Help feeding vegan/vegetarian toddlers

[Runningmom80]

Hi! My dh and I have decided to go vegan, and would like to eventually move our kids to veganism as well. I am fine doing thus slowly, as I don want their systems to go through too much of a shock. I'm having a hard time funding recipes for toddlers and I'd be grateful for some resources.

 

 

Thanks! :D

[Mergath]

We're not vegetarian thanks to my meat-obsessed dh, but dd had a primarily vegetarian diet until she was almost two. Avocados are a great nutritional source if your child will eat it, and I shredded a lot of carrots for her to eat so they wouldn't be a choking hazard. Cheerios are a good way for your kid to get iron, if it's a concern. Dd would live on black beans and rice if I'd let her.

 

Oops, dinner needs attention. I'll come back and add more if I think of anything.

[Tigger]

I'm not going to be much help - just wanted to note that kids need cholesterol for brain development, along with adequate B12 and omega-3 EPA/DHA.

[reign]

My oldest two did not like meat until they were 3/4. I did a lot of rice/beans in various ways. Think Mexican, stirfry,whole beans or purred, made into dips, or soup/hot cereal. They enjoyed lentils as well. I like to top things with flax and they have eaten lots of eggs. If you do soy that really opens up possibly. I don't do soy but the girls love endame (mainly cold from the freezer)

[HappyLady]

Seeing as we're vegan, I'll help you any way that I can! :) As someone else stated, you do want to pay attention to certain things like B12, iron, calcium, omegas and fat. Then again, EVERYBODY needs to pay attention to this, vegan or not. If you start doing research you'll hear over and over about B12. Rest assured as long as you're eating a wide variety of foods, you'll be fine. A lot of foods are fortified with it and you can add it into your diet by incorporating nutritional yeast into your foods. Plus, your body stores it and uses it as needed. And your body makes its own cholesterol. :)

 

I would suggest looking at what you eat now and try veganizing it. It's really not difficult. Most kids love cereal. A lot of cereals are vegan and you can soy, almond, coconut, rice, oat, hemp, etc, milk. Pancakes and waffles can be veganized. Grilled cheese, mac-n-cheese, soy many kid favorites can be veganized! :) Hopefully you're in an area where you have access to vegan foods, which will make it easier.

 

If you have any other questions, please feel free to PM or just ask here. :)

[Runningmom80]

Thanks for the tips! They won't eat avocado by itself, but I bet I can incorporate it into their diets.

 

 

My daughter was anemic for a bit, but is fine now, so I'll definitely watch that. Bean, I will be sending you a pm, thanks for the offer of help! :001_smile:

[Runningmom80]

And sorry about the spelling errors, I'm not so great at iPad typing.

[Dolphin]

Do you have an Indian Store near you? If not, look online. I have a vegetarian Indian friend and she has taught me so much about lentils, they are not all equal. Tor Dal (Dal is lentil) Has the highest protein content of any of the lentils.

 

In south India what they give the younger kids is tor dal, boiled with Tumeric, rice, ghee, and a little salt and pepper. My ds9 has loved this dish since he was a toddler. The ghee is not vegan. They also eat a lot of homemade yogurt. They eat dairy, but no eggs. That might be a good first step. Cheese and dairy is a good source of protein/fat etc... during the early years and then wean it out.

 

If you look at Ayurveda, it has some interesting thoughts on dairy. That it needs to be prepared. She won't just drink milk for instance, it needs to be warm with cardamon in it.

 

If you like Indian food at all, it is good as a lot of recipes never consider meat. A lot of it is naturally vegetarian if that makes sense (not taking a dish with meat and finding away to replace the meat.)

 

Nicole

[Runningmom80]

I don't have an Indian store around, but whole foods may have some of the thongs I need. I'll definitely research that!

 

 

I'm fine with keeping the dairy in for a couple of years, especially since they need the fat.

[HappyLady]

\

I'm fine with keeping the dairy in for a couple of years, especially since they need the fat.

 

You can get fat other places besides dairy. ;) And unless you're careful about where you get your dairy, with that will come hormones, dioxins, antibiotics..... :001_smile:

[Runningmom80]

You can get fat other places besides dairy. ;) And unless you're careful about where you get your dairy, with that will come hormones, dioxins, antibiotics..... :001_smile:

 

True dat. And actually I just decided to remove dairy because we have some recurrent ear infections that I would like to try fixing this way first.

