Those who are vegetarians and raising your kids as veggies, what kinds of food do you feed them?!
I'm wondering what other people following a similar diet eat at their house and what they feed their kids. Maybe I can pick up some new ideas for my son to try.
Answers: I'm a vegetarian and have raised my son this way and plan to always do so (my daughter as well at least while she's at my house). My son is getting a little bored with the selection of foods they give him at his daycare (they have a lot of meat based entrees so they substitute pb&j or grilled cheese sandwiches a lot which he is getting tired of). I sent some vegetable soup, spaghetti-o's and cheese raviolis for his main course to see if that helps. At my house we eat a lot of pasta (and veggies). We are not vegan so we eat cheese and he drinks milk.
I'm wondering what other people following a similar diet eat at their house and what they feed their kids. Maybe I can pick up some new ideas for my son to try.
I don't drink milk or eat eggs... and I'm also only thirteen, hahah, but I can give you some ideas for your young son!
Breakfasts:
- Pancakes
- Waffles
- Scrambled tofu (lots of good recipes out there!)
- Cold cereals (Kashi, Food For Life, EnviroKids, etc.)
- Bagels with Tofutti cream cheese
- Fresh fruit
- Nonfat or soy yogurt
- Oatmeal
Lunch:
- Pita pizzas with soy cheese and veggies
- Vegetable stir-fry with tofu or seitan
- BBQ tempeh sandwich
- "Tofu nuggets"
- Vegan hot dogs
- Bean burritos
- Pasta with veggies and marinara
- Vegetable or lentil soups
- Hummus with pita chips and raw veggies
- AB&J, almond butter and jelly sandwich
- Falafel
- Veggie burgers
- Mac & Soy Cheese
- Tofurky wraps or sandwich bites
- Raw veggies and dip
- Apple slices
- Grapes
- Applesauce
- Soy pudding (for dessert)
- Granola Bars
There are a lot of options out there!
Diet Plans for Vegan Children
TODDLERS AND PRESCHOOLERS (AGE 1-3)
FOOD GROUP NUMBER OF SERVINGS
GRAINS 6 or more (a serving is 1/2 to 1 slice of bread or 1/4 to 1/2 cup cooked cereal or grain or pasta or 1/2 to 1 cup ready-to-eat cereal)
LEGUMES, NUTS, SEEDS 2 or more (a serving is 1/4 to 1/2 cup cooked beans, tofu, tempeh or TVP; or 1-1/2 to 3 ounces of meat analogue; or 1 to 2 Tbsp. nuts, seeds, nut or seed butter
FORTIFIED SOYMILK, ETC 3 (a serving is 1 cup fortified soymilk, infant formula, or breast milk)
VEGETABLES 2 or more (a serving is 1/4 to 1/2 cup cooked or 1/2 to 1 cup raw vegetables)
FRUITS 3 or more (a serving is 1/4 to 1/2 cup canned fruit or 1/2 cup juice, or 1 medium fruit)
FATS 3 (1 tsp. margarine or oil) (use 1/2 tsp. flaxseed oil or 2 tsp. canola oil daily to supply omega-3 fatty acids)
CHILDREN (AGE 4-13)
FOOD GROUP NUMBER OF SERVINGS
GRAINS 8 or more for 4 to 8 yr olds; 10 or more for 9 to 13 yr olds
PROTEIN FOODS 5 or more for 4 to 8 yr olds; 6 or more for 9 to 13 yr olds
VEGETABLES 4 or more
FRUITS 2 or more
FATS 2 or more for 4 to 8 yr olds; 3 or more for 9 to 13 yr olds
OMEGA-3 FATS 1 per day
STARRED FOOD ITEMS 6 or more for 4 to 8 yr olds; 10 or more for 9 to 13 yr olds
We are raising our daughter veggie as well. She's 19 months, so at this point she is eating pretty much whatever we eat. There's an infinite number of vegetarian sandwiches you can make. My daughter really loves flavoured baked tofu and tofu hot dogs.
