Another Home Bid + Vegan "Alfredo" Pasta

Thursday

Arthur woke up right around the same time I did - 7:45. Hopefully he slept better than his mom - we were placing our second bid on a house today, and I was pretty darn anxious about it. Unfortunately, we were out-bid, which was pretty upsetting - I had been super excited about this house. I keep trying to tell myself that it's fate, and what's meant to be will be, but it's hard not to be terribly upset about it, or to wish we had bid higher. But, the important thing is, that of the two things I had been anxious about this week (the house and Arthur's health), Arthur is ok.

Arthur had a pretty big solid snack in between his two morning nursing sessions. He started out with parsnip purée mixed with some oil from a jar of pecan butter. It took him a couple of spoonfuls to get into it, but once he did, he guzzled it down and kept wanting more! He ended up eating quite a bit, but still had room for some Weetabix porridge made with breast milk. That one is still very much a hit with him.

Weetabliss

He was pretty sweet during our trip to Lidl, and in a very giggly mood while we were shopping and checking out, gathering a lot of attention and admiration from a couple of older ladies shopping, one of whom mentioned that she was an oma.

Arthur had a big afternoon for his afternoon snack as well! We started out with raw tomato guts (he happily slurped up), followed by a bit of silken tofu, which was a new food, and an allergen at that - soy! He didn't seem to have any problem with it, and grunted to request more after each spoonful. Then it was some watered-down tahini - still not his favorite, but he'll eat it. When he finished the tahini, I figured I'd treat him with a tried and true favorite, so he got some more parsnip purée. He was still grunting for more food even after that, so I gave him a bit more Weetabix, and then figured that was more than enough for one meal. At dinner, he gorged himself on Weetabix again, so hopefully he got a good amount of iron in today!

Which means that on Thursday, Arthur consumed (in addition to booby juice):

• parsnip

• pecan butter

• Weetabix

• tomato

• tofu (new food!)

• tahini

Friday

Arthur woke up around 7:40, right before I did. He was in a pretty sweet mood for most of the morning, which I greatly appreciated; I was still pretty upset about our failed home bid.

After his first breakfast on the boob, Arthur happily devoured some parsnip purée that I mixed with olive oil to give it a bit more substance and calories. Later, we had some time to kill when I got home from Albert Heijn (where Arthur was very giggly and a hit with the cashiers), so I stuffed his face with some more Weetabix/breast milk porridge. He still loves the stuff.

Exhausted after a hard solid feeding

It had been a while since he'd had any egg, so I scrambled one with something new: nutritional yeast, as well as tomato, garlic powder, and turmeric, in some ghee. It took him a spoonful to get used to him, but then he was very enthusiastic about it - it was still egg, after all - and kept demanding more. I did want to give him something beside egg when he finished the portion I had set aside for him, so we followed it up with some more parsnip purée. This time, I mixed it with toasted sesame oil, as a way to get in both an allergen and some extra fat. He made some faces at first, and wasn't quite as enthusiastic about this version as the plain purée, but he readily ate it all. He's becoming such a little gourmet! Not surprisingly, he didn't have much of an appetite for nursing afterwards.

While his parents enjoyed some ma po tofu for dinner, Arthur chowed through another serving of scrambled egg, followed by a bit of rice porridge mixed with breast milk. Despite eating quite a massive solid dinner, he still had plenty of room for breast milk, which was nice to see.

So, Arthur's Friday intake came to:

• parsnip

• olive oil

• Weetabix

• egg

• tomato

• garlic powder

• turmeric powder

• nutritional yeast (new food!)

• ghee

• toasted sesame oil (new food!)

• rice porridge (made with rice + milk powder)

We had takeout on Friday, but I did try a vegan alfredo recipe on Thursday. I based it off of this smokey mac n cheese recipe on Cheap Lazy Vegan; I like her website's focus on affordable and simple plant-based food, and she often focuses on protein-dense recipes. As always, I modified the recipe a bit, but not by a lot. And it actually turned out super well! Here's how I made it:

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Vegan Alfredo Pasta (serves 2)

Ingredients

• 250g pasta of choice (I used a pasta made from green split peas)

• ¼ cup vegan Parmesan, for serving (I used a cashew-based Parmesan)

  
  

• Sauce:

  • 150g silken tofu

  • ¼ cup milk of choice (I used unsweetened soy)

  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast

  • 1 garlic clove

  • 1 tsp lemon juice

  • ½ tsp paprika

  • salt & pepper, to taste

  • 1 tsp miso (optional)

  • MSG, to taste (optional)

    
    

Instructions

1. Blend the sauce ingredients until smooth.

2. Cook pasta according to instructions.

3. Mix sauce with pasta, plate, and top with vegan Parmesan.

4. Serve warm.