Pizza

I'm raising my daughter as a vegetarian. I was raised this way and I've decided to keep meat (and poultry and fish) out of my diet. But lets get one thing straight -- I'm not a vegan -- I couldn't live without cheese, especially considering that my favorite food is pizza.

My baby started eating solids two months ago, at age six-months, but she still gets about 99.9% of her calories from breast milk. Her initial foray into the world of solid foods was less than successful (see my earlier posts) but we've recently turned a corner. Suddenly she wants to taste everything I eat and seems to love everything I give her. This change could stem from the recent addition of four upper teeth, or maybe her system's adjusted, or maybe her brain just gets it after two months of trial and error. Personally, I think her new epicurean tendencies are all thanks to -- you guessed it -- pizza.

Zachary's Chicago style deep dish with black olives and garlic to be precise. It was a rainy afternoon and my husband and I were eating leftover pizza when I caught my baby ogling the slice as it made it's way into my mouth. So I scooped up some sauce and let her suck it off my finger. OK, this girl takes after me -- she loved it! -- it may be her new favorite food.

Long story short, she now is interested in eating everything I do, most likely hoping that eventually she will get another taste of the delicious ambrosia known as Zachary's.

Beets

I've never met a beet I didn't like. As a kid I loved the pickeled beets that I would get at the salad bar when we went out for pizza, which we did a lot (pizza being one of those great kid and vegetarian friendly foods).
As an adult I finally tasted freshly prepared beets: baked beets, shredded raw beets, borsht, beet sauerkraut, and my husbands specialty spicy curried beets with beet greens. His dish is a bit too spicy to serve to my baby (yet), but I'm planning on pureeing up a batch of beets for her to try in the near future.

They are quite healthy, and I've always heard that they are good for the blood, though that may be one of those myths since they are red like blood.

Speaking of red like blood - everytime I eat beets my pee and poop turns out red (this may be TMI but come on - all you beet lovers know exactly what I'm referring too). But I wonder - now that I'm nursing - is my breastmilk pinker too?

From "wholesome baby food":
The Goodness of Beets:
Beets contain a wonderful amount of calcium, potassium and even vitamin A. Both Vitamin A and Calcium play a large role in the healthy development of your baby. High in fiber, 2 medium sized beets contain 2 grams of fiber.

Tofurkey

As a vegetarian I don't eat turkey for thanksgiving. Never have, never will. We celebrate at my moms house in the country and every year I see wild turkeys roaming free on the hillside. Its almost like they know it's a safe haven - asylum for all birds - even the quails go free.

But let me answer the inevitable question - what do vegetarians eat at Thanksgiving?

Great question! I love Thanksgiving -- I love hanging out with my family and cooking together, after all, my favorite thing next to eating is cooking. But people seem to have a hard time wrapping their heads around a turkey-less Thanksgiving meal. Even though turkey accounts for only 10% of the adverage Thanksgiving meal.
Here's whats on our menu this year, it will probably sound familiar:
Mashed potatoes
Stuffing
Mushroom gravy
My dad's awesome cranberry sauce
Baked yams
Green beans
And of couse lots of pie (as well as my brother's specialty cheesecake!)

In addition to the usual fare we also make:
Cheese pie (kind of like quiche but much yummier)
Holiday breads (Cranberry, zucchini, and date-nut)
And in honor of The Sopranos we've added an Italian dish to the meal -- Baked Ziti or maybe Eggplant Parm. Yum!

One thing we don't do is have a Tofurkey... It just sounds kind of gross.

But I get that the Turkey is the centerpiece of the meal - and maybe it has some symbolism that I'm missing out on? Any ideas for a meatless, tofurkey-less centerpiece that we can add to our menu?

And what will my baby girl be eating this holiday? Mostly prunes...

Prunes

I have been a vegetarian my entire life.

My parents chose to raise me and my three brothers as vegetarians after they went veg in the '70s. My parents' reasons for changing their diet, my brothers' return to omnivorism, and why I'm choosing to raise my daughter as a strict vegetarian are topics for another day. Today I'm thinking about prunes.

I had a baby 7 months ago and this beautiful girl recently started eating solid food. It must be a strange experience - going from just drinking sweet, watery mothers milk (yes I tasted it) to suddenly having weird tasting "smoosh" shoveled down your throat...

As a new mom there are all these things you are told to do to "be a good mom" -- read to them every day, don't let them watch TV, put them to sleep on their back, always strap them in to the stroller/car seat... And breastfeed exclusively for the first six months... So, six months rolls around - it's the big day - first feeding - yay! With some trepidation I sat my girl into her new high chair and mushed up her food. In preparation for the big day a lot of thought and earnest conversations with my husband (aka Daddy) went into deciding what our daughter's first food should be. I think putting "a lot of thought" and having "earnest conversations" about even the most mundane topic -- such as if we need to buy a diaper warmer (we did not) -- are part of "being a good mom".

Our earnest conversations let to the conclusion that banana mushed up with some breast milk was the ideal first food. The pros: no cooking required, easy to make at home (I want to make her foods, as much as possible), and lastly, banana is sweet, bland but yummy - kind of like breast milk.

There she was sitting at the table, all gussied up in her bib looking expectantly at the bowl... actually she was ignoring me and happily playing with a toy -- but in my imagination she was looking interested in the smoosh I had lovingly prepared. I scooped up the banana mix with a

spoon and gently shoveled into her mouth. A puzzled look befell my babe, but she swallowed and accepted another bite. Then when bite number three was making it's way into her mouth she pursed her little lips and decidedly turned her head away. Success!! Sort of.

So began my little girl's foray into the glorious world of food and vegetarian foodie-hood. But, you may be wondering, I thought this was about prunes...

Did I list the cons to bananas as a first food? They are part of the BRAT diet. My poor baby became immediately constipated and unhappy as her digestive system worked to process the new addition. After all, her system was finely tuned to digesting exclusively breast milk - that any new food would unbalance her belly should have been expected...

After a few days I called the pediatrician (another thing you do when trying to be a "good mom" is call the doctor at the drop of a hat). She recommended replacing the banana with prune juice or purée. So I whipped up some purée with the prunes in our pantry -- yes we already had some on hand. I happen to like them, even though they have a bad rap. Did you know they are starting to label prunes as "dried plums" (which they actually are) to make them sound more appealing to a younger crowd? Ah America.

Long story short, they worked. Now everyday my baby eats prunes mixed with cinnamon, or sometimes other fruits and veggies and spices. As my pediatrician said "some kids just need to eat prunes every day for a couple of years - it doesn't mean she will need to eat them when she's 20".

What a relief! Imagine what her college friends would think!