Squash, potatoes, beans and lentils are all staples. A nice acorn squash or sweet potatoe is really great for the main meal.....Cheese and crackers, yogurt, salad's. This is what we eat alot of, on a vegetarian diet.
I m vegetarian. I suggest if ur children are in between 7-15, you should try to cook "simple khichdi", simple omlet/bread with salt only or an omlet with onion/tomato/chilli/salt or anything else u wanna add in it, . It's very easy to cook simple khichdi. For taste before u like it, u need to boil one cup of rice with 3 spoons of tuver daal in it ( u can buy tuver daal from any Indian grocery store or any farmer market and also can buy more veggie items for ur family).
Now to cook khichdi, u can use any small/big pot to boil rice and tuver daal. Before u boil rice-tuver daal, add salt as needed and mustard powder(just half of small spoon) in it. It will take about 20 minutes to boil it. Now u have simple khichdi ready. U can feed it to ur kids with yogurt or buttermilk or milk.
Try it sometimes, I and other vegetarian kids grew up eating simple khichdi in my country. It is really easy to digest and 100% healthy.
Hope this helps!!!
It can get dull...true...yesterday in despair I made a spinach, carrot, mushroom, garlic and onion stir fry and we ate it over buttered grits...and that is how I come up with new things...just by tinkering around...can you make a vegetarian fried rice or noodle dish and send some leftovers to your child's school? That they could warm up? I used to send my daughter to school with an empty pita and a lunchbox full of different raw vegetables...she would stuff the pita and eat...she loved it...
rebel try
tomatos or tomatos
potatos or potatos
Here are some awesome ideas for kids in your vegetarian kitchen. They love cooking with you, so get him involved! Remembering my own introduction to the joys of preparing food for the family as a child, I invited my sons to continue the tradition. The result? My own boys as well as their sons, are all skilled artisans in the kitchen and have never been at a loss when faced with the need or the desire to prepare a meal.
Whether over a camp fire or in your vegetarian kitchen, kids cooking can develop life skills that are both fun and pretty important as well. Such adventures in kids culinary adventures also provide you with wonderful opportunities for quality time with them and many treasures for the family memory books.
Here are several ideas to spark your own inventiveness and theirs, in your vegetarian kitchen.
Shaken Butter
The very first thing I would have the little ones learn to do as you invite them to explore kids cookin’ in your vegetarian kitchen, is to make shaken butter.
Put icy cold heavy whipping cream in a scrupulously clean jar. Have the children sit in a circle on the floor, passing the jar to their left as each of them shake it as hard as they can for a short time. You can have them pass the jar on cue; like on a line in a song they are singing: “Shake the jar in the morning, shake the jar at night, shake the jar and make the butter shake, shake, shake! Pass!” In short order the cream becomes solidified and butter is produced. Strain out the butter milk into a glass with a slotted spoon. Serve a tiny bit of the butter to each of them on fresh bread or crackers. Allow the brave among them to taste the butter milk which you pour into tiny one ounce paper cups.
Three Bears Porridge with Honey
When introducing the kids to cooking in your vegetarian kitchen a ‘do ahead breakfast’ that is ready when they are is a sure winner. Here is a crock pot porridge good enough to make Goldilocks and the three bears sit up and take notice.
Put 3 cups of RO Water in your crock pot along with ? Cup Irish Oats and 1 tsp. Sea Salt.
Set on low and go to bed.
In the morning you will find perfect porridge awaiting you, your honey bear and your soy milk! And maybe a tiny bit of their Shaken Butter. For a special treat add some sliced fresh peaches, or bananas, or ripe berries! Yum!
