Weert + Cauliflower Alfredo

Thursday

Arthur woke up at 6:40. Since Miklós was going into the office, I took him around 7, and he had an early breakfast. Since we had a longer break between his two breakfasts, I gave him a bit of solids to tide him over and pass the time. First, Arthur had some pumpkin purée, since I was using it to bake my lactation brownies anyways. We followed it up by some more of the broccoli-potato-pea purée. He was happy to eat both, but not terribly hungry or enthused. And he was not interested in drinking a cup of water when I offered it to him; he made a weird face and refused to drink or swallow.

A happy camper

Arthur helped me run some errands, where he cracked up a couple of shop attendants with his weird noises and spit bubbles, and charmed a few other shoppers with his smiles. We had three smaller afternoon snacks instead of just the normal one, as I was trying to keep him occupied while I did a few things around the house. But they were all some combination of scrambled egg from a couple of days ago and the broccoli-potato-pea purée. Depending on how hungry he was, Arthur ate them with differing degrees of enthusiasm. He got the same at dinner, at which point he had quite a good appetite!

Which means, Arthur's Thursday diet consisted of:

• pumpkin

• broccoli

• potato

• peas

• egg

• sesame oil

• garlic powder

• turmeric powder

Friday

The little bug woke up at 6:30 starving. Miklós didn't realize there was an open purée in the fridge, so he opened up a new jar of sweet potato purée and started feeding that to Arthur before he saw the jar of broccoli-potato-pea purée, and gave him a bit of that as well. So Arthur started off the day with four veggies - not bad!

Naturally, he fell asleep on me during his first liquid breakfast, but was a bit riled up during the second. Which was a bit concerning, because today was going to be a somewhat long one - we were going to a viewing in Weert, and exploring the town a bit at the same time. And we were doing this trip via train!

So, we set off at around 11:30 and were on our way! Arthur was pretty happy for the first 10-15 minutes of the train ride. He sat in the stroller by the window, where he charmed the friendly lady sitting next to us and looked out at the scenery passing by. He started fussing after a while, and I wasn't sure whether he was hot in his bear suit or hungry or what. So I took him out of the stroller and his suit, and began nursing him on the train. My first breastfeeding in public experience! He fell asleep after 10 minutes or so on the boob, and remained that way for the rest of the train ride, so I'd call it a success.

The weather was miserable and my baby daddy desperately craved caffeine, so we popped into a pub/restaurant/café pretty soon after we arrived in Weert, where the adults had some caffeine, and Arthur had a bit more milk - my second breastfeeding in public experience! I have to say, it all went really smoothly each time I fed him in public - no one batted an eye. Afterwards, we walked around the town center for 15 minutes, then went to the viewing.

The viewing was a disappointment - the house was very nice, but we learned that some big apartment complexes were scheduled to be built that very year right across the street from it. So the street would basically be a noisy construction zone for the next five years or so, at the end of which there would be some big old apartments in what had previously seemed to be a neighborhood of only houses.

Sleeping on the train after a long day

Arthur was already fussing by the time we got back to the Weert station, so I opted to take him out of the stroller and hold him under my coat - maybe this time he was cold, as the weather was really yucky - drizzly and damp. We managed to find a seat on the train, and I nursed Arthur again, although this time he fell asleep after about 2 minutes of nursing. He was out of it at that point, and even though he was in what looked to be a pretty uncomfortable position, didn't wake up as I shifted around while he slept.

When we got home, Miklós fed him the rest of the broccoli-pea-potato purée followed by some kiwi, while I took a shower. And at dinner, Arthur polished off the rest of the sweet potato purée.

So, on Friday, Arthur ate:

• sweet potato

• broccoli

• potato

• peas

• kiwi

The parents had ready-made meals on Friday, but I did cook something new up on Saturday! As usual, it was based on what was on sale, and this week it was cauliflower florets! I'd been intrigued by multiple cauliflower "alfredo" sauces I'd seen online, and figured I'd try one out - it's a nice way to get sneak veggie into pasta! This recipe had good reviews, so I pretty much followed it, just making a couple little tweaks. And it turned out surprisingly delicious and creamy - I never would have guessed it was made from cauliflower! I bet this would be a great kid-friendly recipe as well, maybe with a bit less seasoning. Here's how I made it:

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Vegan Cauliflower Alfredo (serves 2 hungry people)

Ingredients

• 400g cauliflower florets

• ½ tbsp olive oil

• 1 heaping tbsp minced garlic

• ½ cup milk of choice (I used barista oat)

• ¼ cup nutritional yeast

• 1 tbsp lemon juice (plus more to serve)

• ½ tsp onion powder

• scant ½ tsp garlic powder, to taste

• 1 tsp salt

• ½ tsp black pepper (I had a grinder, so didn’t measure, but did put a lot in, and I think this was key!)

• MSG (optional, not in the original recipe but I put it in everything savory)

• 250g pasta of choice (I used a red lentil pasta for extra protein)

• vegan Parmesan cheese (optional, for serving - not in the original recipe - I used a cashew/nooch Parmesan, but to be honest, it was plenty flavorful without it!)

• mushrooms/other veg to mix in (optional, I didn’t use, but I think sautéed mushrooms would be awesome here)

Instructions

1. Boil the cauliflower in a pot of water for 8 to 15 minutes until fork tender. Drain well.

2. Add the oil and minced garlic to a small skillet and sauté over low heat for 4 to 5 minutes until softened and fragrant. Be careful not to burn.

3. Add the cooked cauliflower, sautéed garlic, milk, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to a high-speed blender. Blend until a very smooth sauce forms. Adjust seasonings to taste.

4. Cook pasta, drain, then put the cooked pasta back in the pot that you cooked it in.

5. Add the cauliflower sauce to the pot with the pasta and stir well. Heat over low-medium until heated through. The pasta will tone down the flavours of the sauce so it’s important to taste the mixture and add more seasonings (I added a bit of salt and lemon juice) to taste before serving.

6. Plate the pasta and top with vegan Parmesan if using.