BookOpinion

BOOKOPINION REVIEW: If you are tired of begging, pleading and nagging your children to eat your veggies, “Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food” by Jessica Seinfeld offers a collection of recipes that might end your daily food fracas. Jessica Seinfeld, wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld and a mother of three, basically took baby food one step farther. She cleverly hids veggie, fruit and bean puree in a variety of breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert fare.

Basically, Seinfeld spends one evening per week preparing enough purees to last her for a week’s worth of meals. Then she just pops them out of baggies or containers and mixes them with food to create kid-friendly items such as macaroni and cheese, mini pizzas, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken nuggets and so on. For example, she hides carrot puree in the mix when she makes hamburgers and blends butternut squash into a cheese sauce to create macaroni and cheese.

Because my children actually eat and enjoy their veggies, my primary purpose for buying the cookbook was to sample the desserts. I figure they usually get dessert anyway, it might as well be healthier. So far I have tried the Blueberry Oatmeal Bars, which not only contain healthy blueberries but spinach as well. They taste like regular cereal bars and you would never know the spinach was there. I also tried the marshmallow crispy treats, which used brown rice cereal in place of the traditional Rice Krispies. She also mixes in flaxseed meal. This new version tasted more like popcorn balls or sweet rice cakes than the traditional treat, but you could not taste flaxseed at all, and my kids loved them. That was good enough for me.

So far, we are enjoying the cookbook. The recipes I have tried were easy and yummy. I really want to try her homemade chocolate pudding. She mixes in avocado of all things. The fried rice balls (with hidden sweet potato and spinach) look promising, as well. Overall, “Deceptively Delicious” is a well-designed, fun cookbook with a bunch of good ideas.

–Jane Leisteiner

BOOKOPINION REVIEW: After watching author Clotilde Dusoulier speak recently on BookOpinion.com, I was inspired to check out her cookbook, “Chocolate and Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen,” What began as a food blog in her spare time, Dusoulier turned into a career and Chocolate & Zucchini (both a website and cookbook) are the results.

The cookbook is divided into three main categories — simple foods including sandwiches, salads, tarts, soups and egg dishes; ideas and menus for entertaining; and last, but not least a selection of desserts. I think the menu for the buffet is my favorite, which includes divine recipes such as chicken & cashew mini quiches, two savory terrines, and several other delectable choices. Dusoulier treats each recipe like an old friend with carefully crafted introductions that provide not only culinary information but stories about the author’s life, her ideas about food and entertaining, and glimpses of a wondrous life in Paris. She also includes wine suggestions for many of the dishes. The beautiful photography adds another spice to the already well-seasoned dish that is “Chocolate & Zucchini.”

The recipe collection is definitely not standard American fare, so if you truly only enjoy the basics of a meat and potatoes lifestyle, this book is perhaps not the one for you. But at least check out the author’s website. Not to say that any of the recipes are too wild, but fava bean and mint frittatas or strawberry-avocado ceviche might not appeal to all. Other recipes include the classic beef bourguignon and a twist on the traditional broccoli quiche. Frankly, the desserts alone are worth the cookbook, and I say this as someone who can almost always resist dessert.

As Clotilde Dusoulier says in the beginning of her cookbook “Chocolate & Zucchini,” “food joyously occupies a large portion of my waking thoughts.” I wholeheartedly share this opinion of food, in fact, I am thinking about the chocolate-caramel tart on page 192 right now. Or maybe the almond, pear and chocolate brioche on page 204 . . .

If you enjoy “Chocolate & Zucchini,” I strongly recommend checking out Susan Hermann Loomis’s wonderful book “On Rue Tatin: Living and Cooking in a French Town.” Ina Garten’s “Barefoot in Paris: Easy French Food You Can Make at Home” is another excellent cookbook for those looking for a little extra Joie de Vivre.

– Jane Leisteiner

Native Parisian and former California resident, Clotilde Dusoulier discusses her debut work “Chocolate and Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen,” which was released in paperback in May. This discussion took place May 24 as part of the Authors@Google series.

Dusoulier’s journey from software engineer to food writer began as she graduated college and began the necessity of cooking for herself. She relished the experience of attempting new recipes and exploring the vast styles of cuisine available for sampling in the United States. Several years later, Dusoulier returned France, where she began reading food blogs and eventually created her own. After establishing a large following, she decided to make food her career and penned “Chocolate and Zucchini.”

Her talk at Google documents not only her career, but also her philosphy of food and cooking.

“Dusoulier is the Parisian friend we all wish we had. [Her] voice is boisterous, spirited, delightful and entirely forgiving,” writes New York Times Magazine about “Chocolate and Zucchini.”

Within a few minutes of the discussion, you’ll be tempted not only to purchase her book, but also set aside time to read her extensive blog. “While there were too many highlights to count to my stay in the Bay Area,” writes Dusoulier on her blog, “my inner dot-comer got a serious kick out of my visit of the Google campus: having read so much about it, I was pleased to observe that it was every bit as surreal and fun as I’d imagined, an amusement park of a workplace where colorful gizmos abound, and where the food is free and exceptionally tasty.”

Click on the video below to watch Dusoulier’s 37 minute talk at Google: