Cookbook Wars

My kids are Kiddie Menu eaters.  Go to any restaurant, and I do mean any, and you will find the same items listed on the kiddie menu: chicken fingers, cheese pizza, mac and cheese, hamburger, and perhaps a healthy option like grilled chicken with a side of broccoli.  My children have never chosen the healthy option.

Restaurants must know what they're doing because my kids eat the same things at home that they would eat at a restaurant.  Sure, there is the occasional difference like tacos or lasagna, but for the most part my kids are Kiddie Menu eaters.  So naturally I always have my eyes open for any new idea that might get my kids to eat something new, different, and heaven forbid, healthy.  Cue Jessica Seinfeld.

I bought her first cookbook, you know the one where you are supposed to puree veggies to hide them inside the dishes.  Even bought a new food processor for all of the fancy pureeing.  I bought into the idea hook, line, and sinker.

I cooked a few familiar things from the cookbook that I figured the boys would like.  They didn't.  And I have to admit, I really didn't care for them much either.  After a couple more unsuccessful recipes attempts, I abandoned the cookbook for good.  

So why I bought her new cookbook, Double Delicious, is beyond me.

No, I take that back.  I know why I bought it.  I bought it because I saw Jessica on Oprah and Good Morning America and the dishes she was making looked so good and healthy.  And I was hungry when I was watching the shows (which is never a good idea during a cooking segment.)  I gave her the benefit of the doubt.  

I shouldn't have.  I tried a couple of recipes and they, once again, were not very good.  They boys didn't like them and the Golfer and I only thought that they were so-so.  I'm sorry, Jessica.  I loved your husband's show, but I don't like your cooking.

Then for Christmas Santa gave the Big Cheese this cookbook:

Santa brought it because 1) the Big Cheese is a Big Fan of Star Wars, and 2) the cookbook is filled with funny recipes like Skywalker Smoothies and Obi-Wan Kebabs and Boba Fett-unccine.  What 8 year-old isn't going to love everything in a cookbook like that?

So the week after Christmas I took the cookbook and the Big Cheese to the grocery store to buy some ingredients for some of the dishes that he wanted to make.  He was actually excited about trying something new!  We made Tongue-Numbing Nachos, Greedo's Burritos, and for dessert, Darth Malts.

And you know what happened?  They loved it all.  It was yummy (especially the nachos) and even the Golfer gave his satisfied stamp of approval.  There weren't hidden vegetables in the dishes.  No, instead they were out there in the open for the kids to see.  And they ate them anyway!

In the kitchen today we'll be making some Jabba Jiggle and Wookie Cookies.  No pureed carrots.  No food processor necessary.

May the force (and good food) be with you.