Toddler moving from vegan to veggie - where to start?

[BabCNesbitt]

DD is 22 months, and she's been vegan since starting solids (I'm vegan, DH is vegetarian). We discovered last year that she had a severe nut allergy and a less severe lentil allergy, which ruled out two main vegan protein sources. She does enjoy eating tofu, edamame, peas and sunflower seed butter, but she refuses to eat many other beans (she's the only toddler I've ever known who refuses houmous!).

I've been worrying about being able to plan meals for her with enough calcium, fat and protein, and so I've been considering giving her some (as ethical as possible) eggs and dairy. But as I'm vegan, I've no idea what would be the best way to do this, or how much would be an appropriate amount for a child of her age. Can anyone give me some suggestions? Thanks!

[looseleaf]

Our son is 24 months and loves scrambled or boiled eggs which is an easy place to start.
Our children like those seed snacks (seeds sold in pots with a savoury coating but you could make your own more cheaply). Seeds are Packed with nutrients.
Re calcium, our DC are dairy-free forays intolerant and I try to give them leafy veg (they won't eat it so I have to chop it up and hide it in bolognaise or soup).

Are all nuts bad for your DC as I think almond or almond butter unite good for calcium? Sorry if that's no good.

Ours have a multivitamin too and fish oil but we're not vegetarian. I'd guess healthy fats are important if not eating fish so maybe add a bit of olive oil to things or find out about other oils like flaxseed I know nothing about!

[BabCNesbitt]

Well, we don't know if she's allergic to all nuts as we don't know what they tested for (it was in the US) so we're playing safe for now. She's uncannily good at finding any bits of green veg we've tried to sneak into sauces so far, but will try blending them up in soups once the weather cools down a bit!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Eggy bread and cheese on toast seem to be universal toddler favourites.

[blueberryboybait]

What about pesto? We make salsa verde for ours with no pine nuts but quite a bit of parmesan. I add baby spinach to ours and the flavour of the basil and parsley just cover it.

[nextphase]

I'd start with one egg, although mine will get through 1.5 each (3 between them) and still ask for more.

Eggy bread (soak slightly stale bread in a beaten egg, and then fry in butter or oil on both sides)

Egg and cress sandwiches are a firm favourite here, and perhaps more weather appropriate! Boiled (with soft yolks as a preference for mine but I'd make sure they are hard boiled to start with), scrambled and poached all popular here.

Cheese - a match box sized chunk, or thin layer of soft cheese on a wrap. Mine like grated cheese and carrot mixed together in a sandwich, with some raisins scattered in. Blending cheese with carrot might dilute the change for your LO.

[nextphase]

Oh, and the only way they eat green things like cress and lettuce is if they grow them at home!

[BabCNesbitt]

Thanks for the suggestions! It sounds absurd that I'm having to learn how to make something as simple as eggy bread, but it's just not something I've ever had to do!

[WilsonFrickett]

If she has a distrust of the green veg, try green pasta:

Boil up pasta, adding broccoli florets just at the end of cooking.
Drain, then blitz the broccoli (or mash it with a fork)
Add back to the pasta with a good dollop of pesto. I add butter and cream cheese for extra calories for my rake of a DS, there is protein in cream cheese. Or you can leave that bit out. Mix it all up.

DS is the fussiest child in the world, but this is his favourite food.

[hazelnutlatte]

you can get plenty of calcium into honemade pesto - use spinach or watercress instead of basil (or even kale, but this will need to be cooked first). Then lots of garlic, olive oil and parmesan, and if pine nuts are a no go you could add some breadcrumbs instead. To up the dairy content even more you can mix it with a bit of soft cheese when adding to pasta.

[Drladybird]

You can get seed spreads if not allergic so you could try tahini or pumpkin seed butter? As mentioned above, these are great sources of protein and other stuff. I love tahini and honey as a flavour and basis for sweet but relatively more healthy snacks. If your DD is eating honey then you could try something like these rice crispy cakes

You could also choose specific grains such as quinoa and millet which are higher in protein and other minerals.

What about a macaroni cheese with kale or similar? My veggie daughter loves it and you can sneak in lots of good things.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Its not absurd or all. I don't eat cheese or eggs as I've never been keen, can distinctly remember phoning up my auntie (per MN) to ask how to make cheese on toast for DS

You are not alone.

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

If you are worried about ethics do you have a local farm shop where you could buy proper free range eggs from chickens you can see are well looked after?

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Forgot to add, do you honk she would like these? Think they are freezable too and mine loved Cheese Straws as a snack with some fruit

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Honk? Honk? Where did that come from? Think obviously. Don't know whether to blame that one on the ipad or the

[BabCNesbitt]

Wheresmycaffeinedrip, the place we're moving to in a couple of weeks has places where I could get eggs like this. I still have major issues with other aspects of it, but I'm going to let DD decide when she's older if she wants to carry on eating them.

Drladybird, DD already likes a vegan macaroni and "cheese" I make with nutritional yeast, so I imagine getting her to eat a cheesy version won't be a stretch

JJJ, thanks for the links. I'm rarely organised enough to get around to doing any baking like that, but hopefully once we get settled in the new place, I could give it a try :)