Sneaky and Deceptive

Did you, like me, receive or buy one of the cookbooks aimed at getting healthy food into your kids' stomachs without them knowing? Kelly gave me The Sneaky Chef for Christmas, thanks again. I told Ridge to tell Eric that I wanted Deceptively Delicious for Christmas but he didn't relay the message to him. I understand that the books are nearly the same as far as recipes go.

I've tried several recipes, pureed lots of vegetables, and I've been really pleased with the results. I've enjoyed the food and it has given me a new perspective on cooking for my picky household. I've started putting the pureed mixes into nearly everything I cook in hopes that somehow, the kids are eating more vegetables than before. I put the orange puree (carrots and yams) on sandwiches, the boys like meat and cheese with ketchup so I hide it under the ketchup. No complaints yet. I made chocolate shakes with the purple puree hidden inside (blueberries and spinach) but of course Laine saw the minuscule fleks in it and wouldn't drink it anymore. The chicken tenders made with the green puree (spinach, broccoli and peas) were great but Ridge started picking off the breading that had all the healthy stuff hidden inside. How do they know?

I'm just going to document a few things about my silly eaters.

To his credit, Ridge has gotten a lot better over this year. He seems to have outgrown his hyper-gag reflex and hasn't thrown-up on his plate from gagging for a long time. He won't eat a whole plate of vegetables but he will eat his token bite without throwing up anymore. Ridge likes to eat Top Ramen everyday after school. I've started putting the white puree (zucchini and cauliflower) in it and he still eats it up. Ridge loves pasta, especially with white sauce, and rice with teryaki sauce. He doesn't like syrup on his pancakes (I didn't either when I was little) and would rather have cold cereal for breakfast than anything else. He prefers water to every other drink and has only in the past few months discovered that he kind of likes Sprite. He wouldn't drink soda at all before.

Cannon loves hot dogs and soda, he would eat them for all three meals if I let him. He doesn't like rice at all, consistency issue, or pasta, though he is getting better about trying his pasta. He hardly ever throws up, can gag and keep his food down like a champ. We have table battles with him often about one bite of rice, or one bite of broccoli. He just hates it. He is my best vegetable eater but that doesn't mean he likes them all.

Laine is my worst eater yet. I know that part of this is my fault because I didn't make her eat everything when she started getting picky, but she does have some weird issues. The worst is that she doesn't like bread, can't even stand to touch it. That makes lunch hard. She does like crackers, especially Ritz and Goldfish. She likes plain pasta, used to like mac and cheese but then went off that. Used to eat cheese and eggs but now won't eat those either. Likes rice but only if it has "dip" on it (aka Ranch dressing). No meat yet. Eric forced her to try the chocolate pancakes I made the other night (another sneaky recipe) and she threw the biggest fit but got it down and ate the rest of her bites with me feeding her. How could she not like it when each piece was covered with powdered sugar? She likes yogurt but not with bumps (no fruit). She likes cereal. And her favorite thing of all is warm chocolate milk.

Sommer is going to be my best eater, she has to be. They all started out great and then got worse. Ridge used to eat California rolls with me. But I'm not giving up. Sommer is my only child to get homemade baby food with all this pureeing I'm doing. So I'm going to keep at it because it makes me feel better about my mothering. And it helps me get my vegetables too.