Veggie teen help

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I am at the end of my thether (sp!) with ds2 (14) he decided before Christmas that he wants to be a vegetarian. We wholeheartedly support. Initially he was liking quorn chilli etc which made it dead easy to adapt our normal family meals.

I work shifts so was on a series of late shifts and my dh just seemed to want an easy option and just let him have ready meals, toasties and processed stuff. (I’m livid!).

I’m now trying to get him to have more proper meals but he just seems to want processed junk. He seems to have gone off quorn and the only thing he likes is macaroni cheese. No a massive fan of vegetables.

No eating issues, I don’t think unless an avoidance of press unprocessed food is
one.

Anyone any ideas of recipes? I have said straight home from school today and we will go shopping and make something together.

Thanks

Jamie Oliver quick bean chilli which you can turn into burritos with some salad stuffed in. Can also add some sweet corn even courgette cut small to the chilli itself to up veg content. Whack on some cheese too. Can bulk out with rice if he has a big appetite

If he's going veggie he definitely needs to be eating vegetables.
Butternut squash or Cauliflower is nice in macaroni cheese. Does he like a tomato sauce with pasta too? He could make a big batch to freeze and put red lentils in and simmer for a couple of hours. They only need 20 minutes or so but it's much nicer after a long simmer, nicer than Quorn mince too.
He could also try making falafel and hummus. If you use dried chickpeas they have to be soaked overnight.

I stopped eating meat at a similar age but I'd always eaten most vegetables so there wasn't too much of a problem. He will need to experiment with different ways of preparing them and hiding them in things - frozen chopped spinach added to a sauce is hardly noticeable for example.

If he is old enough to make this kind of decision, then he is also old enough to understand the importance of a healthy diet, especially vegetables in a vegetarian diet.

Sam Stern (teenage chef) has a vegetarian cook book. What veg does he like / what ready meals? Use this to search for recipes.

My teens (one vegetarian, one not) favourites are butternut, chickpea and spinach curry, fake mince with courgette, peppers , courgette, black beans and sweet corn cooked in tomato sauce and Moroccan spice. Macaroni cheese served with peas and sweetcorn. Egg fried rice with chopped veg. Homemade veg burgers.

There is some much you can do with veg and that’s what make a vegetarian diet so exciting.

Also have a look at 10 a day the easy way by James Wong

This butternut squash & lentil soup is really nice, I add 2 or 3 carrots to recipe too, that recipe makes enough for 5/6portions, could have some toasted pitta bread with it. It freezes really well too

www.itv.com/lorraine/living-to-the-max/sallys-butternut-squash-and-red-lentil-soup

Linda McCartney veggie sausages are nice, we have a big Iceland near us and they do lots of veggie/vegan options.
Obviously not as fresh as you would like but more veg content in some of the things.

Ideally I would say look for recipes that you can freeze, if you do an afternoon of batch cooking and it’s only him that eats those meals then they should last a while.

Is he just veggie or vegan? If just veggie and he eats eggs then maybe he could make scrambled egg on toast/omelette.

The only other thing I would say is that maybe he’s choosing the Mac n cheese ready type meals because of convenience, maybe encourage him to drink more if he doesn’t so that he’s not so ravenous and can take the time to make something proper

a better mince substitute is puy or brown lentils, you can buy them in pouches and use them just like mince.

We use Sainsbo's veggie sausages (frozen)

Do different curry and pasta dishes, and risottos.

Soups

Thanks guys!

Trying a lentil dhal tonight with mash on top!