Plumgood Food: Kids Say the Darndest Things

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld's wife Jessica is still hashing it out with author Missy Chase Lapine over the question of sneaking healthy goodies into kids' favorite foods. Lapine says La Seinfeld knicked the idea for her Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food from Lapine's earlier book, The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals. Meanwhile, Mrs. Seinfeld says folks have long been squeezing spinach into brownies and committing other such culinary subterfuge, so Lapine should have no claim.

Among the latest healthy sneaks are the folks at Plumgood Food, which recently launched a line of kids' dishes infused with fruits, vegetables and whole grains. It's a brilliant idea, as long as it works. And it did work on my kids—to some extent. Here's how Plumgood Kids scored with a panel of tiny taste-testers at my house:

Cheese Pizza with Baby Carrots: Kids loved the carrots and ranch dressing, and Mom and kids agreed the pizza was delicious, despite the fact that the whole wheat crust was the texture of a soft yeast roll, rather than a crisp pizza. Topped with gooey mozzarella, fresh Parmesan and a red sauce of pureed tomato, onion, red bell pepper and zucchini, this dish was a big seller and one that Mom felt really good about serving.

P'sgetti with Garlic Bread: While Mom enjoyed the red sauce made with pureed tomato, onion, red bell pepper and zucchini, we all agreed that there was simply not enough of it. The pasta was practically naked and consequently elicited the simplest of criticisms: “It doesn't have much taste.”

Deep Sea Fish Sticks: Perhaps the MVP of this Plumgood Kids meal, the non-greasy whole-wheat-panko-breaded planks of tilapia were crisp outside, flaky and moist inside. The down side is that $5 worth of tiny fingers did not go far. Mom loved the mashed potatoes spiked with cauliflower, but kids didn't really dig it and left most of it on the plate. Mom finished it for them and will consider spiking taters with cauliflower in the future.

Chicken Dippers: Given that the first comment was “They're hard to eat,” the unusually tough $5 chicken dippers, served with ketchup, were a surprising hit. Mac-and-cheese infused with butternut squash puree had a silky, creamy texture and a layering of rich tangy and salty flavors from the Parm and cheddar. Of course, it was everything that the orange powdered mac-and-cheese is not, so Mom loved it, and kids, well, not so much.

Better Brownies: Tiny chocolate muffins infused with chocolate chips, organic spinach and blueberries had a strong dark chocolate flavor, but a dull sawdust-y texture. Some kids ate them, while some renounced them. Mom agreed with this unvarnished assessment: “I do not like it. It is so bad.”

Brown Rice Crispies: A healthy perversion of the classic, with brown rice cereal, brown rice syrup, sugar, gelatin, vanilla extract and egg whites, this soggy flavorless dessert met with unanimous disappointment.

Banana Bread Pudding: Made with a predictable list of ingredients—bread, bananas, eggs, butter, brown rice syrup and cream—this dense slice of dessert was unexpectedly delicious and fragrant with roasted banana. Mom ate every last bite, which, oddly enough, no one fought her for.

As I looked across the detritus of our meal and mentally calculated the cost of so much leftover mashed potato, mac-and-cheese and green beans, I asked the crew to sum up their dinner. “It was really good,” the spokesman for the little people responded. “Now can we have some ice cream sandwiches?”

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