My new cookbook, Deceptively Delicious

I had no idea I’d purchased an afternoon of reading for $1.00, Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld.  First, I’d never pay $25.00 for a recipe book, especially in 2007, but $1.00 looked like a good price on the library sale shelves.

I vaguely remembered the story of Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld, but had to look it up. He of course, was a famous comedian whom I rarely watched.  Then after he retired (I think) he married a much younger woman who was escaping a brief marriage, then they had babies and she made books. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Seinfeld

Their kids are now 20, 17 and 15 or approximately that, and when they were young she had some trouble getting them to eat, so she wrote cook books, one of which was the one I bought for $1.00.

I’m not sure the recipes are simple, the ideas are simple or if it’s supposed to be easy. But it has occurred to me recalling years ago when I tried to teach a young woman some basics of cooking who had never helped her own mother in the kitchen, that there’s a lot left out of cookbooks.  For instance:

1 cup whole-wheat breadcrumbs—how would you explain this to someone who didn’t know how to make them or where to buy them; it’s not like they are in the bread section of a grocery store.

This whole cookbook is built around the idea of pureeing food and then slipping it into regular recipes.  For this you need a food processor which I’ve never used, and the instructions are not particularly clear: put the (item) in the processor, secure lid, press on button and puree until smooth.  Does a beginner just learning how to peel carrots understand that?

However, I suppose if your kids won’t eat regular, hearty textured food, slipping some puree into the French Toast or scrambled eggs might do the trick.  And it’s certainly not going to hurt adults.

I think a lot of women have larger freezers than I do and definitely more patience.  Maybe jars of toddler baby food?

And thank you Mom for all the things I learned from you that I never thought about so I didn’t have to start from scratch with a book.