Drinking blood versus eating bulgur and beets...a.k.a. what was I thinking?

When Alex started solids, he was a good little eater, slurping and gumming up just about everything I could blend together from kale & pear, to fennel & apple. I've taken advantage of this and continued to serve him a variety of foods that I'm eating already in their diced up solid form, or I'll puree with a little yogurt to improve the texture of the gritty more fibrous foods.

Alex does like beets, he liked those that wrapped in foil and drenched in oil and grilled until the were sweet and soft on the inside.

But last night both my husband Trey and baby Alex rejected a meal of bulgur and lentils (1:1 cooked ratio) mixed with pan cooked garlic beats and olive oil. I served the adult portion chilled like a salad and with a little balsamic vinegar, fresh basil, and a little blue cheese. I was in heaven--- I just adore stinkkkkky cheese and the contrast of the sour vinegar with sweet beets... but poor Trey, took a few bites and was left thinking, where is the meat?

I spared baby Alex the vinegar and blue cheese, and put in ample shredded cheddar, but now realize that although Alex adored shredded cheese a month ago, he now thinks it is launch material only. As far as cheese goes, only the solid chunks are edible. The little shreds are wildly whipped into our poor schnauzer's black tangles. Although Alex loved the lentil, potato, carrot stew, unblended, he thought the beans were little ticks and also tried to attach those to Loki's black locks to pay him back for barking during naptime.

Today, I tried to salvage the remaining bulgur and lentil blend today (I saved a beetless portion) and mixed 1/2 a cup with 1/2 lb of ground turkey, 1 egg, and a bit less than 1/4 cup of oatmeal together with a little bit of A-1.... We pan fried these, because they are a little looser than beef patties... Again, I thought they were wonderful (they did need some mustard for zip) but Trey almost passed out from malnutrition. Alex ate his lentils and bulgur in the blended form with a little olive oil, applesauce, and formula.

Unfortunately, a late morning nap kept us from our red meat source at the farmers market and poor Trey is going to have to drink blood this week to regain his composure.