[Mrs Mungo]

You will find lots of great ideas here:

http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/

 

I think she recently changed and is not 100% vegan anymore, but she was for a very long time and most of her recipes are still vegan.

[lailasmum]

We used to use this book

 

It has nice recipes that we still make now.

[Oakblossoms]

For iron, use cast iron for cooking, eat more vitamin c rich foods with your meals, and use blackstrap molasses. I love blackstrap molasses drizzled on cornbread or oatmeal. But, for pickier eatiers you can add it to smoothies or oatmeal or even stir into some milk. It is a great source of iron and calcium.

 

I find toddlers to be the best eaters around here. if you take an ice cube tray or muffin tin, you can fill each with healthy choices to munch on.

 

Avocado dip

bean dip

whole beans

chips

crackers

olives to stick on fingers

breakfast cookies

mini muffins

fresh fruit

smashed nuts

dried fruit

veggies slices or cheese

quesiddilas made with daiya cheese and refried beans

[NicAnn]

We love veggie nuggets. I can't find a recipe online, but I'll keep looking.

 

DD eats a lot of hummus with vegetables.

 

Tacos with beans and rice instead of meat.

 

Disposable Aardvarks blog has a lot of interesting ideas. They are a little too processed for my tastes, but can easily be modified.

 

Good luck!

[Pretty in Pink]

We aren't vegan but do eat a lot of vegetarian meals. I keep a variety of dried beans on hand and cook up a fresh batch every few days so that I can conveniently add them to any dish. I use a 50/50 mix of prepared barley and lentils (wheat berries and lentils would probably work, too) in place of ground beef in pasta dishes, tacos, sloppy joes, etc. The texture is really good and the taste is fine, just season it well.

[Jenny in Florida]

Both of my kids are life-long vegans.

 

Most of the stuff people worry about vegan kids "missing" is available in fortified soy or rice milks. I prefer soy, since it has more protein, but in terms of vitamins and such, most brands of rice milk are good, too.

 

I've pretty much just always fed the kids the way we eat. So, I probably won't be helpful in coming up with toddler-specific foods.

[ChristyB in TN]

We're vegan! I love all the advice so far, also try Kindlife.com. Nice little child friendly resource. Have fun with it! It really doesn't limit what you CAN eat, it broadens your diet. You have lots of room for different foods when you drop the traditional, American meat based diet.

[Oakblossoms]

I wanted to add some thoughts I had while on a walk.

 

My kids aren't all vegan. But, a few are and one is vegetarian. But, all them love a variety of foods. And, we are not just lucky on that. My oldest and third are special needs. But, I offer a lot of stuff to eat. when I was pregnant and very sick with my fourth And could not cook...my kids got very picky. But, when I could start again and provided more variety it was amazing.

 

So, make sure to always have some cut up veggies and fresh fruit on the table. Cut them up when you come home from the store so they are quick and easy.

 

My kids aren't keen on salad. But, they will all dip raw veggies.

 

And, kids sometimes complain at my house, but I don't have other choices. I have gotten quite a few kids to try sushi and eat beans or hummus when their parents say they won't.

 

Kids have super sensitive tastebuds. But, they are developing their tastes for life. I think many of us adults shun healthy choices that we were not brought up on. But, after eating them we start to like and even crave them. I think we can see a huge change in the health of our country if we do this for our children.

[Ohdanigirl]

:iagree:

with Hausunterricht

 

We aren't vegan or vegetarian, but my children eat more veggies than any of their friends. We always do a variety of beans, whole wheats, and they love veggie soup. When I go to the market I grab a variety of produce, even if we haven't tried it. If it looks strange, even better. I have boys, so they like the sense of adventure. We once got hold of some fruit that looked like a sea urchin. They never thought twice about it, because it was "so cool."

 

I have one ds, who hates red meat and only tolerates chicken and turkey. I will have to keep an eye on this thread, with him in mind. Good luck with this.

 

Danielle

[Guest newbie123]

if there are gluten free or vegan products that you can't really find, you can always get them online and have them delivered to your doorstep.

There's a number of good websites like Vegan.com, GoVeg.com, Supernature.com.sg etc.

 

they are all quite useful,like for super nature's website,they not only sell various vegan products,they also feature some recipes to try.

 

they have really nice snacks and all like Doves Farm Cocoa Rice,etc.