Eggless Banana Pancakes with Pineapple Smiles
Whip up one overly ripe Banana with 1 Cup Soy Milk and ? tsp Frontier Herb Co’s Alcohol Free Vanilla. Add 2 tsp. Rumford Aluminum Free Baking Powder, 2 Tbs. Spectrum Naturals Unrefined Corn Oil, 1 tsp. Sea Salt and 2 Cups White Whole Wheat Flour; mixing thoroughly. Scoop batter with an ice cream scoop and pour onto a well seasoned, oiled griddle. Bake until the top of the pancake is perforated with tiny holes and appears to be dry. Turn over and bake the other side. Plate.
Place a half slice of pineapple on the pancake like a happy smile and put the two halves of a Maraschino Cherry above the pineapple smile for eyes. Serve with Real Maple Syrup! Yum!
Pasta Tescino
Cook your favorite shape of pasta and give it this amazing quick and easy sauce:
Saute 1 package sliced Mushrooms with fresh garlic and butter or Olive Oil
1 package of Boursin Cheese
1 Cup Hot Water or No-Chicken Stock
Pour over the pasta
Garnish with fresh herbs.
Creamy Tomato Pasta
Saute 1 package sliced Mushrooms with fresh garlic and butter or Olive Oil
Melt in
1 package of Fresh Goat Cheese Cheese 4 oz.
1 Jar Marinara Sauce
Pour over the pasta
Serve with Grated Parmesan
Garnish with fresh herbs Basil, Marjoram, Thyme
Melon Boats with Papaya Balls
Quarter ripe melons and scoop out the seeds throwing them away. Place the melon quarters on a sea of fresh Green Leaf Lettuce.
Cut the Ripe Papaya in half and scoop out the seeds throwing them away too. Using a melon baller, scoop out Papaya balls from ripe Papaya halves and pile them into the melon quarters. Raise a mast using a Belmont Cream Wafer Rolls. Anchors Aweigh! Yum!
Scrambled Tofu with Toast Points
When kids are cookin’ and its time for breakfast in your vegetarian kitchen, this hearty meal will prepare them for a full day of play or sports. You’ll enjoy it too!
In a fry pan put 2 Tbs. Canola Oil.
1 Tbs. Turmeric
1 tsp. Sea Salt
1 pinch Black Salt (available in Indian Grocery Stores) optional
Crumble 1 block of Tofu into the pan and stir until heated through in the heated spiced oil watching it turn a golden yellow!
Add a Sprinkle of Bell’s Poultry Seasoning Herbs
Serve with buttered toast, cut on the diagonal and stacked overlapping each other on the side of the plate so they look like a mountain range. Serve with Ketchup on the table for the Scrambled Tofu and Orange Marmalade for the Toast. Yum!
Chocolate Protein Shake with Berries
For a balanced protein packed breakfast try this delicious treat when kids are cookin’ in your vegetarian kitchen. This is so easy to do and so delicious the kids won’t even realize that they have just enjoyed a fabulous balanced meal that will keep their little bodies and brains well nourished until lunch time.
In your blender put four ice cubes.
1 Scoop Isalean Chocolate Shake
? Cup. Frozen Strawberries
4 Oz. cold R.O. Water
Buzz up until thick and frothy. Pour into a tall glass and drink down within ten minutes! Yummy!
Isalean Shakes are available at www.bettesos.isagenix.com
Bearwiches
Whimsical bear shaped sandwiches make lunch time fun when kids are cookin’ in your vegetarian kitchen.
Cut slices of your favorite bread with bear shaped cookie cutters. Use your favorite sandwich spread for a filling. Put the together.
Serve with chips and a pickle – unless you used PB&J!
Variations on the Theme:
Use differently shaped cookie cutters.
Oh, what do you do with the crusts and the rest of the slice of bread you cut the shapes from? Ah, make Bread Pudding!
Eggless Honey Bread Pudding
Preheat oven 350o
This is a sweet pudding that is easy to make when kids are cookin’ in your vegetarian kitchen. Use all the scraps from the Bearwiches cutting them into small cubes. You will need about 2 Cups of Bread Cubes. Put them in a well buttered 2 quart baking dish.
