Ideas for fussy vegetarian ten year old

[fruitpastille]

So, DS keen to go vege for various reasons. I'm not keen but he is quite stubborn!

He will eat Bolognese, chilli with the meat left out and a few lentils added.

He will eat quorn versions of things like sausages, burgers etc but I would prefer him to eat less processed stuff. Personally I don't like quorn mince.

He already eats houmous sandwiches pretty much every lunch time.

He likes pizza but only margarita. Also baked beans.

He likes nuts and peanut butter but younger child has nut allergy so have to be careful.

He does not like eggs, potatoes (will reluctantly eat though), curry, chick peas and is not that keen on vegetables generally!

He is funny about textures and was a horrendously fussy toddler so I'm frustrated that now he's older and had a reasonable repertoire I'm now struggling again.

Breakfast and lunch is ok but dinner a pain. Any ideas? Help!

[AtleastitsnotMonday]

Are eggs out in any form? So no fritata, quiche, eggy bread? Only ask as they are such a convenient source of protein.
Have you tried him with falafel? Sweet potato ones are really nice.
You say not keen on veg, does that rule out stuffed peppers/courgettes?
Haloumi on skewers
home made veggie or bean burgers, jack monroes carrot, cumin and kidney bean burgers are good.
Puff pastry tomato and mozzarella tart
Spinach and ricotta cannolini
Stuffed mushrooms
Macaroni cheese
Pasta and veg sauce with cheese
Stir fry with tofu

[Chocolatecake12]

My now 10 yr old was veggie for 18 months when he was 7.
I tried to do veggie versions of what we're eating so tofu pieces instead of chicken in stir frys and currys.
I used quorn mince and chicken pieces and some quorn escalopes were nice in place of our chicken breasts.
Homemade veggie burgers we all used to eat.
Pasta with various veggies and homemade veggie sauces and soups we all used to have too.
As he's 10 you can always give him a trial of being veggie for a month and see how his diet is. Or go veggie as a family twice a week as a nod to his preferences.
And if I were you I'd get him involved in the cooking. Making veggie burgers, soups, pasta sauces etc.

[BetsyTheBee]

Pinterest have so many ideas, stuffed pasta shells, kids lentil nuggets, pie fillings the lot.
I like Pinterest to choose new food to try (also a vegetarian) because it has images of what the finished meal should will look like so I can see if I think it looks appetising.

[Twistmeandturnme]

try soya (TVP) mince: slightly less processed than quorn. Otherwise Tofu ( a variety of textures), lentils, peas and beans if he won't go for chickpeas. Have you tried making things with chickpea flour? It's another way to boost protein without the distinctive texture.
Does he like pastry? You can hide a multitude in a pasty!

[fruitpastille]

He definitely won't eat omlette, frittata, quiche. Eggy bread is a good idea as everyone likes that.

He may try a pasty as he likes sausage rolls but not keen on pies/pastry generally.

No way would be eat a stuffed pepper or anything remotely exotic looking. I've tried different falafels with no success.

He has managed a try of halloumi but not big success.

He doesn't like stuffed pasta. He would live on pasta with grated cheese if I let him. He likes familiar plain food not too mixed up or spicy!

He has always been like this. Current vege meals are pizza, pasta (tomato based sauce gets eaten), chilli (mild, meat left out of his portion), bangers (Linda or quorn) mash, beans (he doesn't eat much mash) and vege burgers.

Will check out Pinterest, thanks everyone.

[AtleastitsnotMonday]

Gosh that is quite tricky!
Does he want to go veggie for ethical reasons or does he just not like meat?

[AtleastitsnotMonday]

What vegetables does he like?

[AtleastitsnotMonday]

How about pancakes, you can increase the egg content in place of some of the milk to up the protein.

