"Deceptively delicious" recipes - hide the fruit and veg!

[becky1969]

We tried the banana bread with cauliflower puree, and it was a HUGE success! He's already eaten half the loaf, and it hasn't even been 24 hours!    It's super moist, although I can taste the cauliflower a bit.  Owen doesn't seem to mind! YAY!

I also tried the mozarella sticks yesterday. Those were not a hit, but I think mostly because I messed them up.  My pan was too hot, and the sticks weren't cold enough. I ended up with big piles of melted cheese with browned breadcrumbs randomly spread thruout.  Um, not yum? At any rate, I know what I did wrong, so hopefully I can fix it next time. Owen loves cheese sticks - though he's never had the breaded hot kind. I'm hoping he'll learn to enjoy, esp. as dipping in ketchup is his favorite activity EVER!

Next up: grilled cheese, I think. The choc. chip cookies sound good too!

[Peek-a-boo]

Tried the brownies, but I didn't get the purees smooth enough b/c I was workinig w/ small batches and my food processor is meant for larger batches, so they have texture issues.  Aside from that--they have a cakey texture and, um, are not sweet enough to be satisfying as a brownie.   

[HeatherC]

I made the applesauce muffins today.  Kind of bland, but not totally disappointing.  However, I didn't use a veg puree, just extra applesauce.  The topping is good.

[Jenifer]

Just saw this thread .. Cool!

I don't have time right now to read all 8 pages (I'm at work  )  - so if this recipe has already been reviewed, I apologise. 

Last night I tried the Deceptively Delicious chocolate pudding recipe (after DD has been drooling over the page for the past month).  I am so disappointed to say it wasn't that good.  It tasted like uncooked brownie batter, not pudding.  I was also a little surprised to see it had a cup of powdered sugar   and no milk.  Ya, sure she ate avocado but that's still A LOT of sugar IMO.

I guess I'll go back to the book and try another one ..

[Peek-a-boo]

Oh, that's a bummer . . . the picture looked so yummy!

I made the banana bread and it came out well.  I could taste the cauliflower a little, but both DS and DH (the real critic, LOL) liked it. 

[becky1969]

We did the applesauce muffins today, and Owen loved them! They are pretty good - though I found them a little TOO tasty (lots of cinnamon) rather than tasteless, like PP said.  Owen ate a whole one all by himself!

[Brandessa]

I made the chocolate chip muffins(with dates) last night and those are yummy.  Biggest hit out of the baked goods so far.  The chick pea cookies are great but it would be nice to have a mixer.  My hand mixer got all gooped up and then I sprayed chocolate chips all over the kitchen LOL it was pretty funny.  The brownies are too cakey and leave a funny after taste.

[nona]

i finally have time to look at this topic! got the cookbook for xmas and tried a recipe tonight...

i made the angel food cupcakes. they fell and were not very pretty looking - kinda shiveled up. also, the cream cheese frosting came out orange and very cream-cheesy (taskted like cream cheese, not frosting).

however, i used baby food carrots and squash for the purees. has anyone else tried that? i'm not sure if that is the reason they didn't work out too well. maybe the baby food is too thin.

also, when i folded the ingredients into the egg whites, it did not blend very well so the cupcakes have chunky stuff in them!

i think i'm a pretty decent baker so i'll try this recipe one more time. they are not "divine" as described in the book. at any rate, my LO will still eat the cupcakes but i'm definitely not taking them to the valentine party we are attending tomorrow afternoon! 

[MARAMA]

I have this book and have made soooo many things out of it. (I live i New Zealand and saw the Oprah segment and originally thought it would be great for my DH as he is not a big veggie fan, we are now all converted!) My DS who has just turned one and will only eat finger food, loves the chicken nuggets with spinach.  Tonight we all had the chicken rice balls which were delicious and DS gobbled his up with a salad very quickly.  The chocolate chip cookies with chickpeas are so yummy! I have told all my friends to buy it.

[jennyb133]

My baby is now on baby food, so I was thinking of using that for the purees as well. 
Nona- have you had success since your PP?  Haven't tried any of the recipes yet. But definately need to start now as DS1 is getting more & more picky with veggies & will only eat corn.

[Serenity]

DS has always been good about veggies, but is now on a veggie/fruit strike.  I get the lil entrees and puree the veggie and mix it with the meal.  He eats it just fine.  I also puree fruit and put it on pancakes and waffles as a syrup.

[nona]

no, i have not tried any again sad to say. however, i am going to a little playdate thing in a couple of weeks and everyone is making something from the cookbook. i'm def making the blueberry oatmeal bars and maybe the chicken tortilla cigars. a friend told me she used the baby food for the eggs and french toast and it worked out.

my LO will eat veggies, etc so i am not that desperate. however, it would be nice to add them into things whenever you can.

[KathyM]

So far I've made the chickpea chocolate chip cookies, squash pancakes (I didn't have any sweet potato) and the chocolate cupcakes made with avocado. All 3 of those things have been a big hit. The chocolate cupcakes were quite good...I couldn't taste the avocado at all, but the frosting made out of cauliflower was not so good. The consistency was really weird.

I want to try the blueberry bars and then some more main course items as well. One thing I like about the book is that it gets me thinking about where else I can hide some veggies. My ds doesn't eat any veggies at all, so this is great to get some veggies in him besides the fruit/veggie juices that he'll drink.

[Katet]

I don't have the book but wondering if anyone would be willing to share the recipe for the chickpea chocolate chip cookies.

I did look at it in the shop, but as I already do heaps of things with veg puree in them eg rissoles/hamburger patties, bolognaise,  potato & veg pancakes, 3 different cake recipes & the only thing that I could see my ds's eating was the cookies (won't eat Mac & cheese etc) ... dh & I eat about 5-7 serves of veg/day so we don't need any more, just the boys & so didn't see the point for one recipe.

[Katet]

Thanks Stacy... now to tell the boys the chickpeas are something special when I get them to help make them.
The think all chocolate cakes have beetroot & carrot in them  & powdered milk is made up in green water (thinned out zuchinni puree) which I use for a lot of cooking requiring milk LOL