help with vegetarian recipes

[hectors house]

Update on last weeks post

Had the lo here this morning for a 2 hours settling in session - she was no trouble, enjoyed doing singing, reading stories, free play with toys (although she did laugh at me when I said no when she was throwing wooden bricks).

Changed her nappy after snack - it had exploded all over the outer wrapper, so I ended up sluicing everything in the loo and just putting her in cloth nappy with tights over the top - it was only 1/2 hour until her dad came to collect. Must make sure parents bring several cloth nappies, spare wrapper and spare clothes next time. I did text to say if they were going out after collecting from me to bring a spare wrapper but the dad forgot, so he made a temp one using one of my carrier bags - just as well I don't just have cloth bags like they do as that was 2 they have used of mine today as had to put the sluiced out nappies in one too.

Also the Child record form came back (as I had half expected) saying vegetarian, minimal cows milk, sugar and wheat - does anyone have any tasty vegetarian cooked lunch recipes please. (she doesn't have fish either).

[Ripeberry]

Here are some:

Vegetarian kids | BBC Good Food


To be honest, I don't believe in young children being 'made' to be vegetarian. I always think that when they are older and they get their first taste of meat, they will either leave it or go mad for it!

[Maza]

When I had a veggie child I tried to do a different source of protein for each meal (lunch and tea). So, off the top of my head - baked beans, other beans, lentils, cheese, eggs, quorn, tofu, quinoa.

On the other site, there is a yummy recipe for lentil Bolognese - I usually swap the mushrooms for courgettes because I don't like mushrooms.
Jacket potatoes with baked beans and cheese or cottage cheese
Scrambled egg, omelette, quiche, frittata etc - can add chopped veg to all these
Boiled egg and soldiers
Lots of recipes for mixed bean and veg stew or mild chilli with kidney beans
Chilli made with soya /quorn mince, shepherds pie made with soya/quorn mince, lasagne made with soya/quorn mince
I make fajitas and enchiladas using quorn pieces instead of chicken
minestrone soup
lentil and veg soups
Lentil dahl
You could always have some quorn burgers/sausages/nuggets etc in the freezer for when the others are having a meat and two veg type of dinner.
With quinoa I used to treat it as rice/risotto and add loads of mixed veg and stock.

Annabel Karmel has a lovely recipe for lentils and golden veg soup - all my mindees and hubby love that one. She also has a nice recipe for pasta sauce with hidden veg with mascarpone cheese.

On the days when I had my veggie child we would all eat veggie meals but if you have the child full time you might want to cook a couple of meals and freeze them in small servings. You don't have to make it complicated - mine used to love cottage cheese wraps and bean and cheese toasties. You could also buy quorn slices of ham/chicken/turkey to make sandwiches but I don't know if you can freeze it so I would only buy it if you or other children will eat it.

Couldren (sp) tofu is lovely. We buy the marinated pieces and add it to Thai curries and stir fries. I also buy the smoked tofu with sesame seeds and we eat it as snacks or I would give a child slices/cubes of it if they were having a meal which didn't contain any protein, such as veg soups.

Children tend to like butter beans and my DD loves puy lentils made with chopped onion, garlic and stock. You can also chuck in carrots, courgettes etc.
When we eat out at a local Indian restaurant DD always loves a spicy chick pea dish. I've never tried to make it but there must be loads of chick pea recipes out there. x

[hectors house]

When I had a veggie child I tried to do a different source of protein for each meal (lunch and tea). So, off the top of my head - baked beans, other beans, lentils, cheese, eggs, quorn, tofu, quinoa.

On the other site, there is a yummy recipe for lentil Bolognese - I usually swap the mushrooms for courgettes because I don't like mushrooms.
Jacket potatoes with baked beans and cheese or cottage cheese
Scrambled egg, omelette, quiche, frittata etc - can add chopped veg to all these
Boiled egg and soldiers
Lots of recipes for mixed bean and veg stew or mild chilli with kidney beans
Chilli made with soya /quorn mince, shepherds pie made with soya/quorn mince, lasagne made with soya/quorn mince
I make fajitas and enchiladas using quorn pieces instead of chicken
minestrone soup
lentil and veg soups
Lentil dahl
You could always have some quorn burgers/sausages/nuggets etc in the freezer for when the others are having a meat and two veg type of dinner.
With quinoa I used to treat it as rice/risotto and add loads of mixed veg and stock.

