The Sneaky Chef now targets the other picky eater in the family! For parents of finicky eaters, The Sneaky Chef was the answer to their prayers, giving them solutions for hiding healthy food in the meals kids crave. Within a month of publication, it was a New York Times bestseller. But author Missy Chase Lapine knew another secret: the kids aren’t the only ones in the family not eating their veggies! Hundreds of women wrote to tell her how the men in their lives were consistently making poor choices when it came to their diet. Men know they should eat better, but the classic male perception is that fruits and veggies are “rabbit food” and don’t seem to satisfy their appetite. Now “The Sneaky Chef” has donned her apron again and developed delicious recipes that are sure to appeal to guys. Recipes include “Macho Meatballs,” “Love Me Tenderloin,” and “Champion Chili.” These hearty meals successfully cloak ingredients that specifically target men’s health issues: foods proven to help the heart, lower cholesterol, ensure a healthy prostate, and other concerns. Now everyone in the family (kids and adults alike) can benefit from The Sneaky Chef’s bag of tricks.
A winning strategy in the kitchen for more than just men First off, truth be told, I'm not a man at all. I just happen to be a very picky adult woman who can't stomach eating whole vegetables. Health issues spurred me to make some changes in my diet, namely to include more vegetables and fiber. This was a tall order for me, but I'd been hearing rave reviews for books like these and Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively Delicious" which make a point of including disguised vegetables pureed seamlessly into the foods I happen to love--which also tend, very often, to be incredibly bad for you. This was a strategy I could live with. If it worked, so much the better; if it didn't, at worst it would be a failed experiment in cooking (to add to my always-growing pile of such experiments).
I looked into the original Sneaky Chef, this book, and several others of the same type before settling on this "men's health" edition, not only because it addressed my own problems but also because I probably eat more of what Lapine calls "man food" than most men I know. The introduction, where she talks about the difference emphases men and women place on food and the tastes, sights and textures that appeal to them, I swear could've been written about me.
This was what sold me on the book: though there seems to be little love lost between Lapine and the eating habits of what she calls the "typical man", she writes not without understanding. In fact, simply trying a few of the recipes proves that she does, in fact, have a consummate understanding of what makes foods delicious to men AND women as well as what would make them healthier. The blueberry muffins include no butter and are sweetened with only vanilla extract, cinnamon and 1/4 cup sugar in addition to the blueberries, and are loaded with white beans, whole wheat flour, and oat bran, but amazingly, to eat these muffins is to make no sacrifice of flavor. They smell heavenly in the oven and taste just as good out of it. Ditto the Bolognese sauce: while it simmered, I couldn't stop tasting it while adding involuntary "mmm"s. One serving of the sauce over whole wheat pasta makes for a delicious, filling and healthy meal that will give you energy for hours. I've also tried the sesame noodles, pesto pizza and quick stovetop popcorn, all of which were astounding successes!
Lapine is batting a thousand in my book. Now I can feel good about the food I'm eating without feeling deprived by a "diet", and all these recipes have the convenient feature of broadening the taste horizons of, conveniently, the man in my own life, who's as committed as I am to changing our habits and living more healthfully. To give us more recipes for healthy treats, I've got the original Sneaky Chef on the way to my house. If the original is half as helpful as its sequel, we'll be pleased.
Bravo to Missy Chase Lapine! Your recipes have achieved what years' worth of my doctors and nutritionists, not to mention my parents, dismissed as a pipe dream: made me eat vegetables... and like them! This is a system that works for more than just the men in your life--it'll work for you too.
The Only Thing Sneaky........ Sneaky Veggies: How to Get Vegetables Under the Radar & Into Your Family
The only thing Sneaky is that the idea is not new. Chris Fisk, a trained chef and bona fide author wrote Sneaky Veggies long before either of the mud-slingers did. Fisk's book is written from a standpoint of sound nutrition, simple and clear KITCHEN TESTED recipies, and a seemingly heartfelt interest in teaching people to feed themselves well. That's not what I glean from either of the copy-cats. I wish them both well, but I believe that the superior of the three books is Fisk's Sneaky Veggies.
This one is good, First one still my favorite I own the Original "The Sneaky Chef" as well as "Deceptively Delicious." So this made a nice addition to the collection. If I had to buy just ONE cookbook, it would be the original Sneaky Chef. I use that ALL the time. This new one has a few nice additions. The Molten Lava Cakes are our favorite so far, and the Hot Cocoa was a big hit as well. I think Missy is great!! Can't wait for her third book to become available.
I loved it! What's not to like about it? Funny, great ideas, dealing with "real life" situations that are sometimes almost impossible to fix otherwise! The basic concept is brilliant. I only wish it would become understood in our public schools or other large institutions, that the food quality can be enhanced by such small modifications! Great work, Missy!
I have the most reason to know... I have never written a review for my wife's books, or anyone else's for that matter, but in this case, and for this book, I simply have to. Having lived through the development of her first book, The Sneaky Chef For Kids, I was proud but defiant that her brilliant disguises for foods that I simply am still not interested in 50 years later were not going to get me! And as I watched the hard work she put into the second book, the one she said was critical for my health and well being, I knew that although I was still to be completely independent minded, I was a goner when it came to resisting amazingly delicious meals that Missy had prepared for all of us, even though I knew very well what was going on inside. To this day I cannot be around when someone opens a can or eats sardines, yet I am fully aware that I am eating them in many of the foods Missy prepares, and that they are good for me, even though I detest even the concept of them. If you have already bought and read this amazing second work that my wife put every piece of her heart into, I urge you to share your comments and impressions with others. If you have not yet read this book, and even though I have every reason to be prejudiced about it, I cannot urge you enough to try it out on the people you really care about.
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