Okay, so here's the deal. When I first heard about it, I wasn't sure how I felt about Jessica Seinfeld's book "Deceptively Delicious." I think it's important to serve your kids vegetables in their whole form, rather than trying to "hide" them within a dish. I can see arguments for both sides.....and I decided that it's okay to hide the veggies as long as you offer more veggies visibly obvious on the plate as well. Let's face it, every night after scraping green beans, zucchini or broccoli off your kid's plate into the sink, it's hard not to wonder if your child is actually getting all the nutrients they need. Seriously, my kids are professional gaggers when being coerced to "just taste" their veggies. (I have to hold in my laugh at this tactic)The book was also riddled with controversy because Mrs. Seinfeld was accused of plagiarism and defamation of character from a woman who a few months prior to Seinfeld's release, wrote a very similar book called "Sneaky Chef." It seems that the concepts and recipes were practically identical, but it was Seinfeld's book that raked in the dollars. That is the reason I checked the book out from the library instead of buying it. The Seinfeld Empire does not need any of my cash!
The main concept of the book is cooking and pureeing veggies and freezing them in 1/2 cup portions, so that when you make a recipe like this, you just pull the veg out of the freezer and throw it into the recipe. I can't imagine cooking the squash just for this, but if it was already prepped, then it's is a snap. I may try another butternut recipe since I have several baggies in the freezer now. I could see how you need to build up your stock of purees in order to try more of these sneaky recipes. Try finding time to do that!
I am going to post the recipe exactly as written and I hope nobody accuses me of plagiarism. The book shows theirs all puffed up over the edges, whereas mine fell flat once I turned the camera on. They were still very tasty - fluffy yet substantial and sweet enough for toddler palates. They were so easy, I could even make them on a weekday morning.
Baked Egg Puffs (with butternut squash)
2 eggs
4 egg whites
1/2 cup butternut squash
2 T. grated cheese
2 T. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Preheat the oven to 400. Coat 4 (1/2 cup) ramekins with cooking spray and set on a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, egg whites, squash puree, cheese, flour, baking powder and salt until combined. Divide the mixture among the ramekins and bake until the tops are puffed up and the eggs are no longer runny in the center when pierced with the tip of a knife, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.
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9 comments:
Those do sound good, although I can't see myself getting around to whizzing up veg and freezing it. I must do things the hard way :)
These do sound good. And they look delish - fallen or not.
Butternut squash puffs do sound good.
I often buy the boxes of frozen butternut squash - nuttin' but squash! That would eliminate the time-consuming squash pre and make this more of an "any day" recipe.
So this is one I have not tried but have been tempted to.....did the boys like it? you?
I've heard of these, but they were sweet and required some vanilla extract. Do you have that recipe? And also I do not own ramekins, what could I use to substitute it?
I'm glad it's not just me - I made these and they fell immediately as well! Still, they were delicious. I think part of their charm was the fact that I grew the butternut squash myself in the backyard!
I actually bought her book, only because it was on clearance for $2 but I do find that most of the recipes are pretty good, except some of the entree's that definitely didn't go over well with my kids. I decided to take a day to go through the recipes and decide which ones sounded good and bought the fruits and veggies for just those recipes and made all the puree's in one day. My oldest son actually had fun making the puree's with me and really enjoys adding in what he now calls his secret ingredients in when he helps me cook the dishes. I found the best approach for this kind of book was to try the recipe out on my kids then tell them what went into it. It really made them want to try the veggie by itself since it tasted so good in some of their favorite breakfast and dessert foods.
I love this recipe! I have her book and I make stuff out of it a lot. I used mugs to bake them in. Also, making the purees is really not that hard. All you do is cut a butternut squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and throw it in the oven. Then you scoop out the squash and throw it in a food processor. Not that hard, I promise. And so worth it!! I used the puree to put on noodles and my son loves it. I also just throw the purees in random stuff and it always turns out good :)
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