To Puree or Not To Puree

That is the question of mothers everywhere who face the dilemma of children who refuse to touch anything that resembles a vegetable.  How this problem begins is a bizarre chain of events that begins somewhere around the time we introduce our children to breads and meats.  Who needs a vegetable then?  When we start our babies on pureed foods, it begins with vegetables, progresses to fruits, and finally ends at meats, which lets face it only a few babies tolerate much less eat enthusiastically.  Around the time they begin eating meats, they also get table food slipped to them - a nibble of a graham cracker here, a torn piece of bread or roll there - and they get "Baby Snacks" such as Puffs which have been affectionately called Baby Crack by my husband.  Of course there are other choices, but these are the most obvious ones.  So, there you go.  A child who has eaten nothing but fruits and vegetables (and milk of some form) for a couple of months suddenly has the choice to eat bread, and you and I expect them to still be ga-ga over those veggies?  Who's the crazy one now?

Fast forward a few years, and you have toddlers who are notoriously picky, often fixating on one particular food that they will eat, eschewing all others.  Gloriously, this phase for my daughter was short-lived, and at nearly-age-5 she will now eat almost anything we give her.  This child would eat an entire 15 ounce can of carrots or peas by herself, willingly, would ask for them by name, when she was old enough to transition from puree to solid...until we tried "Honey Carrots."  Those things were disgusting!  They tasted like they had been cooked with coconut.  She was the first to try them, and she literally threw them up immediately after eating one bite.  To this day, 3 years later, she will not eat canned carrots by themselves.  My son is still stubbornly stuck in the carbo-loading phase of toddlerhood.  PBJ is his go-to meal.  He loves pasta, oyster crackers, potato chips...pretty much anything with little-to-no nutritional value is his favorite.  He will not try vegetables, doesn't like the most basic and bland things like mashed potatoes.  He does enjoy fruit - raw apples, bananas, dried fruits.  All the same I still worry that he may be neglecting some of his nutritional needs by avoiding anything with color and nutrients.

Hiding on my cookbook shelf in the kitchen for the last couple of years has been a pair of recipe collections by Jessica Seinfeld.  Titled Deceptively Delicious and Double Delicious, they sound like something naughty and forbidden.  I suppose if you get down to it, you are lying to your children, which is naughty, if only by omitting the full answer to "What is this?" and "What's in it?"  I bought them through a bit of foresight, which is rare, knowing that one day my children might not enjoy vegetables as much as they did as babies just learning to appreciate the finer points of food with taste.  I am turning to them now in desperation, sheer and utter desperation.  There is no other way to speak of what I feel when for the third time in a day my son asks for PBJ.  Of course I do not allow him more than one a day, but there is still a part of me that thinks, "My gosh, I have failed to get this kid to like anything other than peanut butter, bread, and jelly.  What is he going to do, eat it for the rest of his life?"  So I have begun my journey down the road of deception, trickery, and lying by omission to my children.

My first step was to look through the meals section of Deceptively Delicious and choose things that I thought would effectively conceal the taste of vegetables.  There were 13 such meals, and I dutifully wrote them down, noting how many servings and what type and how much of each puree I would need.  Then I decided there were 3 main purees that I would be using for that set of recipes:  sweet potato, cauliflower, and carrot.  I purchased 5 pounds of sweet potatoes, 1 head of cauliflower, and 2 pounds of carrots.  Then I tried to figure out how to properly steam them.  The sweet potatoes weren't much trouble, because I had oven roasted some the week before and kind of knew what I was doing and how long it might take.  The cauliflower and carrots, however, presented a problem.  Roasting them dries them out, and I didn't have a steamer or steamer basket.  Improvisation, my friends, improvisation.

I roasted sweet potatoes, pureed them in the food processor, cooled the puree, bagged it, and froze it.  A couple days later I repeated the process with the cauliflower and carrots.  I decided my first attempt at deception would be macaroni and cheese.  That's usually a good side that everyone likes.  Not this time.  Five of the six adults who tried it liked it, zero of the two kids liked it.  In fact, my son didn't even get his one elbow macaroni piece swallowed before he threw up.  Yep.  Just what you want around the dinner table, a 2 year old puking as you're trying to eat.  I don't think it was the cauliflower, because surprisingly you couldn't really taste it at all - just a faintly earthy flavor that was not-at-all unpleasant.  His issue was with the cheese.  See, he has problems with cheese anyway, especially sliced cheese.  This was cheddar, and it does not melt as smoothly as Velveeta, my mac 'n cheese cheese of choice.  I will try it again with Velveeta and see if the outcome is the same.

In the meantime, I will share with you my step-by-step process for roasting these three vegetables.

Sweet Potatoes

approx 5 pounds yields 6 cups puree

- Scrub outside of potatoes and pierce with the tip of a knife all over, cut off ends
- 350° F  directly on the top rack (middle position) foil on bottom rack to catch any drips for 1 hour 15 minutes to 2 hours, check at 45 minutes, then every 30 minutes after that; potatoes should yield easily to the "squeeze test" - be careful, the peels are HOT!
- Cut potatoes in half lengthwise and let cool slightly before scooping out flesh into food processor fitted with metal blade. Pulse to start, then turn on to puree.  Scoop out puree to a large bowl, return any chunks to the processor for another whirl.  I did this in 2 batches (3 potato innards per batch).
- Place plastic cling wrap across top of puree (it should touch it), and refrigerate overnight
- Measure 1/4 cup amounts into snack-size zipper bags, squeeze out air, press puree out flat, and lay flat in a square dish to freeze overnight before bagging in gallon-size zipper bags labeled with the type of puree.

Cauliflower

1 head yields 2 cups puree

- Remove all leaves and the main center stem from head.  Using a sharp knife, cut large florets from the head and then cut them down to 1/2" thick pieces and remove any thick stems (more than 1/4").  Rinse with cool water.

- Place enough water just to touch the bottom of steamer basket, add cauliflower, and turn on medium heat.  Steam for 10-15 minutes until fork tender and stems are slightly translucent. (If you do not have a steamer basket, use your largest colander fitted inside your largest stockpot with a lid).

- Turn cap off and let water stop boiling before removing cauliflower.

- Pulse, then run, to puree - it will be chunky.  Add water 1 tablespoon at a time (up to 2 Tb) and puree/scrape down bowl each time until it is smooth but thick.

- Measure 1/4 cup amounts into snack-size zipper bags, squeeze out air, press puree out flat, and lay flat in a square dish to freeze overnight before bagging in gallon-size zipper bags labeled with the type of puree.

Carrots

2 pounds yields 3 cups puree

- Peel, rinse, trim ends, and cut carrots into 1/4" thick sections

- Place enough water just to touch the bottom of steamer basket, add carrots, and turn on medium heat.  Steam for 20-25 minutes until fork tender. (If you do not have a steamer basket, use your largest colander fitted inside your largest stockpot with a lid)

- Turn cap off and let water stop boiling before removing carrots.

- Pulse, then run, to puree - it will be chunky.  Add 1 tablespoon water and  puree/scrape down bowl until it is smooth but thick.

- Measure 1/4 cup amounts into snack-size zipper bags, squeeze out air, press puree out flat, and lay flat in a square dish to freeze before bagging in gallon-size zipper bags labeled with the type of puree.