8 Months, Another Bid + Caramelized Onion Mashed Cauliflower

It was an early morning for Arthur and I; the dude woke up when his dad left the bedroom at 7am, but instead of fussing a bit before falling back to sleep like he usually does, his fusses quickly escalated into full-on screams that even I could hear. Miklós was on the toilet, so I ran out of bed to rescue the little fellow. My boobs were once again extra-full and swollen, with hard bits. I’m not sure why my milk supply seems to suddenly be going crazy but we’ll see how it goes over the next couple of days.

Anyways, Arthur was pretty good natured throughout the morning, which was a big one: it was his 8-month birthday! It was also a bit stressful and exciting for his parents, who were bidding on another house! This one was right on a canal in Tilburg, and I thought we might actually have a chance at winning it. We submitted our offer, and then I gave Arthur a bath. He got a good nap in during his 10:00 nursing session before it was off to the drugstore!

It was a beautiful day, and Arthur got another walk in with Papa before it was time for another nursing session and a nap. After a good rest, Arthur was very hungry for his afternoon snack. I fed him a fruit pouch containing a purée made of apple, peach, and sweet potato. At first, he was pretty ambivalent about it, but after a few spoons, he decided he very much approved. He devoured the entire pouch, something he hasn’t done with a fruit pouch yet! I was impressed. Afterwards, Arthur did a great job drinking from a cup on his own (ok, bringing it to his mouth and sucking on it on his own; he still has a hard time tilting it far enough back for any liquid to actually get into his mouth). But that was fine with him; the cup was extremely entertaining on its own, and he spent a good deal of time banging it against his tray, and working hard to pick it up despite it constantly rolling away on its side.

Like the previous day, Arthur napped during his 10:00 and 1:00 nursing sessions, but he was pretty wired in the late afternoon, so squirmed throughout his 5:00 booby time. And stank; he had done something fetid in his diaper right before Miklós handed him over to me. I was thrilled. And even more excited to hand him back to his dad afterwards.

For Arthur's dinner, I opted for more of the egg-purée scramble I had made the previous day. It's nice and low-mess, and you can't go wrong with egg and Arthur. He finished off the scramble and was still hungry afterwards, so I gave him some of the Weetabix-kefir-soy milk mixture as well. After his feast, Arthur promptly fell asleep when I gave him his bedtime nursing. I guess that's what happens when you miss your 5:00 nap and go into a food coma.

So, Arthur’s Wednesday solid intake consisted of:

• apple purée

• peach purée

• sweet potato purée

• egg

• sesame oil

• olive oil

• garlic powder

• chicken

• carrot

• rice

• Weetabix

• kefir

• soy milk

As for the adults, I made an old recipe and a new one! Cauliflower was on sale, so I decided to try something else that’s been on my “to-make” list: mashed cauliflower! There are a bunch of recipes out there, but this one was appealing to me because it involved caramelized onions, which make everything better. I didn’t really follow the recipe other than using it for inspiration, but my version was really good! I served it with my favorite seitan recipe, which I'll post separately soon. Here's how I made the mash:

Caramelized Onion Mashed Cauliflower (serves 2)

Ingredients

• 800g cauliflower florets

• 2 onions

• 1 cup kefir (I used homemade, whole-milk)

• 2 tsp olive oil, for cooking

• 1 tbsp margarine/butter/ghee (I added this because I thought it would be creamier, but I'm not sure if it added anything - the whole-milk kefir did a good job on its own)

• salt & pepper, to taste

• MSG (optional), to taste

Instructions

1. Sauté the onions in the olive oil over medium-low heat until caramelized (45 minutes or so).

2. Boil cauliflower in a pot of water for 10 minutes or so, until fork tender. Drain.

3. Melt the margarine/butter/ghee by either mixing it with the warm cauliflower or sticking it in the microwave for 30 seconds.

4. Add the cauliflower, margarine/butter/ghee, kefir, salt, pepper, and MSG if using to a blender, and blend until creamy. Alternatively, you can keep everything in the same pot as the cauliflower was cooked in and use a stick blender.

5. Transfer to the pot you used to cook the cauliflower (or leave it in there if you used a stick blender), and mix in the onions.

6. Warm the mixture over medium-low heat until it is warm enough to serve!