That tastes super...

Getting kids to eat better is nothing new. It's just the trends well-meaning adults end up foisting upon the kids that change.

And if you were a kid in the 70s or early 80s (especially here in California), you probably encountered more than your fair share of carob, which all the grownups said tasted like chocolate but was better for you.

Suuuuuuure it did.

I mention this because I when I was unpacking some books, I came across my trusty DC Super Heroes Super Healthy Cookbook. The recipes inside were healthy alternatives to the usual kid fare, tarted up with cool pictures of the members of the Justice League of America.


Looking at it now, there are more than a few things that strike me as goofy.

For starters, there are an awful lot of recipes that call for wheat germ or (eek) carob. Still, though, I've made a few of the dishes -- mostly the Quick As a Flash Apple Crisp -- and they're not that bad.

But one will always be a sore spot for me.

The Mild Mannered Burger calls for you to slap your freshly cooked burger (which, yes, contains wheat germ) on a whole wheat bun. On the top bun, you put a couple of pickle slices and a bit of red pepper in the shape of a face with a few toothpicks like so:

And underneath this disguise, your super burger looks like this:


Unless you put the top bun on the burger and ruin the Superman insignia you spent forever and a day getting just right before you had a chance to show anyone.

Ah well.

This cookbook is a treasure because it offers at least one sentence never before uttered by anyone.


Okay, to be fair, it's from the recipe for Wonder Woman's Rocket Pops, which calls for both wheat germ and carob. Yum-O.


If you see this at a used book store, pick it up. Whether you try out Perry White's Great Caesar's Salad or Hawkman's Egg Birds, there's a bunch of fun stuff in there.

Feel free to substitute real chocolate in place of carob. I did.