The Battle of the Books

There's a bit of a battle going on at the bookstore this week between the newly released Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld and The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine, released just last spring. Both feature recipes that "hide" fruit and veggie purees in kid-favorite meals -- everything from mac & cheese to chicken nuggets.

While we like the idea and confess to "weaving" good-for-you ingredients into many of our kid-friendly recipes (Chocolaty Pumpkin Bars, Have-It-Your-Way Tacos w/ black beans, Mama's Amazing Ziti w/ shredded carrot), we think it's critically important to introduce children to the actual fruits and vegetables themselves.

When our book came out in 2004, the public was just starting to talk about the growing rate of childhood obesity in the U.S. as well as poor nutrition among kids. We hope The Moms' Guide to Meal Makeovers helped to get that conversation going... we plan to talk about it now and in the future and to offer fresh advice and recipes on our blog and websites. AND ... if all goes according to plan, we'll get book #2 published before our kids go off to college! We'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, feel free to share your "sneaky" tricks for getting your kids to eat healthfully. We'd love to hear from you.