[Imissmyboy]

I could be your son! His preferences sound a lot like mine. I stopped eating meat at around 6 years old and it was a nightmare for my parents I don't eat Quorn either.
Some ideas:
Beans and cheese on toast
Cheese and onion pie
Pasta with a home made tomato and vegetable ( blended) sauce
Home made veggie burgers
Baked beans and cheese, inside mash potato coated with bread crumbs and grilled.
Cauliflower cheese bake
Spinach and ricotta cannelloni
Gnocchi in a cheese or tomato sauce

[fruitpastille]

Vegetables... Hmmm...
Peas
Carrots
Will force broccoli down
Onions and mushroom when in a sauce
I could put finely chopped spinach in a tomato sauce.
He eats lots of apples, bananas, raisins, strawberries so at least gets some vitamins.

He does like meat annoyingly. He says it's for ethical reasons - meat that had died of natural causes would be ok! I'm not telling him too much about dairy as don't want him to give that up. Probably the main influence is his two close friends who are vegetarian. However they have parents who were mostly vege already so it wasn't too much of a change.

[Fekko]

I'd get some recipe books from the library and let him look through them to see what he likes the look of.

[eyebrowsonfleek]

When my son went veggie he loved chickpea curry, mushroom burgers (from Tesco), falafel.

[GinUser]

OP does your son actually understand what vegetarian means?
Have you shown him the food pyramid and explained that his body is a machine that needs certain fuels to grow well and function healthily?
I would recommend Rose Eliot cookery books for ideas.

[fruitpastille]

Yes he has an idea re nutrition. I think he doesn't see why he can't simply replace meat with quorn alternatives. I need to read up a bit on soy/health plus I must say that I think meat tastes better. I don't really want to make different dishes. As you can see I lack enthusiasm for the whole idea - I'm fed up using mental energy on it really - we were all quite happy with it family meals as they were! On the other hand I can see there are valid reasons for choosing vegetarianism - I wouldn't mind if he would eat some of the delicious ideas above!

[Fekko]

Try recipes that aren't just replacing neat with quorn. They are more interesting and you can't really compare some meat free ingredients with the real thing! Can't the family have some veggie meals during the week? Batch cook and freeze so that you don't need to cook two lots of food.

I'd teach him to cook so that he can try his hand. Pizzas are good to start with.

[Ceic]

I've had great success getting green veg and other things into my fussy DC using a "Sneaky Momma's Tomato Sauce" - I spread it on pizza, chuck in pasta and so on. Got it from "Vegan Lunchbox", a US food blog, and vary it a lot.

We like Swedish/Danish "meatballs" or poppettes - made with red lentils and sometimes spiced with paprika. I got my recipe the "The Green Kitchen" - their "Beet Bourguignon" is also very good.

Instead of quorn mince/chunks, you can get dried soya versions from Holland & Barrett. They will be on the shelf, not the freezer. If nothing else, they are cheaper. The chunks also fry up OK, after rehydrating them.

My DC won't eat curry but loves Mexican.

[BlueMonday17]

Family of four veggies here, kids are lifelong veggies aged 14 and 9.

This sweet potato, lentil and coconut curry works for us: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1555/chicken-sweet-potato-and-coconut-curry We add Quorn pieces or marinated tofu in place of the chicken, and water in place of the chicken stock. I tend to make a big batch and then freeze any leftovers. Have also been known to blend leftovers (with more water) into a soup the next day too. Kids enjoy having the curry with noodles rather than rice, and sprinkled with toasted coconut.

Another favourite is this mushroom bourguignon, served with mashed potato: smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/mushroom-bourguignon/

Good luck and try not to stress too much. I had several attempts at turning vegetarian at age 12, 14 and then finally (for good) at age 17, and I was a really picky eater who hardly ate any vegetables. I must have been a right pain for my Mum! With my own kids I've tried to involve them in cooking so they feel a bit more ownership of the food and are more likely to eat a bigger range of veg. It's still a struggle sometimes though!

[BlueMonday17]

I should also have said that as your DS doesn't like curry, try what I did with the sweet potato curry above - make it really mild and don't call it curry. For years it was known in our house as 'Mulan casserole' as we had it with noodles, and DS1 was keen on the Disney film at the time.