Scald 1 Quart of Milk. Put Milk in a sauce pan and heat it over low heat until a thin skin forms on top.
Mix the milk together with ? Cup Honey and 4 Tbs. Butter.
Allow to cool to lukewarm.
Mix together:
4 Tbs. Ener-G Egg Replacer
1? Tbs. of Flour
? tsp. Sea Salt
1 tsp. Frontier Herb Co. Organic Alcohol Free Vanilla Extract.
1 Tsp. Frontier Herb Co. Ground Organic Cinnamon
Using a wire whisk slowly stir the dry ingredients into the lukewarm milk, butter and honey mixture.
Pour it over the bread cubes, mixing well.
Add 1 Cup Sultana Raisins.
Stir thoroughly.
Bake in a moderate oven 350o for half an hour.
Serve warm with Sweet Cream poured over the top or a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream. Yum!
Pups in Blankets
Here is a simple, traditional fun filled way to prepare and enjoy Tofu Pups when kids are cookin’ in your vegetarian kitchen. You can use prepared biscuits from the grocery store if you like, or you can have the kids prepare the biscuits too. They are fun to roll out and to cut out as well as to wrap around the Tofu Pups!
Eggless Biscuit Dough
Eggless Biscuits are quick, easy and fun to bake in your vegetarian kitchen when kids are cookin’. They enjoy rolling out the dough and cutting out the circular shapes.
Here’s how. In your food processor put:
2 cups of Unbleached White Flour
? tsp Sea Salt
4 tsp Rumford Aluminum Free Baking Powder
1 Tbs Honey or Organic Turbinado Sugar
? Stick Butter or Soy Margarine
Process until the butter is well incorporated.
Slowly add 2/3 Cup of 2% Milk or Soy Milk.
When it forms a ball turn out onto a floured board and knead gently. Roll out with a rolling pin to a thickness of ?”. Cut out biscuits with a biscuit cutter.
Proceed as below.
For a Cheesy Pups in Blankets variation on the theme,
add ? Cup shredded Cheddar Cheese to the biscuit dough.
Pups in Blankets (continued)
Spread unbaked cut out biscuit dough with your favorite mustard.
Wrap Tofu Pups around their middles in the biscuits.
Place on baking sheet.
Bake at 350o for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown.
Serve with Boston Baked Beans and Potato Salad.
Oh my! That’s an awesome supper for a summer night on the patio!
Pizza Puffs
When its pajama party time and the kids are clamoring for something fun to do and something fun to eat in your vegetarian kitchen– this is a sure winner every time.
Preheat oven to 425o
Cut your favorite bread with a biscuit cutter into circles.
Spread half of the circles with 1 Tbs. Tomato Sauce
Top with 1 Tbs shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Make Cheesy Garlic Spread
In a blender process 1 clove fresh garlic with a ? Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil and ? Cup grated cheese.
Spread on the other half of 5 the bread circles
Place on the tomato cheese slices – sandwich style.
Place them on a cookie sheet and bake until golden and puffed to 7 minutes.
Serve with a green salad tossed with Italian Olive Oil, Vinegar and Garlic Dressing. Yum!
Cheese Logs and Apple Slices
Kids snack time? Try this simple and easy to prepare treat when kids are cookin’ in your vegetarian kitchen.
Cut an 8 oz package of Cream Cheese into 8 equal pieces the short way (Cut the package in half and in half again; and then cut it crosswise so that you have 8 equal sized pieces. Roll each “log” in ground Almond Meal. Plate and refrigerate. Serve each 2 of them with several wedges of crisp, cold Cortland or Macintosh Apples. Yum!
Cheese Dreams
When kids are cookin’ in your vegetarian kitchen and it is time for an exceptionally delicious open faced hot sandwich, t
Come on, buy him some organic meat or something. If he wants to be vegetarian he'll make this choice on his own :)