 

May be useful to you:)

[KittyM]

We are vegetarian and ds6 has been vegetarian from birth. I do a lot of vegan cooking and baking though and it's really easy once you get used to it. Some books I've used a lot are:

Vegan Feasts by Rose Elliot (she has lots of vegetarian/vegan books, including her Mother, Baby + Toddler Book);

Baby and Child Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Timperley (this is vegetarian but not particularly vegan although there are plenty of recipes you can adapt. It's a gorgeous book with great recipes which I've used again and again and which are loved by my whole family. It also has really cute illustrations so my son has loved looking at this book since he was tiny!);

The Cafe Fresh Cookbook by Mary Farrell (from a restaurant in Dublin, Ireland but I'm sure it's available on Amazon. Lots of great and very 'do-able' veggie and vegan recipes).

We have lots of friends raising really healthy and strong children on vegetarian and vegan diets.

Good luck!

Catherine

[momee]

Just wanted to say be careful of these website addresses. Quite a few took me to Burger King!!!!

Seriously.

[KungFuPanda]

Get some great hummus and falafel recipes. They will take you far :-)

[mhg]

Our son is 5 and he is mostly a self-made vegan. He hates meat and always has since babyhood. He RARELY wants meat.

 

My husband is a strict vegan. I'm a vegan mostly (but I shamelessly eat my eggs).

 

Some common choices he makes:

The most common breakfast is what we call a "Nibble Tray" full of lots of choices. This "tray" has eighter compartments/dents/divisions. On this nibble tray, I put almonds, sunflower sees, cashew, walnuts, a muffin*, a big (1/2 cup to 3/4 cup) big blob of peanut butter and honey(smashed up together), apple slices, banana slices, Kashi "heart" or Kashi Blueberry cereal, etc.

 

He loves Smoothies (he asks for this on most days):

We have a VITAMIX and here's the recipe we most often use:

1 banana

4 cups of spinach/springmix/whatever raw green you want

1/2 cup water

BLEND on high for 20 seconds ish

then add

2 cups of frozen fruit (we use that big frozen fruit bag from Walmart -- mango, pineapple, strawberry)

2 cups of Normandy Mix (in frozen section of Walmart in the stir fry section which consists of broccoli, cauliflower, squash, carrots, etc.)

then BLEND on high using the plunger/smasher to push it in there for about 2 minutes)

 

Sometimes I make this into frozen pops also.

 

Our favorite references/resources we use:

The Happy Herbivore (great muffin ideas)

and

Disease-Proof your Kid (by Joel Fuhrman)

and

The World's Healthiest Foods (by George Mateljan)

 

I cook vegan meals and my son eats what is served.

 

I'll confess that I still give him some milk (cow or goat). He doesn't like it, but IMO it's hard for a vegan child to eat enough greens to get the calcium they need (smoothies help) and thankfully my son likes "Broccoli Dippers" (he loves steamed broccoli dippes in mustard). Broccoli has calcium -- but again it's hard for them to get this in enough BULK to get the calcium. Now.....it's a FACT that in countries like our own with the highest consumption of dairy have the highest incidence of osteoporosis -- so I realize that America's obsession with calcium/dairy is a bit over the top, so I'm not one to think he needs alot of milk for bones but on days when I know he hasn't consumed many calcium rich foods, I do break out the milk.

 

He takes a Pixie-Vite (www.drfuhrman.com) about twice a week. It's recommended to take daily, but I'm not a big fan of vitamins for the person who eats a healthy diet, so my husband and I compromise and he takes it twice a week.

 

About once every 4 months my son will ask for a hot dog weiny (and I'll indulge him in a Hebrew National).

(BTW, his bloodwork/iron is always perfect and he's growing just fine).

 

 

(I've attached a pic of him snarfing a bell pepper -- pics a bit blurry, but I think his choices are interesting :-).

Edited January 9, 2012 by mhg

[Runningmom80]

Thanks for the great suggestions! I just re read "disease proof your child" and decided to go full vegan. My twins have admittedly been eating a on of hummus. :tongue_smilie: they love it!

[Stellalarella]

Here's my recipe for Black bean and sweet potato quesadillas. Just leave off the cheese. :001_smile:

 

One of our favorite meals is cilantro lime brown rice, black beans, and roasted sweet potatoes.

 

http://onlifeandbeans.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/black-bean-and-sweet-potato-quesadillas/