For the most part I find celebrity cookbooks annoying. Like these people actually cook their own food?! But Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld is a little different in that it offers a new (to me, anyway) method for secretly getting organic material into your children.

The basic idea is to puree various vegetables and fruits and thrown them into recipes your kids already know and like. So when they’re eating pancakes, they’re now actually getting some cauliflower as well!

Part of the fun of cookbooks are the beautiful photos and miscellaneous tips and tricks – and Deceptively Delicious does not disappoint in this regard. The retro graphics are cute and I love the spiral binding. Jessica also sprinkled helpful comments here and there throughout the book:

• “Saying no artfully” about helping kids make healthy choices
• “My dinner program” about serving separate courses (which we do as well)

I had selected several recipes out of the book to try this past week, but only got to the Macaroni and Cheese before the boys caught horrible colds and decided all food is a manifestation of the anti-Christ.  (Even fruit – which we usually have to limit or else that plus milk is all they’d eat!)

It’s unfair to judge the entire book on one recipe, but the macaroni and cheese was…um…not good. The boys didn’t like it. Jonathan and I didn’t like it.

However, several other recipes sound quite tasty and I intend to try the following once the boys are eating again:

• French toast (with banana puree)
• Green eggs (with spinach)
• Baked egg puffs (with butternut squash)
• Grilled cheese sandwiches (with sweet potato)

The boys don’t eat desserts yet – except for graham crackers which are now requested daily – so I don’t plan on trying those soon. Besides, if you’re going to have a brownie, just have a brownie! Don’t try to sneak spinach into it – that seems a little silly – like eating ice cream for the calcium.

My only other objection to Deceptively Delicious is that it doesn’t point out that the more processed a food, the less vitamins/minerals/etc. remain. For example, after you wash, cook, puree, freeze, thaw, re-cook spinach, how much vitamin A actually remains? So I personally would stick with the recipes that call for the least amount of processing.

Overall, though, this book would make a nice gift to a new Mom and I'm glad Parent Bloggers sent it to me for review. It’s fun to read and has offers some original ideas that can get you and your kids started in the direction of eating healthfully. Use common sense when choosing the recipes and try not to tear out the pages with cool patterns to use as photo mats!