This week Project Library features sneaky wife and library customer, Meghan, who tries to deceptively fool her husband into eating his veggies.

“I’ve been trying to think of ways to get my husband to eat healthier without all the moaning and complaining that usually arises when I try to make him eat vegetables. When a coworker highly recommended Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious cookbook, I figured it couldn’t hurt! Since his diet mostly consists of things that kids like to eat (mac ‘n’ cheese, pizza, hamburgers), this seemed like an easy way to trick him into eating healthier. And for the most part, it worked!

First, I had to go shopping and puree all the veggies. This turned out to be a bigger hassle than she indicated in the book. Seinfeld seems to believe that you can just whip up these purees, pop them in the freezer and voila! Instant nutrition in one hour a week! Instead it took me 3 hours of grocery shopping, trying to hunt down everything I would need and then another 3-4 hours to do several purees. It was sloppy work and I nearly trashed my kitchen with all the dishes and trash I made trying to puree five different veggies.

I read online that someone put her purees into a muffin tin, froze them for an hour and then transferred them to Ziploc bags. This didn’t work so great for me, plus it made more dishes to wash. Instead I scooped out ½ cup servings with a measuring cup and put them in baggies. This was also sloppy, but easier in the long run.

After all the work to make the purees, I was too tired to do the recipes right away. After waiting a few days, I made breakfast using Seinfeld’s scrambled eggs recipe. This calls for:

• 2 large eggs
• 4 large egg whites
• 1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 1/2 cup cauliflower puree
• 2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan
• Pinch of salt
• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 tsp. olive oil 

While my husband was in the shower, I defrosted in the cauliflower in the microwave and set to work with the eggs. I got everything combined just in time for him to pop in the kitchen and ask, “Are you making sauerkraut?” What Seinfeld fails to mention and what I neglected to think about was that steamed veggies have a distinct smell and trying to hiding broccoli or cauliflower in food DOES NOT WORK. Sure, you couldn’t see it, but you sure could smell it! Still, I didn’t want the experiment to end prematurely so I told him that no, I was just making eggs and to get out of the kitchen until I was done! I made some bacon and toast to go with it and set the plate down in front of him. He took a bite, looked at me and asked what was in it. Unfortunately a piece of cauliflower didn’t puree completely smooth and he got a chunk in his eggs. While I never told him exactly what he was eating, he did clean his plate and told me they were good. I don’t think this recipe was a complete success because normally he would have gone for seconds and this time he politely declined. At least he was a good sport (and still doesn’t know to this day he ate veggies)!

The next day I tried out her banana bread recipe. This healthy version included egg whites, whole wheat flour, a little brown sugar and banana puree. It also called for cauliflower puree, but I omitted it since the previous recipe was a near disaster. I was worried that it would be too dark and tasteless, but as it baked the kitchen smelled wonderful and I couldn’t wait to taste it. I was pleasantly surprised- it was delicious! The entire loaf was gone before the day was over and my husband enjoyed it so much that he went out and bought a loaf of banana bread. The store bought one couldn’t hold a candle to this recipe. I can’t wait to try it again!”

Meghan, thanks so much for your submission and a very thorough review of Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious. 

If you’re interested in submitting a project fill out the Project Library form and tell us about your completed (or half completed) projects: meals that you’ve cooked , breads and cookies that you’ve baked, quilts that you’ve sewn, volcanoes that you’ve erupted, papers you’ve written, babies you’ve named, pictures you’ve drawn, rooms that you’ve decorated, or dogs that you’ve trained. Send us pictures of your library projects, a brief description, and the titles of the books or other library resources that you used to help complete your project and we’ll post them here in the Project Library column.