast cookies in a triple recipe, and save them and freeze them for a quick, easy and healthy breakfast. The meat recipes in this book are also excellent- the sloppy joes, meatballs, and the meatloaf- as well as the baked ziti and the pizza- are especially fabulous. This is the first book that I have felt compelled to write a review about, but I felt I absolutely had to do it! We have been eating almost exclusively on recipes from this book for a month now and we all feel so much healthier. Kudos to Missy Chase Lapine! Thank you!

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

Amazon Price: $12.21 (as of 12/20/2009) Buy Now

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