A Very Varied Diet

We're continuing to offer C and V a wide variety of new foods. Mandarin oranges did not go over very well. However, this week we did have success with the following:

grapes
edamame
V-8 (low sodium, mixed with cereal)
strawberries

We've also been working on more finger foods. The girls have continued with Cheerios, and we've added in peas, carrots (cooked and cut into small pieces), and chopped up peaches and kiwi. V is really getting the hang of feeding herself. She especially likes the edamame and Cheerios. C isn't much into feeding herself, but she does well with the larger pieces of food, if we put it into her mouth for her.

For supper tonight, we tried a couple new foods. C and V added asparagus and lentils to their repretoire. V loved both and enjoyed feeding herself the little rounds of asparagus. C was not into the asparagus at all. She was better with the lentils, but she quickly became bothered by them. I think it was the texture. Tomorrow I'll mash them up a little for her and try again.

With the two new foods, the girls ate the following this weekend:

barley cereal
tofu
peaches
edamame
green beans
Cheerios
canteloupe
homemade wheat bread
V-8
carrots
graham crackers
vanilla soy yogurt
strawberries
asparagus
lentils

We're also trying to work toward drinking from a cup. The girls' pediatrician wants them to move off their bottles by their first birthday. Until this weekend, there has been little success. We have Nuk brand two-handled cups for them (http://www.nuk-usa.com/products/c-10$p-115/trendline-dotslearner-cup.aspx). Veronica is finally getting the hang of them. Today we were able to replace two of her bottles with the cups. Clarissa hates the spout on these cups, so we're on the look-out for a new kind of cup for her. However, she is finally starting to hold her own bottle. She does best is she can recline,  so we hold her on our lap, while she holds her own bottle.

C holding her own bottle.

Friday Night Supper

C and V have not been eating very well lately, because of their colds. However, they both got their appetite back in time for supper tonight. They tried vegan macaroni and "cheese" for the first time. I made it using the recipe for Easy Breesy Cheese Sauce from the cookbook How It All Vegan (http://www.govegan.net/). It's my favorite faux cheese and it really is easy to make. The girls both really liked the pasta.

They also had pureed mango and cereal made with peanut butter. C is very small for her age and she is crawling like crazy. We're trying to ensure that she is getting plenty of calories in her diet, so that her weight gain doesn't slow down too much. The peanut butter adds calories, plus the girls sleep much better when they have a good source of protein at supper time.

Up next for the babies: pancakes and mandarin oranges. I think we'll try both over this weekend.

                                                   C and V after a particularly messy lunch
                                              
                  

It's Been A Long Time

It has been a really long time since I've posted. The empty cupboard project turned out quite well. We ate almost everything in the house, with the exception of some condiments, herbs and spices. Unfortunately, the blogging part of the project was a bit of a failure. There just was not enough time in the day to cook creatively, take care of twin babies, and sit down to right every evening.

I've decided that I will revive the blog, but on a more general basis, without the pressure to post everyday. I'll be writing about my effort to raise ethically minded, vegan children in an environmentally friendly way, and really anything else I feel like talking about. This summer, I also hope to do quite a bit of canning and preserving fruits and veggies, and I'll post about that, too.

My daughters are 9 1/2 months old and are eating a wide variety of foods. Today they tried a new combination. They had multigrain cereal made with formula (the twins won't officially be vegan until they are done with formula). I mixed in some peanut butter that I softened in the microwave. C and V loved it! They haven't been eating much, because they are under the weather, but they scarfed down the peanut butter cereal, along with pureed blueberries that I mixed with some vanilla soy yogurt. I will definitely offer it to them again.

TTFN

-Sandra