bonbonmini

Solids!

A couple of weeks ago we started to notice Alexandria watching us eat. At the time she was 6 months and exclusively breast fed so I thought it was nothing more than curiosity. But then one day when I was wearing her in the Bjorn, she grabbed my toast, gnawed off a piece and swallowed it whole. I started to give her teething biscuits but still didn't think of starting solids since Max was 8 months before he had any interest, and 12 months before he was really eating them. During the same week I noticed she was clawing at my breast during feedings and her pedi visit later that week confirmed what I'd started to suspect: my baby is starving! Her height is off the charts (98th percentile) but only 20th percentile for weight. Let me just go on record now as saying I feel like an idiot.

Ironically I didn't have to do any shopping. I had all of the ingredients for perfect first solids sitting at home: oats, quinoa, apples, strawberries, blueberries, butternut squash, black strap molasses, lentils, and Happy Bellies infant grain cereals. It was all waiting at home begging to be fed to baby.

No sooner than we'd arrived at home, I had a spoon in her mouth and discovered that unlike Max at that age she loves to eat. It makes her smile rather than frown. And she can finish a whole bowl or two before she starts blowing raspberries, a baby's polite way of saying "nuff's nuff mama". She even likes to grab the spoon and feed herself (for that I love these because they are gentle on the gums and plastic-free). Now when we are eating she actually gets mad if we don't offer her something to eat too.

Now, I usually don't talk about poop on this here blog, even though as a mom it's a huge part of my life, but I must break from that rule for a moment. The day A had her first solids, I realized that the day before I'd unknowingly said goodbye to her last breast milk poop ever and I actually cried. My babies are growing up so fast! I will not get to change another yogurt-scented mustard yellow diaper again until I have grandbabies in, like, 2042!

So here is a baby food recipe I made up that she is currently enjoying. Chop & bake one apple or pear, 3 strawberries, 3/4 cup of cooked quinoa with a quarter cup of water and a dash of cinimmon. Bake until soft, then puree, adding more water to get the consistency your baby likes. A liquidy texture is best for new eaters. For all of our favorite bibs and feeding accessories have a look at the feeding section in my shop.

For storage I use Weck jars. Totally portable, made form glass and rubber. They can also double as toddler cups.

So for now I'm watching to see how she gains, making sure to nurse frequently since a drop in supply would defeat the purpose! I'm beginning to research ways to get my supply up even more without depleating my own calcium stores, as I did with Max. Hopefully we are on our way back to fat baby zone, or at least the 50th percentile!

P.S. I was adding agave to her foods until reading this. Ack! Another processed "health food" bites the dust. For now I'm using black strap molasses which is rich in iron, calcium, and potassium. Edit: Please read this too before eliminating Agave. Sayward passed this along pointing out that Weston-Price is not the most reliable source on such matters...

[Vegan Kitchen] Homemade Granola...

What's that you say? It's summertime? Why blog about food when I should be posting photos of exciting summer things? Well...hmph...that's a darn good question. Truthfully I've spent the past week walking up and down this fair [hot] city with a babe in arms and one in the stroller, exploring new neighborhoods and doing all kinds of fun things. But I've been doing it jaded resident style, rocking new balance [instead of nice sandals] and taking zero photos or just really bad ones of the Statue of Liberty from the SI ferry with my phone [instead of snapping pretty macarons or street scenes]. I promise to come through with summer in the city updates later, but for now I present you with granola...from a few weeks ago!

I've been aching to share this recipe for a few weeks. It's become a household favorite even in this heat. As soon as it's out of the oven I get a little crowd in the kitchen. It turns out granola is so easy to make, I'm surprised it's taken me this long to try it out. I use this recipe except I sometimes add 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and cook it for an extra 15 minutes to make it less crumbly. That's all for now! I hope you are all having an awesomely fun summer. It's already half way over!? Boo!

[Vegan Kitchen] Cake!

Who said vegan wheat-free naturally sweetened cake can't be delicious? Max and I made some dreamy mini cakes and cupcakes from a Pamela's mix for the mister's birthday. I added extra cocoa powder and a tiny bit of powdered sugar and almond milk to the frosting mix to kick it up a notch. They were so rich and chocolatey we (the grown ups at least) agreed that once a year is plenty. I'm old enough to remember when vegan cake from a box was not so delicious (actually I can remember when it didn't even come in a box). But this cake was perfectly moist and super rich. I don't think even a chocolate cake expert could tell the difference!

P.S. I used to be one of those people that cleans as they cook, so that when I sat down to enjoy the meal my kitchen was already spic and span. Clearly I am no longer one of those people. Maybe it's the baby on my arm...or perhaps it's the fact that the mister is in charge of dishes?

Vegan Cupcakes: key lime...

It's been 7 weeks since we decided to transition into a vegan diet. During that time I had chicken once (once when we made our last frozen one for guests) and milk once. Other than that I've been faithful and it's starting to pay off in the form of needing much less sleep than I used to. The mister is great at home, but he still puts me to shame when we go out. He likes to temporarily forget which things have dairy and which do not.

While shopping at Whole Foods
Me: You know that croissant in your hand isn't vegan, right?
Him: Oh?
Me: Lame.

At lunch with a friend
Me: Did you just order profiteroles?
Him: (silence)
Me: For serious?

