Friday, February 15, 2008

Dinner Wars

I have three children with very different eating habits and tastes. One thing is pretty universal with them though, dinner is a battle. So much so that I often am very unhappy at the table, wishing I could run away. That's no way to approach dinner, with dread. I've tried various things... the one bite rule, the no complaining or you leave the table rule, the leave it on your plate rule... no true improvements to be had.

So, I heard about the books Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious. The concept sounded great to me. Hide some veggies in your main meal and then you don't have to deal with the battle. Well, that's all fine and dandy but I wasn't convinced. Deceptively Delicious was the first to come off the hold list at the library, so that's what I tried first.

The first step with these recipes is to make some vegetable purees. I first tried sweet potato since I had it on hand. I froze it in freezer bags, squeezing out the air and using my finger to score the bag into 1/2 and 1/4 cup sizes.



Some of the recipes we have tried so far have been successful. One son particularly liked the pancakes (no this isn't dinner, but still) though thought they had too much cinnamon.



The recipe for mini "donuts" with sweet potato and pumpkin was also popular. But, my kids already like pumpkin bread so this wasn't a stretch.



No one, including me, liked the hamburgers we tried. These had carrots hidden in them, among other things. They were more like meatballs than burgers, which was totally not what they were expecting. I think that's the key, that the recipe has to be fairly close to what they expect.



I have yet to try the recipes with other hidden veggies, like cauliflower and spinach. So the verdict is still out on this book for me, but I'm going to keep trying. I think the sly meal that has been the most successful is my own evolving chili, which has pureed sauteed carrots and onions. I also use ground turkey, adding flax meal, and puree the tomatoes for my chunk averse child. 2 out of 3 kids love it, so it's a keeper!



I love reading blogs about food, so feel free to send links my way!

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