Annabel Karmel has a lovely recipe for lentils and golden veg soup - all my mindees and hubby love that one. She also has a nice recipe for pasta sauce with hidden veg with mascarpone cheese.

On the days when I had my veggie child we would all eat veggie meals but if you have the child full time you might want to cook a couple of meals and freeze them in small servings. You don't have to make it complicated - mine used to love cottage cheese wraps and bean and cheese toasties. You could also buy quorn slices of ham/chicken/turkey to make sandwiches but I don't know if you can freeze it so I would only buy it if you or other children will eat it.

Couldren (sp) tofu is lovely. We buy the marinated pieces and add it to Thai curries and stir fries. I also buy the smoked tofu with sesame seeds and we eat it as snacks or I would give a child slices/cubes of it if they were having a meal which didn't contain any protein, such as veg soups.

Children tend to like butter beans and my DD loves puy lentils made with chopped onion, garlic and stock. You can also chuck in carrots, courgettes etc.
When we eat out at a local Indian restaurant DD always loves a spicy chick pea dish. I've never tried to make it but there must be loads of chick pea recipes out there. x

Thank you so much for such a lot of recipes - luckily I will only have the lo for 2 days a week, so hopefully can find something that the others will eat also. I will check to see if any of the other children have previously had Quorn as many years ago when my middle daughter dabbled with going veggie we discovered that she was very intolerant to it and each time she ate it she was violently sick.

I'm so bad at vegetarian recipes that once when we had friends come for a meal with their vegetarian teenager, I thought I had done a great job with my vegetable quiche - it wasn't until several weeks later that i realised I made the pastry with lard (same as I always do), completely forgetting that lard is ANIMAL FAT!

[yummyripples]

Minestrone soup with garlic bread

[Maza]

Thank you so much for such a lot of recipes - luckily I will only have the lo for 2 days a week, so hopefully can find something that the others will eat also. I will check to see if any of the other children have previously had Quorn as many years ago when my middle daughter dabbled with going veggie we discovered that she was very intolerant to it and each time she ate it she was violently sick.

I'm so bad at vegetarian recipes that once when we had friends come for a meal with their vegetarian teenager, I thought I had done a great job with my vegetable quiche - it wasn't until several weeks later that i realised I made the pastry with lard (same as I always do), completely forgetting that lard is ANIMAL FAT!

Are they vegan? I was a veggie for about 14 years and I didn't mind things like lard, gelatin, or if my eggs were cooked in the same pan as someone's bacon etc. I just didn't want to chew meat. It's best to speak in detail with the parents about how strict they are. Quorn and tofu are heavily processed and so not everyone likes to eat them. I think I remember you saying something about quorn on a thread ages ago. Do you know what it was in it that made your DD sick? x

[HTSMumma]

Here are some: Vegetarian kids | BBC Good Food To be honest, I don't believe in young children being 'made' to be vegetarian. I always think that when they are older and they get their first taste of meat, they will either leave it or go mad for it!

