Veggie-Loaded Balsamic Pasta

[Stephanymtr]

I'm hoping this recipe will be a hit with the balsamic sauce + veggies

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 box pasta (we could try it w/ lentil pasta)
• 1 vegan sausage (we could either go for tofu or just skip this altogether.)
• Olive oil OR veggie broth/water, as needed to sauté the veggies

VEGETABLES:

• 1 large head broccoli, divided into florets
• 1 shallot, halved and sliced
• 2 medium carrots, julienned or sliced into 1/4" thick rounds
• 1 red or orange bell pepper, chopped into 1/4" thick sticks
• 5-6 crimini mushrooms, quartered
• 1 zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced into 1/4" thick half-moons
• 2 Tbsp chopped parsley
• Avocado or olive oil, as needed

BALSAMIC SAUCE:

• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp maple syrup (skip or add apple sauce)
• 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1/2 cup reserved pasta water (save some before draining the pasta) - I would add lemon and garlic as well.

https://www.veganrunnereats.com/5262/balsamic-pasta-vegan-recipe/

[Stephanymtr]

@iteles how do you feel about the balsamic sauce ? If you think we could try this one out, I'm happy to put a shopping list together for this recipe.

[nelsonic]

Yesterday during the fruit volcano science experiment, A was liking his fingers that had vinegar on them ... 😋 So there's a good chance that he like vinegar. We should maybe test Balsamic vinegar with him ... 👅

Maple syrup is mega sweet. I don't think he's ever had it. @iteles can confirm. 🍬

[Stephanymtr]

Yes, I agree! I was thinking we could sub maple syrup for apple sauce or even some banana puree (weird, I know but who knows)

[iteles]

Ooooooh if he likes this (or any other) sauce, then we have a great way for him to eat veggies!

I'm not sure if balsamic vinegar or mustard are baby safe as they're very acidic on their little tummies and I have no idea what the ingredients are (not being a fan myself 😄) so please research whether they are @Stephanymtr ! Good places to research are https://comidadebebe.pt (if you can't find answers on the site she often answers DMs on IG) and https://solidstarts.com (we should probably add these to a 'good resources' list in this repo too!

Agree with subbing in applesauce for the maple syrup 👌🏻

[Stephanymtr]

I found out that you can start adding vinegar to your baby’s diet starting at the age of 6 months old. https://canbabieseat.com/vinegar/ It can cause indigestion in excess, so they suggest to use it in a diluted form. We can introduce mustard seeds into a baby’s diet starting at the age of 8 months. they should be given in small amounts in order for them to get used to the flavor. https://canbabieseat.com/mustard/

I found recipes on comida de bebe with those ingredients, but I couldn't find a blog or a post specifically about this subject. I have contacted them on IG, so I'll post here what they say when I hear from them.

[nelsonic]

Wow, that’s a genius SEO content farm! 😯

They registered an excellent domain name and then put up generic content with a stock photo of the food parents/caretakers will search for and then make money on the Ads.

Zero links to peer-reviewed research or other authoritative content sources though, so I certainly wouldn’t trust it. But I can see why some people would. With that level of SEO and partnership with Google/Facebook in terms of Ads https://canbabieseat.com/terms-privacy/#cookies I wouldn’t be surprised if they are the top result on Google for all the keywords they have …

“ We are not responsible for any claims/damages caused by our website. Use it at your own risk”

I wouldn’t trust a random website in Romania with the health of my child. They don’t have a single link to a medical journal or cite a reference e.g. paediatric textbook. Nobody is taking actual responsibility for the content on the site. It’s like trusting MacDonald’s or Kelloggs with the health of our child. They only care about making money. Not about accuracy/facts.

Sorry to be harsh. But our first instinct when reading something on the Internet should always be: who wrote this? What are their motives? Why/how can I trust them?

Remember Doctors used to recommend smoking:

[Stephanymtr]

Oh, this is horrible! I 100% agree with you. Feel free to delete my comment 🤦🏻‍♀️ I have to make sure ALL the research results, even if small like this, comes from a trustworthy source. I overlooked all of this. My apologies. I'm hoping comida de bebe will reply my message on IG soon :)

[nelsonic]

@Stephanymtr definitely don't worry about linking to something online. Apologies if my comment above came across as harsh. I just wanted to highlight that I wouldn't trust the site with my child's health. It's very easy to get sucked into thinking that something on the front page of Google is trustworthy. 🔍 It's even easier to be lead astray by "influencers" ... 🙄 No need to delete anything it's a good learning point.

A good resource on a topic is Harvard Medical School, e.g: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/vinegar/ Another great one is NutritionFacts.org, e.g: https://nutritionfacts.org/?s=vinegar

In fact the reason I started adding Apple Cidre Vinegar to my Raw Green Soups back in 2016 (despite not liking the taste of it at all!) was because I trust Dr. Greger to be unbiased and provide reliable advice on the topic. see: https://nutritionfacts.org/2019/01/08/vinegar-is-good-for-you/ Or if you prefer video: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/apple-cider-vinegar-help-weight-loss/ I use organic unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar (with the mother). It costs around €8 / Litre at Biobrassica. 💸 🙄

Sadly, neither of these sites have anything on feeding vinegar to babies. I tried the following search: https://www.google.com/search?q=harvard+medical+school+%22vinegar%22+babies What does it mean when we cannot find a result from a reliable source? For me, it means I need to think about it for myself... 💭

If we think about Vinegar from first principals, the "White Spirit Vinegar" made industrially, the one we use for cleaning @home has a PH of around 2.6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinegar#Spirits if you were to drink it, it wouldn't kill you but it would certainly upset your stomach and cause some damage to your gut microbiome. For reference, CocaCola and Coke Zero have a PH of 2.37 and 2.96 respectively see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4808596/ The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a (metal) nail in about 4 days. https://sciencing.com/science-dissolving-nail-four-days-8743894.html Typically Balsamic Vinegar pH is usually lower than 3. Meaning it's Similarly acidic to CocaCola. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_balsamic_vinegar#Physical_properties

Note: This is not to say that all acidic things are "bad", just that we should use them with caution especially for a child.

I would be weary of any substance that has a significantly low PH as it can destabilise the microbiome. A good rule of thumb is: if the substance is not naturally occurring avoid it for children. Things like refined sugar, artificial sweeteners and other industrially made food additives are out.

This is a good article on the topic: "Common food additives and chemicals harmful to children": https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/common-food-additives-and-chemicals-harmful-to-children-2018072414326

Sadly this article doesn't mention vinegar, but that's a "false negative" not a green light to use it.

If you want to dig deeper into Vinegar in Children, please do so on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=vinegar+children

E.g. this article published in the journal Nature: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30670726/ cited by 78 other papers that found "Altered gut microbiota and short chain fatty acids in Chinese children with autism spectrum disorder"

i.e: don't mess with your child's microbiome!!