Vegetarian meals

[Mmmbacon]

Can I ask you all for your favourite vegetation meals, dd has decided she is vegetaian, I dont want to cook separate meals every night for family but have ds who is two, so need to make sure that any veggie meals are well balanced for toddler and teenager, help.please,

[FestiveEdition]

I went through this!

Class A parenting/dietician answer .... bake wonderful vege meals in bulk, and freeze portions you can defrost/reheat for DD
Actual, RL work around ....buy quorn escalopes etc, or plain fish, which are just an add on for her as substitution for the meat element in meals.

For the most part, I ended up doing a mix of both.
However, I was absolutely strict that she had to continue eating fish & chicken until she had finished growing!! it worked for us

( offers apologies to all the vegetarian parents & children out there ....I am not saying anyone NEEDS to eat fish & chicken until age 18 ....only that it is the stance I took with DD )

[pinkyredrose]

festive so your dd wasn't vegetarian then. Did you tell her that vegetarians eat chicken and fish?

[Drladybird]

Hello
We are vegetarian and am bringing up my dd (2.5) as veggie too (no fish or chicken!). I am also keen to make sure my toddler gets all the nutrition that she needs so try to put together recipes that include protein, iron etc. I stash all my (toddler tried and tested) veggie recipes here: Broccoli and Rice Cakes

Long-standing favourite meals:
Can't go wrong with lentil bolagnese or lentil lasagne
Everyone loves this moroccan style butter beans with olives
For a good, reliable rice dish, I go for this vegetarian Jambalaya

Hope that helps!

[FestiveEdition]

pinky - she has been a fully committed vegetarian since she was 17 and a half. She would have been so from the age of 13, but I insisted that chicken and fish were included in her diet when we ate them. I didn't say that she was fully vegetarian at that stage, only that I went through the process of teen DD announcing she wished to be vegetarian, and how I dealt with it.

OP asked how to make sure that any veggie meals were well balanced, which is what I replied to. The rest was an add-in on how we moved through the process. I was at pains to point out that I was only talking about our own process.

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

I went vegetarian when I was 7. Simple things to make:
Quorn chilli
Stir fry veg with tofu
Aubergine parmigiana
Cheese and spinach soufflé
Vege shepherd's pie

When it comes to cooking separately, things like nut cutlets, goats cheese bakes etc can easily be put in the oven and served with the rest of the veg/rice/potatoes etc

I don't think I'd have forgiven my mum if she'd forced me to eat chicken and fish.

[pinkyredrose]

festive ypu insisted your daughter ate dead animals even though she didn't want to?

You're obviously a control freak as well as being ignorant about nutrition.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

What sort of things do you already like to eat as a family?

Eg - you could do a roast dinner, but dd could have a nut cutlet (Sainsbo's do nice frozen ones, and the Goodlife range do even nicer ones) instead of the meat

• you could do toad in the hole but dd could have veggie sausages

• do pasta with a tomato sauce for all of you: grated cheese for protein

• curry and rice

• veggie risotto: could always add chopped ham or bacon (fried separately and added) for the carnivores at the end

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Festive - I think it was unfair of you to force a 13 year old to eat chicken and fish tbh: I'm surprised she let you get away with it.

[Catmint]

Waves at Festive

I'm in a veggie family, my DD is nearly 7 and has never eaten meat or gelatin sweets, although does have cheese, eggs & milk.

We do use quite a bit of quorn, it is very convenient. Spagbol made with quorn mince, for example.

We eat lots of cheese, probably a bit too much. Things like Homity Pie always go down well.

We love lentil stuff, and grains, but DD is a bit fussy about these.

[PeazlyPops]

DS loves the lentil lasagne from broccoli and rice cakes, but the pasta didnt cook through so now I just make the lentil part, and use it as a spag bol instead. He's a very fussy 19 month old (arent they all!) so I always have a couple of mini portions in the freezer.

[Onykahonie]

I would think that pasta based meals would go down well with both...here are some veggie pasta recipes you might like.

[FestiveEdition]

Remus - not that I need to justify, but I do resent assumptions.

Was my daughter ever "forced to eat" anything? No!