As a mother of three children who were 'made' vegetarians, I find this comment very ignorant.
My children were born into a healthy, realistic lifestyle of good, homemade, healthy cooking. I denied them nothing bar eating anything that had a face.
Just like a child 'made' to eat meat in their early years, we all make choices for our children, including what they eat and do not eat. I would never put animal flesh in my body, so why would I do that to my children? It seems absurd to me that I would spend my life not eating animals to then go and make my children meat eaters. My parents 'made' (this is making me laugh!!) me a vegetarian and I thank them for it.
At the age of 13, my son decided he wanted to try meat (just as some children decide they want to give it up). It was his choice, I helped him with his decision and now he eats meat. My daughter is still a vegetarian and has no desire to eat meat.
We all have to make choices for our children when they're young, there's no other way. Some children are brought up surrounded in religion, some are not given sweets or chocolate and are given a low sugar/dairy/whatever diet and some are not exposed to television. We make decisions for our children based on what we know and what we believe in. Suggesting that a mother and father deciding to bring up a child as vegetarian is wrong is very damaging.
Ripeberry, I hope, as a childminder, your comments were just off the cuff and you don't truly believe your statement. As a group of professionals who must promote equality and diversity, as well as accept all children regardless of their beliefs (or parent's beliefs), I hope you will happily accept a vegetarian child into your setting and promote their diet as a healthy lifestyle to others. Providing their diet is healthy of course. You can get unhealthy vegetarians, just like you can get unhealthy meat eaters. Although the former is slightly rarer.

To the OP: Carol Timperley is a vegetarian version of Annabel Karmel. She has a book called Baby & Child Vegetarian Recipes. It's a great starter book and she talks a lot at the beginning on why it is more than acceptable to bring up a child as a vegetarian.

[natlou82]

Thanks Maza as your list is also helpful to me. I look after 2 vegetarian siblings and want to offer more variety. To give some advice to OP I chose to offer vegetarian meals to everyone on the days the siblings attend as it is much easier making one batch of Spaghetti Bolognese / Lasagne etc - it goes down fine with all of the children the only problem I had it that me and my husband can't stand quorn so I still make a separate meal for us (on quorn days).

[hectors house]

Are they vegan? I was a veggie for about 14 years and I didn't mind things like lard, gelatin, or if my eggs were cooked in the same pan as someone's bacon etc. I just didn't want to chew meat. It's best to speak in detail with the parents about how strict they are. Quorn and tofu are heavily processed and so not everyone likes to eat them. I think I remember you saying something about quorn on a thread ages ago. Do you know what it was in it that made your DD sick? x

No they aren't vegan as they do have goats/cows milk and I know they have their own hens. I will definitely have to get into the "nitty gritty" of what they do and don't eat.

I have just looked up "quorn" + "intolerances" and found this useful information that may shed some light on my daughter being so sick after eating it - according to this info 10% of people can't tolerate it. Mycoprotein Side Effects and Quorn Allergy Symptoms

[VeggieSausage]

We are a vegetarian and vegan family and my 7 year old is vegetarian and I only serve veggie food to my families - they all love it. We have:

Jacket potatoes with fillings
Omelettes
Beans on toast
Sandwiches and toasties
Home made soups and bean stews
Veggie bolognese
Sausage and bean stew
Loads of chopped fruit
Rice and stir fries
Noodles and stir fries
Pitta pizza's
Hummus and chopped fruit and veg
Lentil bake
Butternut squash bake - roast squash, mash it, mix with sauted onions and any other veg and bake
Gluten free pasta
Sacla do dairy free pesto

All the children I care for eat really well and parents love how they eat such a wide variety of foods.....

[hectors house]

We are a vegetarian and vegan family and my 7 year old is vegetarian and I only serve veggie food to my families - they all love it. We have:

Jacket potatoes with fillings
Omelettes
Beans on toast
Sandwiches and toasties
Home made soups and bean stews
Veggie bolognese
Sausage and bean stew
Loads of chopped fruit
Rice and stir fries
Noodles and stir fries
Pitta pizza's
Hummus and chopped fruit and veg
Lentil bake
Butternut squash bake - roast squash, mash it, mix with sauted onions and any other veg and bake
Gluten free pasta
Sacla do dairy free pesto

All the children I care for eat really well and parents love how they eat such a wide variety of foods.....

Thank you everyone for all the fantastic ideas - the mum has now decided that when child starts coming whole days that she will bring her own meals, but I think I may introduce a meat free day once a week and am looking forward to trying some of the meal ideas you have all come up with.

[Maza]

Oh well, it will be interesting to see what she brings in - it could give you ideas for future mindees. Or mum might get tired of preparing meals to send in once she is working, I know I would. Then at least you will have a clear idea of exactly what she eats. x