Author offers guidance on feeding a picky eater

Ann Hodgman's "One Bite Won't Kill You" (Workman, $15) features"More than 200 Recipes to Tempt Even the Pickiest Kids on Earth," asthe subtitle has it. Garlic is always optional in these recipes.Onion is optional, too. And as if that weren't enough, theillustrations are by Roz Chast, cartoonist par excellence.

I have used Hodgman's recipes from two past books, "Beat This!Cookbook: Absolutely Unbeatable, Knock-'em Dead Recipes for the VeryBest Dishes" and "Beat That! Cookbook: More Outrageously DeliciousRecipes." Her recipes really are the best, and she approachesrecipes - and, I think, life - with sense of humor always at theready.

She also gives common-sense advice. In a chapter titled "Why Noneof This Matters," she writes: "There's an excellent chance that ifkids get enough calories, vitamins and minerals - no matter what thesource - they're going to be healthy. When did your son or daughterlast pass out from hunger? When did you last see one of yourchildren - any child in your neighborhood - any child at yourchild's school - suffering from a serious nutritional disorder?Rickets? Scurvy? Kwashiorkor?

With that, I dispense with additional palaver.

First, under "a few observations on sandwiches," Hodgman writes:"A quick, easy quesadilla is made by spreading any cheese the childlikes over one flour tortilla, topping it with another tortilla,wrapping the whole in foil and baking at 350 degrees for 10 minutesor until the cheese has melted. With the addition of a little pizzasauce, this becomes a "pizza quesadilla."

Also: "If you're really, really worried about vegetables, you cantry grating some carrot into the peanut butter in a sandwich. I'mnot saying your child won't notice, but you can try. Maybe you canclaim you used crunchy peanut butter."