Last weekend when we arrived at a birthday picnic for a friend, before I could even lay out our blanket, he had TWO slices of pizza in his hands (one of them already half eaten). Still, all in all I am so proud of the man and amazed that he's open-minded enough to try this. He is German after all. I doubt they even have a word for vegan in German. Actually they do, it's "vegan"! In fact I blogged about a yummy vegan cupcake I had in Berlin this past summer.

To make these: You can use a traditional cake & butter cream recipe like this one (replacing butter with margarine, eggs with Ener-g egg replacer, and replacing milk with almond/rice/soy milk). Or  try vegan cake mix like Cherrybrook Kitchen, or Pamela's (both at Whole Foods). To add a lime twist, I made the frosting with the juice of 2 and a half limes instead of milk. I also added a bit of almond milk to thin the frosting to an icing texture.

P.S. The winner of last week's Quiet Home Paints giveaway via random.org is Beth!

Vegan transition: week 5...

It's now week five of our plight to become 95% vegan. Our cheese-aholic house officially has no cheese! The cow's milk has been replaced with almond milk and the mister finally finished the last spoonfuls of ice cream he's been hoarding since we made the plunge.

We've settled into a nice routine with our meals and everyone seems to be happy with what's on the table at each meal. Breakfast is usually homemade muesli with almond milk (sometimes hot sometimes cold) and whole wheat toast with Earth Balance (btw the mister who is majorly into butter approved of this vegan substitute without complaint!) Lunch is usually leftovers from dinner the night before. For snacks, dried fruit, nuts, avocados and our favorite green smoothies still prevail.

For dinner I've been preparing a lot of grains (barley, bulgar wheat, wild rice, and of course quinoa) as well as beans and legumes (adzuki, garbanzo, black-eyed peas, French lentils). I must say I get a bit giddy at whole foods when unleashed in the bulk and produce sections. It's used to be that those isles were simply stops on the way. Now they make up my whole grocery list and so I feel something like a kid in a candy store knowing that I can and should get every grain, bean and vegetable known to man! I've also been using a lot of Asian, Mexican and Indian recipes and spices to keep it fresh. Would you beleive Max now asks for sesame oil and soy sauce to add to his plate the minute we sit down at the table? This week we also had our first salmon night which we plan to make a once a week tradition in order to get the B3 and B12 that's so hard to come by on a plant-based diet.

I'm still working on getting my vegan (and gluten free-- the little miss has thrown me for a loop in deciding to be gluten intolerant!) baking down pat. I will make a mean vegan banana bread but then follow it up with a crumbly-beyond-belief batch of cookies.

I must say we have so much more variety in our diet than we ever have. On a given day we eat well over a dozen different fruits, veggies, grains and legumes. Max is happy, the mister is happy, and little miss is happy as long as I avoid wheat, dairy, cayenne pepper, and chocolate. But that's all a post for another day! Coming up I will share how to make almond milk...

But first the creamy yummy goodness pictured above is an adaptation of this recipe. I used dates instead of raisins and opted to make a blueberry sauce by blending an 8oz package of blueberries with about 1/3 cup of water and 4 dates. 

Vegan transition: week 3...

We're embarking on week three of our vegan transition. So far I'm loving it, but there has been some resistance on the team. No breaks yet, but definitely complaints. As seen above I've been incorporating a lot of soy meat products to make the transition easier.

Max doesn't seem to notice the difference. Sometimes he likes tempeh or tofu, sometimes he refuses them. Then again he did the same with chicken so there's not much difference there. The mister is happy with the meals I make, but when out and about he is starting to feel the restrictions closing in. Going without meat has been easy. It's the dairy he's feeling. He'd taken up the task of eliminating the leftover dairy in our kitchen, but now that honeymoon is rapidly coming to an end.

As someone who's not used to reading labels, and as someone who comes from a very cheese and butter heavy tradition he feels frustrated by the whole thing. As some one who comes from a very brown rice and vegetables tradition I can't relate but I can imagine. If research began to show that avocados and almonds cause cancer and should be eliminated from the diet, I would be frustrated too and I would probably cry.

Anyway, I'm rambling. This post is actually about complete proteins. Complete proteins are proteins that contain all nine of the amino acids that our bodies are not capable of producing, but need to survive. Single-food plant-based complete proteins (such as quinoa or soy) are rare. So a varied vegan diet depends a lot on combining protein sources within your meals to provide all nine essential amino acids.

The tacos above were fairly quick and passed the family test (aka Everyone ate them/No one complained) and they contain not one but two complete proteins! I originally selected Ezekiel tortillas because they are made from sprouted grains, which makes the nutrients in the grains is more easily absorbed by the body. But upon reading the marketing spiel on the back I found out that the combination of 6 grains they contain, make up a complete protein. Nice!

These tacos also contain Gimme Lean which is a soy-based answer to ground beef and sausage. Like most soy products it's a little sweet, but aside from that the taste and consistency make it a great substitute for the meat lovers out there.

Ingredients: Ezekiel sprouted tortillas, homemade refried black beans, roasted summer squash and grape tomatoes, sauteed Gimme Lean, romaine hearts.

Great source of: complete protein, iron, folate, B6, B2, B1, Omega-3, tons of minerals