Restless Day + Roasted Cauliflower with Bean Mash

Arthur woke up before either of his parents today - around 7:30 or so. He's been a bit restless today, but I guess we all are. There's another home I'm excited about viewing, but they are fully booked until Tuesday, with no deadline on bidding, so it's a bit unsettling. I'm trying not to get too invested in it.

Still, I wonder if Arthur's started teething. Six months is a pretty typical time for it to start, so he would be right on schedule for that, and when I looked at his gums, I think I see two little lumps where the bottom two incisors would come out. It would explain his general restlessness, even when breastfeeding. It certainly isn't due to low milk supply - I was squirting and dribbling all over him this morning, so he got a nice facial.

Instead of trying to get Arthur to nap in the crib, Miklós took him for a long walk, and so Arthur actually slept for 45 minutes - a much more successful nap-time for everyone involved. And I have to say, Arthur was in quite a good mood after having a proper afternoon nap; it clearly makes a difference.

Spending time with his one true love is always a joy

Snack time today was a big event. We started out with tomato guts, which Arthur seemed to enjoy. That was followed with watered-down mixed nut butter; mixed reaction to that one, but he did want more and more. The grand finale was scrambled egg. I made it a bit differently this time, adding in turmeric and onion powder (both new spices!) and cooking it in ghee, instead of olive oil. But he still absolutely adored it; egg seems to be a hit with him no matter what, and he kept demanding more and more. But man, did he make a mess at this feeding. Not only did food get all over the high chair, his face, and his hands (the nut butter was particularly sticky), it also managed to get wedged up in his neck folds. And of course he did an explosive poop as well. So cleanup was fun.

I was making a bean mash for dinner tonight, and figured it would be a good way to introduce Arthur to one of my favorite foods. The recipe for the mash is below; I saved a portion of it for Arthur before adding in the salt, MSG, and vegan cashew Parmesan (which also has a lot of salt added). I fed him the modified version at dinner, so that we were all having bean mash. It was hard to tell what he thought of it; at that pint he was overly tired and super duper fussy, so was pretty worked up for all of dinner. I'll try again tomorrow.

Anyways, Arthur's solid intake for today ended up being:

• tomato

• mixed tree nut butter

• egg

• ghee (new food!)

• turmeric powder (new food!)

• onion powder (new food!)

• cannellini beans (new food!)

• lupin beans (new food!)

• Parmesan (new food!)

• oat milk (new food!)

• garlic

Tons of new foods, as you can see!

Cauliflower was on sale this week, and I was really intrigued by this recipe from Stonesoup - it sounded too easy and good to be true! But I figured I'd give it a try, and wanted to pair it with something. I try to make sure our dinners all have veggies, starch, protein, and fat, so to get the latter three, I decided to go with some sort of bean side; beans were also on sale, so it worked out well. I tweaked this recipe a bit to make a bean purée, and served it with the cauliflower. Both turned out super well, and were a nice combination that looked gourmet while being pretty dang simple. Miklós really liked the bean mash, too, despite not really being a bean guy. Parmesan helps a lot. I think it's a pretty forgiving recipe, and you could probably mix up the beans and cheese and it would turn out pretty good regardless. We may be gassy tonight, but we'll be healthy! Anyways, here's how I made everything:

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Whole Roasted Cauliflower + Bean Mash (serves 2)

Cauliflower Ingredients

• 1 whole head of cauliflower

• salt, to taste

• water

• optionally seasoning/sauce of choice, to serve (I served it with ebtb seasoning, but I think it would be pretty good without it, too)

Mash Ingredients

• 600g cooked/canned beans of choice (I used a 480g jar of cannellini beans and a 120g jar of lupin beans)

• 40g powdered Parmesan

• 2 tbsp vegan cashew Parmesan (nutritional yeast would probably also work)

• 100ml milk of choice (I used barista oat)

• 2 garlic cloves

• salt + MSG to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 205 degrees C.

2. Trim the base of the cauliflower so that it sits flat, and remove some of the outer leaves, keeping a few inner ones.

3. Put the cauliflower in a large pot and add about an inch of water to it, so that the base of the cauliflower is covered.

4. Sprinkle salt over the cauliflower.

5. Place the pot in the oven and cook for an hour, until the cauliflower is very brown.

6. Remove from the oven, top up the water, and cover with foil.

7. Cook for another hour, until cauliflower is soft enough to cut with a spoon.

8. While the cauliflower is cooking, blend all the ingredients for the bean mash in a blender.

9. When the cauliflower is about 15 minutes from being done, heat up the bean mash in a saucepan or the microwave.

10. Serve cauliflower over warm bean mash, and top with seasoning/sauce of choice, if desired.