Okay, so whenever Jessica Seinfeld was on Oprah with her book Deceptively Delicious, when was it? Two years ago? Anyway, whenever that was, I watched and I ran out of the house, straight to Target and bought the book. Garrett was probably a year old and I was already worried about how to get vegetables into his food. Are kids eating solids at a year old? I swear to god, I don’t even remember. It’s like as soon as I move on to the next phase, I forget what the last phase was. But that’s not the point. The point is that I ran out and bought the book and was so impressed and like, “Wow! What a cool freaking idea! I can’t wait until I can go get all this equipment and start puree’ing veggies and sneaking them into all of my son’s food!”
So a year goes by and I really want to try one of the recipes, but I still don’t have any of the equipment and it’s too close to dinner to start steaming and puree’ing a bunch of beets and spinach. So what do I do? I run to the grocery store and buy a bunch of the organic baby food veggies I used to feed Garrett! That’s right! Baby food. It’s organic. It’s vegetables. It’s already pure’ed. Done. I came home and made the chicken nuggets on page 75, and you know what? It was the first time I ever made GOOD chicken nuggets! I had tried so many times in the past, and failed. But these? These were delish!! I’ve made them several times since, and they are always, always a hit. I usually mix in squash or sweet potato, but sometimes I try a little peas or spinach. You have to be judicious.
So now, I always have a full stock of baby veggies in my cabinet. I put them in my pancakes, my nuggets, and now I buy Annie’s Macaroni and Cheese and, instead of adding any milk, I just put in a jar of squash with some butter and the cheese. Garrett LOVES it! I’m fortunate that Garrett eats some peas and broccoli and carrots even when they’re not hidden, but this way I know he’s getting veggies even if he’s not in the mood for them. I even add flax meal whenever I can, like to quick-breads, any bread/coating on fish or chicken, pancakes, etc. Flax adds fiber and omega 3’s, and I actually really like the flavor. Kinda nutty. Yes, like me.
My point is this: I try to be a good mom. I try to be the best mom. But I can only be the best mom I can be. And I ain’t gonna stand in my kitchen every Sunday night with loads of fresh vegetables; steaming, cooling, puree’ing, bagging, and freezing them. What I can and will do is buy the damn baby food and use it in the exact same way. So there!