Vegan Childminders

[scamp]

Are there any other vegan childminders here? It would be good to swap recipe ideas :)

[Jollybones]

Hi,

I am.

I do have milk and cheese in the house for mindees and my own 2 children (they usually sprinkle cheese on their pasta or have it in sandwiches) but other than that everything we eat and all the meals for mindees and us are vegan.

Do I qualify?
:o

[scamp]

Yey:)

I am actually like you as I do keep cheddar in the fridge for the children to have as their fourth course after their homemade soya yoghurt at lunch time, and I also give cow's milk to the children with their pm snack even though I hate doing it.

My husband and son are veggie however so the cheese and milk is also for them.

If we make pizza for our main course it has cheezly on top, and all meals and snacks/baking is vegan.

Are any of your minded children's families vegan? None of mine are but they all love that their children eat lots of fresh veg and fruit here and say that their children never go home from mine hungry:)

What meals do your lot like best?

Mine love pasta and veg/lentil bolognese best of all I think, and would eat homemade soup everyday.

[Jollybones]

We do pizza without the cheese -just loads of veggies and they are really yum although the mindees do like it with cheese!!
We keep trying the cheezly and are getting more used to it but still not 100%.
My husband is vegan our children are mostly vegan but do have cheese and milk as I said.
None of my mindees are vegan or even veggie but luckily like you all of the children and parents are more than happy with the food I provide. I did have one enquiry recently but the parent wanted ME to provide "normal" food which I was not willing to do as it goes against all I believe in, I have heated up baby food in the past for a short term contract but other than that had no problems.

Our favourites are shepards pie using vegemince, mixed vegetables in sweet and sour sauce with rice and vegetable fajitas -the older mindees love making them up themselves as I put all cooked ingredients on the table for them to help themselves and a lovely roast dinner with cheatin' turkey.
We also do bolognaise but again we tend to use vegemince aswell as beans and vegetables in it.

I do large online order from redwoods foods for meat substitutes but obviously do lots of vegetable / pulse based foods for chilli's and curries etc.

I have just taken on 2 older children and was worried how I would influence them but they seem ok and I am wary of what I say around them with regards to meat, they love trying the different meals and have eaten everything I have given them which makes me soooo happy:clapping:

[scamp]

Oooh - off to explore Redwoods Foods now:)

[Jollybones]

Have you never tried them before? I love their burgers!!

Just discovered porkless pies in Holland and Barratt too which are scarily realistic just without the jelly bit in them.

How long have you been Vegan / Veggie? Do you find it hard bringing the subject up with parents when you first meet?

[Chell]

We are all veggie so I only provide vegetarian meals. I made this shepherds pie (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4382/veggie-shepherds-pie-with-sweet-potato-mash) for the first time tonight, it was lovely. You could use PURE marg rather than butter and omit the cheese. I think I'd make the topping with half normal potatoes and half sweet potatoes next time.

[Jollybones]

That looks tasty will def try that later this week. I use vitalite for everything, it is bit cheaper than pure and I prefer the taste, it is great for sandwiches, cooking, etc.

[scamp]

Thanks Chell I like the wine addition to that recipe:D

I have only been vegan for two years Jolly and went overnight from omni to vegan. One of the best things I ever did. How about you?

I do recognise the vegideli sage and onion slices as they are sold in our local Morrisons and are great for sandwiches. I will have to try the burgers. I quite like the frozen beanie burgers from Tesco, but have been meaning to have a go at making my own.

No parents have ever raised any concerns about me only providing vegan main meals and they all drool over my published daily menu which is pinned to the back door each morning. I am quite upfront with them about what I cook and also proud of it as it is full of good veg and fruit.

The only thing that I would be unable to provide now would be a totally nut free environment if there were any children with nut allergies here as I use a lot of nuts.

All the children will sit to the table at lunch time for an hour quite happily and with great enjoyment - even little ones.

[Jollybones]

Just wondering how strict you are?? Do you only use vegan wine too? M & S do some lovely house ones.

I went veggie 4 years ago, my husband went vegan a year ago and I just sort of followed really as other than milk and cheese everything is strictly vegan anyway. Best thing I ever did too, I can not believe I ate animal products for so long without thinking about what I was really eating. I think about it now and know I will never go back.

So what made you veggie / vegan? For us we just began to think more about what we were eating and strongly believe in animal welfare. Well done scamp for going straight to vegan from omni, I found it harder going from omni to veggie than I did going to veggie to vegan. Chell how easy do you find it in general and with mindees / parents?

[kindredspirits]

mmm... just found dinner for tonight with that shepards pie recipe. I am not veggie/vegan - but very nearly!! :D we've been gradually cutting out meat for a while now - i think apart from the odd pack of ham or pork pie we haven't had any meat this year.

I love chickpea curry, lentil bolognaise, and veg. curry (a recipe which Ainsley Harriotts sister gave to my stepkids and a firm family fav. now) but my absolute fav. meal is chickpea enchiladas! :thumbsup:

[scamp]

Please can I have the chickpea enchiladas recipe? I have never cooked (or eaten!) enchiladas. Vegan curries are awesome aren't they. My favourite I think.

I have an app on my ipod Jolly which tells me which beer is vegan, but will check out m and s for house wines. Thanks for the tip.

It was actually my son who was only five at the time who decided to be vegetarian as he simply 'didn't want to eat animals' and we all followed suit from him. I am very proud of him. For me personally I couldn't justify vegetarianism. It had to be vegan or nothing. Seeing as though I cook by far the majority of meals in our house everyone here eats like I do apart from the milk and cheese as I mentioned before. It's great that your husband is vegan too.

I ate meat for 40 odd years but now can't imagine it and have had a complete philosophical mind shift.

I have lost over a stone in the past two years but without even trying and without ever going hungry. Food tastes better and my diet is so much more varied than before.

Yesterday I made a roast dinner of roast potatoes, steamed corn on the cob, cauliflower cheese (Pure, flour, cheezly, soya milk and mustard for the sauce), glazed carrots and savoy steamed in ginger and garlic. It was delicious!

[kindredspirits]

I will post the enchilladas recipe later on - BUT I am not sure how vegan it is :blush: I know that it needs creme fraiche but presumably there will be something that you can substitute that for???? Also it uses flour tortilla wraps - I think these are suitable for vegans but again I've never checked!

I couldn't imagine not eating things lik cheese atm but maybe in the future....
It was my stepson who became a vegetarian first when he was about 16 - we sort of followed suit and found that we much preferred to eat quorn to meat.

[Jollybones]

I love a chickpea and spinach curry!! My husband makes a lovely red pepper and potato curry (he is great in the kitchen, much more inventive than me -when he has the time) :p

I agree it was a complete change in our lives too, everything from what we ate, where we ate and also what we wore etc.
If you had of asked me 5 years ago if I could give up meat (mcdonalds in particular) I would have laughed at you, yet almost overnight it just didn't make sense as to why we did eat meat when there is no health / medical need, it is purely for human pleasure / enjoyment at the expense of the animals.
When people tell me they could never give up meat I tell them I felt the same 5 years ago but I am sure they don't believe me.

Wow both of your children did really well in becoming vegetarian first, my son (4) knows where meat comes from and he proudly tells everyone that it is not kind to kill animals just so we can eat them - I have had some filthy looks in the supermarket as my son shouts out "yuk mum look at all of those dead fish someone wants to eat for their dinner", I promise I have not brainwashed him he genuinely feels that way and besides I think others look disgusted because they realise what he is saying is true :laughing:

Your roast and enchilladas both sound delicious, this thread is definitely going to help with my new meals over the next week!!