Tunisian Vegetable Stew + Weekend Shenanigans

Saturday

Arthur woke up around 7:45. He's been in a really good mood all day, especially given the trauma we put him through the day before, though he didn't sleep during his 10:00 nursing session like he usually does.

Nap-time was a big fat fail (again with the spasmy sleep crying) - I really think we'll need to see a sleep therapist about it. So naturally, he instantly fell asleep on me during the post-"nap" nursing session.

Good morning mood

I can't say Arthur's solid intake on Saturday was a roaring success either. We tried pumpkin purée and he really didn't seem to like it. I don't get it; I feel like it's a really similar flavor profile to sweet potato, which he loves. I added a tiny bit of cinnamon to it to see if it would become more palatable to him, but if anything, it made it worse. He refused to eat more than maybe one spoonful, so we called our afternoon solid snack there. But during dinner, he was fussing a lot, and when I brought my fork close to his mouth, he opened it hungrily. So I ended up giving him some more pumpkin while he was sitting on my lap; the two of us ate together. And he was much more accepting of the pumpkin this time.

His solid intake, therefore, was a whopping two foods:

• pumpkin purée

• cinnamon (new food!)

It may have been that he wasn't hungry, though, because he didn't nurse a lot after solid snack-time either. Anyways, Arthur went through a whopping three outfits today. First, he had a bath, so we moved on to outfit #2. Then, he spit up all over his clean new outfit, so it was outfit #3.. An hour or two later, he had an explosive poop through that one, so outfit #4 it was! The little fashionista is good at making his clothing choices known.

Sunday

Arthur woke up early, when I was in the bathroom at 7:30. He was famished, and couldn't be placated by Miklós while I was getting a cup of tea - he wanted boob at that instant, and as soon as he was put on, sucked with all his might. And then began falling asleep 20 minutes in. Still, he drank a lot, and had two major poops before noon, so I'll call it a success.

In a good mood despite the ugly swim hat

Miklós opted to take him for a walk in the stroller instead of nap-time in the crib; I think they both needed a break from him. And, of course, Arthur slept a lot more in the stroller than he would have in the crib.

Arthur had a better appetite for solids than he did on Saturday. We started with a new food, and an allergen at that: mixed nut butter! I had made it with a food processor, and it contained almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, and Brazil nuts. So four tree nuts in one! He seemed fairly content with it, but didn't love it. Next, we tried tomato again, and this was Arthur's most successful tomato encounter yet, unless you count the little bits mixed into scrambled egg. He ate the raw pulp up without any complaint, so I gave him a reward of sweet potato purée afterwards. This remains huge hit with him, and he wanted spoon after spoon of the stuff, taking matters into his own hands at one point by grabbing the

Taking matters (and spoons) into our own hands when it comes to sweet potatoes

spoon. It's pretty amusing to watch him try to successfully use a spoon to eat; he still has a ways to go. He also has yet to learn the art of licking his lips to get all the chunks of food there. I think he would have happily consumed more sweet potato, but I wanted him to have some appetite for the next nursing session, so we called it there.

Aside from the morning nursing sessions, Arthur didn't drink terribly well today, either from the boob or from the bottle. But solids were again a success at dinnertime! We set up Arthur's high chair and tried it out for the first time; we sat him at the table, and while the parents ate sweet potato quiche, Arthur ate sweet potato purée, and quite a lot of it at that! He did okay in the high chair if Sonja was singing to him or I was feeding him, and it was really nice to have the whole family eat dinner together at the table.

And that bring's Arthur's solid intake for the day to:

• tree nut (almond/hazelnut/walnut/Brazil nut) butter (new food!)

• tomato

• sweet potato purée

New experiences with old "friends"

Sunday's dinner is always Miklós's special sweet potato quiche (maybe I'll try to get the recipe for that on here at some point), but on Sunday, I tried to recreate a favorite childhood dish: The Moosewood Cookbook's Tunisian vegetable stew. I did alter it a bit - I omitted the raisins (neither of us are fans of them), chickpeas and dried cilantro (we didn't have any), swapped a red bell pepper for the green one (because who even likes the green ones?), and instead of using regular feta, served it with a big portion of homemade tofu "feta" (for the reduced saturated fat for Miklós and increased protein for me). It was pretty dang good, and definitely how I remembered it! Well, it would have been better with real feta, but maybe when I'm less worried about my milk supply and/or Miklós's cholesterol. Here's how I made it:

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Tunisian Vegetable Stew (serves 2)

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced

• olive oil, for cooking

• 3 cups thinly sliced cabbage (honestly, I think you could sub other veggies here too if you wanted, and it wouldn't impact the flavor much)

• 1 large red bell pepper, cut into thin strips

• ½ tsp turmeric

• ¼ tsp cinnamon

• 1 pinch cayenne

• 1 can diced tomatoes

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• salt, to taste

• ⅓ cup slivered almonds, toasted

• 1 serving tofu feta (325g sliced firm tofu, marinated for a couple of days in the liquid from a jar of olives + some lemon juice + white vinegar + 1 tsp miso paste + 1 tbsp nutritional yeast + a couple of garlic cloves, sliced + dried thyme + whole peppercorns)

• rice or bread, for serving

Instructions

1. In a large pan, sauté onion in olive oil for 5 minutes or so, until softened.

2. Add cabbage and salt to taste, cooking another 5-10 minutes.

3. Add in the bell pepper, turmeric, cinnamon, and cayenne. Cook for another minute or so.

4. Add the canned diced tomatoes, stir, and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or so, until the vegetables are tender.

5. Add in the lemon juice and additional salt to taste, and serve.

6. Serve over rice (or you could probably eat this as a stew with bread as well).

7. Top with tofu feta and almonds.