Hi Christine,

I love the fact that you are using my recipes almost every day. That makes me feel great : )

There certainly is some nutritional value lost from any kind of processing or storage that we do to any kind of fresh food, and I feel that eating most veggies in their fresh, raw state is superior to cooking or processing them in any way. The Sneaky Chef is a solution for parents of kids (or wives of husbands) who won't eat them fresh and raw.

Kids and men today are often consuming huge percentages of their diets as factory processed foods. It might be OK if these were occasional items, but what we're seeing is a huge portion of the population consuming them as daily staples, leaving very little, if any, really nutritional foods in their diets–and this during a critical phase of their development. The Sneaky Chef brings some real nutrition back to even these processed store bought foods.

Your question about cooking and freezing I feel refers to the affect that heat and oxidation have on the vitamins and other sensitive nutrients contained in the veggies. As we've said, fresh and raw is often best, but cooked still has plenty of nutrition in it, as we all know. But factory processed is absolutely the worst.

Interestingly, the availability of some nutrients is actually enhanced by cooking as it breaks down the tough cell walls protecting the nutrients inside, which would otherwise be unavailable to our bodies for absorption. Here's an interesting study on the subject:

(http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/163937.html)

(PARMA, Italy, Dec. 24 Researchers in Italy report that cooking vegetables can preserve or even boost their nutritional value in comparison to their raw counterparts.)

Again, I feel fresh and raw is best but only if you can get them to eat them that way. Otherwise, sneak 'em in! There's still plenty of nutrition in steamed and pureed broccoli, cauliflower, cooked beans, etc. Compare that to what you get in non-sneakily enhanced boxed processed foods.

Keep up the good work : )

Missy

Hi Missy,
Your book has been a blessing - my husband is the veggie-adverse one in the family, and he hasn't noticed that I've been sneaking your purees into our meals lately! :) It's great! He's also allergic to all raw vegetables, so I have to cook them. Your White Puree says to use raw zucchini - could I use cooked zucchini instead? I've never cooked with zucchini before - would I just steam chunks of it with the cauliflower, or how does one cook zucchini? Thank you so much!

Hi Megan,

No problem cooking the zucchini : ) It will puree very easily once cooked. It will steam more quickly than the cauliflower so you might want to add it a little bit after you start the cauliflower.

Keep up the great work : )

Missy

Hello Sneaky Chef!
Our family loves your recipes!
Keep up the great work and thanks a lot!
Joseph