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.