Sneaky Blends: Supercharge Your Health with More than 100 Recipes Using the Power of Purees

Former Eating Well publisher Lapine’s latest Sneaky Chef effort is straightforward: various vegetable purees are front and center in the book’s almost 100 recipes, rather than nutritious depth charges slipped into food prepared for picky young eaters. Positioning pureeing as “next-gen juicing,” an introductory 1,250-calorie detox cleanse promises weight loss of “up to 6 pounds in 3 days.” Subsequent chapters supply the 15 base blends plus recipes using them, ranging from ultra-simple sips to southwestern turkey burgers boosted with a blend of black bean, blueberry, and kale. The title stretches the definition of “blend” a bit, as fully six of 15 are single vegetables or fruit liquidized with a little water, and there’s a whiff of padding: recipes in chapter two, a cleanse program, are repeated in chapter four. (Perhaps the intent is for the detox chapter to function as a standalone.) Also curious: Steaming is recommended for nutrient retention, juxtaposed with directions to pour hot water, later discarded, over frozen, blanched vegetables. [em](Sept.) [/em]