My children were raised to negotiate and discuss all issues, and work to compromise. As an adult, I may have started those negotiations way over my actual standpoint, but none the less the eating of chicken and fish was a compromise standpoint from an informed position accepatble to both my daughter and myself.
Was I strict about sticking to the agreed compromise, in serving it when we ate it? yes!
Did she choose to eat it or pick at it ......well, that varied about as much as her choosing to eat or pick at vegetable lasagna or any other meal.

The decision was re-visited and subsequently negotiated down to fish only, and then downward by 6 months when it became obvious that she had finished growing physically, and had achieved a level of maturity.
At which point it was also obvious that she had fully committed herself to the standpoint and knew precisely what she was doing.

Her decisions to only eat orange vegetables (age 8) and never eat another potato (age 12) were also negotiated ....and proved to have less longevity.

[FestiveEdition]

sorry cat

[MiddleAgeMiddleEngland]

Lots of bean-based meals, lentils, etc. We don't ever have quorn as nobody here likes it, neither do we ever buy vegetarian sausages or the like.

My DCs have never eaten meat, fish, poultry, or products made from them. Have had five days in total off school between them from nursery to sixth form. One runs marathons, both are fairly evangelical about not eating meat.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Festive - your original post said that you 'insisted' she ate chicken and fish, and that you were, 'absolutely strict' about her doing so. That doesn't sound like negotiation tbh, though I accept that I may be arguing semantics there.

Anyway, not really the place for the debate so...

[FestiveEdition]

I agree that the initial wording may have presented the wrong picture. as it wasn't qualified with awareness that insistence was about a previously debated thresh-hold, or that compromise was reached, albeit at a level which was my sticking point from the outset.

As you say, this isn't the place to debate approaches. I only came on to say how I managed the provision of veggie meals in conjunction with non- veggie (which I did a lot)

[OldBeanbagz]

Since my then 10 year old DD decided to stop eating meat last year i have mostly cooked veggie meals for all of us because it's easier for me & probably healthier too.

She sometimes chooses to eat fish or chicken but i don't insist on this as i provide her with balanced meals.

Our favourite meals are...

Mixed bean chilli with either wedges or rice
Vegetable lasagne
Veg curry or dahl with rice/naan bread
Gardeners Pie (veg & bean pie topped with cheesy mash)
Mushroom & lentil pies with steamed veg (i have the pie filling in the freezer)

There are also loads of good ideas on the BBC Good Food website.

I tend not to use a lot of meat substitutes though occasionally she'll have quorn sausages whilst we have meat ones. I also have batch cooked some lentil ragu for when we have bolognaise.

It's been easier than i expected but i have had the advantage of being a vegetarian myself.

Unfortunately i had a mum who 'insisted' on me eating meat until i was 16

After that i cooked for myself and didn't drift back to meat eating until i was in my mid 20s and travelling loads.

[Mmmbacon]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I am going to do veg dinner tomorrow, dd had quorn chicken tonight, she said she liked it, but took a long time to eat it, I think I wouldnt mind if her reasons were re animal cruelty, or just eating dead animals, but her reasons are that new friend in school is so its cool and several children have gone home vegetarian, it feels like follow the leader, I'm just waiting for the next fad

[lolalotta]

Old bean, could you possibly share your recipe for the mushroom and lentil pies? Sound yum!

[BikeRunSki]

Veg crumble

Root veg and butter beans cooked in passata on base
Savoury crumble with cheese, herbs and chopped nuts on top.

[multitaskmama]

My youngest is son is vegetarian mad. He loves lentils, beans and pulses. I make Bombay Aloo, okra veggie omelettes but his ultimate favourite is kidney beans. These come precooked on tins and are not expensive and very quick to make.

Veggie Meals

[OldBeanbagz]

lolalotta it's these but i leave the cranberries out. The recipe says 4 but with the ramekins i use to make them in the mixture runs to 6 pies.

I've used both the suet pastry in the recipe and also cooked it with just a puff pastry topping.

[sharond101]

I do a ratatouille using roasted vegetables (peppers, courgettes, red onions, brocolli, brussell sprouts, leeks, anything I have really) and cannellini beans. I use this in several dishes. Sometimes simply with cous cous, pasta or in a baked or soft tortilla or pitta bread. I sometimes make a lasagna with it or my favourite is making a strudel with it.