Tell me how you feed your vegetarian kids

[tdeveson]

I'm seriously thinking of cutting all meat but fish and seafood out of our diet. Ds will eat tilapia and shrimp, but nobody is going to want that every day. I know it can be done, but now that I've sat at my desk with a menu list for the week, I can't eek enough protein out of all this green stuff. Please help me figure out some vegetarian meals for next week that will satisfy our nutritional requirements. Tell me how you feed your vegetarian kids.

 

Thanks.

[dragons in the flower bed]

High protein meals my kids eat include rice and beans, macaroni and cheese, curried tofu, peanut butter and jelly, various pastas with mozzarella and parmesan and romano. I cook long strips of tofu with long strips of bell peppers in Emeril spice and we eat that on spinach wraps. I make sloppy joes using TVP crumbles and we eat that on hot dog buns. They eat eggs and yogurt at breakfast and for snacks. Quiche is a dinner option I swear I'm going to try someday. Baked potatoes with sour cream and Bacon Bits (which have no actual meat in them) have protein.

 

We do eat a lot of cheese and processed meat alternatives, which is not terribly healthy, but certainly easy and yummy.

 

Remember that there's protein in many carby/starchy foods that are not meat. Add up how much of that your kiddos eat each day and you may find they have met the minimum daily requirements.

[Peela]

My dd15 has eggs every morning with dh. She is not strictly vegetarian but we dont eat much meat at home and dh is vego.

You can make things like nut loaf, cauliflower cheese, quiche or frittatas, or anything with a white/bechemal sauce- milk has protein.

You could try some Indian food, like a basic dhal and rice. Most traditional cultures have common meals that are good combinations- mexican food too, like bean burritos or tacos. I make tacos with a tin of mexi-beans and salad and cheese and sour cream sometimes. Or, I make a fake spicy tomato and mince sauce with TVP, but I dont use TVP much nowadays as I dont think its very healthy and dh's gut reacts to it badly.

You can also not worry too much about teh protein and just try and get more vegies into them. Vegies have protein.

[eternalknot]

I grew up veg*n so I've always felt fairly comfortable not counting grams of protein, et cetera and just sort of going with the flow. I'm not sure how many grams a person needs, but I'll probably google it in a minute just to see :) many friends that I've had transition from meat-based to veg*n diets use a lot of cheese and milk during their transitions. And eggs - whole at breakfast, or scrambled into rice at lunch.

 

We have no food allergies, which helps. We eat lots of seeds and nuts, mostly as snacks -almonds by the handful. Seeds baked into bread or muffins. Tahini or hummus spread over crackers or raw veggies.

 

Tempeh is a good meat replacement, and has protein. You can find it at many health food stores, in the refrigerated section. Steams, bakes, fries - relatively easy to prepare and has a familiar-ish texture to meat. We don't use meat substitutes, other than occasionally swapping tempeh into a traditional meat-based recipe.

 

Miso soup has protein, and is filling and yummy. You can add miso paste to stirfries and other dishes for added protein, too.

 

We eat lots of greens. Beans. If you're eating animal products 2-3 times a week, and a healthy diet otherwise (veggies, nuts/seeds, dairy) I don't think you have too much to worry about protein-wise.

[Haiku]

We're vegan and we have no problem "eking" out enough protein. All three of my kids are athletes!

 

Here are a few ideas for dinners:

 

Bean burritos

Black bean soup

Corn chowder with dumplings

Spaghetti with sauce + green veggie of choice

Stir fry with Thai peanut sauce over brown rice

Lentil-potato soup

Curried chickpeas over whole-wheat couscous

Veggie burgers on whole-wheat rolls

Black-bean quesadillas

Vegetable-barley soup

Tofu jambalaya

Louisiana red beans over rice

 

I make all of these things completely free of animal products. I never worry about protein. My kids eat fruits, veggies, and nuts for snacks and we rarely have processed foods. Our pediatrician frequently remarks on how healthy our diet is.

 

Tara

[meet me in paris]

It's really not that hard to do. We do eat cheese & eggs, so that's where a lot of our protein comes from. I throw beans into just about everything... pasta, soups, burritos, rice.

 

Typical weeknight dinners for us are rice & beans w/salsa, lentil, black bean or vegetable soup & bread, pizza, quiche or frittata, pasta (braised spaghetti w/kale has become a favorite), and mac & cheese. The kids snack on fruits and vegetables throughout the day, so I don't worry as much about serving it at dinner - we're more interested in filling & hot by then.

 

Beyond the basics, I definitely recommend any of the Moosewood cookbooks. They have excellent recipes and will give you some great ideas.

[tdeveson]

Wow! Thanks, everybody. These are great suggestions. I think I have a handle on next week now. And thanks for reminding me about the Moosewood books. I know I have one -- perhaps two if my dd didn't run off with it.

 

Thanks again.

[phathui5]

We were vegan for six years and still don't eat much meat.

 

One really helpful site is www.vrg.org

[AnitaMcC]

I'm seriously thinking of cutting all meat but fish and seafood out of our diet. Ds will eat tilapia and shrimp, but nobody is going to want that every day. I know it can be done, but now that I've sat at my desk with a menu list for the week, I can't eek enough protein out of all this green stuff. Please help me figure out some vegetarian meals for next week that will satisfy our nutritional requirements. Tell me how you feed your vegetarian kids.

 

Thanks.

 

My Dd decided to be a vegetarian (she is 14yrs old) about 3 months ago. For the most part I just try to have plenty of side dishes that are meatless, veggies, fruit, dairy. She also likes the Boca meatless foods (meatless burger, etc). Dd eats plenty of dairy and she occassionally drinks protein drinks. She also takes a multivitamin every day. She eats eggs every few days too.