Very fussy 5 year old eater - help please maybe from vegetarians?

[goingbacktowork]

We are not vegetarians. My nearly 6 year old daughter has over the last year got more and more fussy with eating. She never really likes meat (she maybe eat the odd shepherds pie) but now on finding out that fishfingers contain real fish she will not eat them. Today it no more milk as it comes from cows. I am concerned that she will get protein deficient. She does not want a snack for school now and today had yorkshire pudding and cheese for lunch at school! Does anyone have any suggestions of what to give her? I do not know even how much protein/fat a child needs. Are there any sites aimed at veggie kids as I thought they might have some pointers. Any suggestions welcome

The following go down well in our house:

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7192/gnocchi-and-tomato-bake

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/11689/bbq-beans-with-mashed-potato-tops (we miss the bacon out)

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4382/veggie-shepherds-pie-with-sweet-potato-mash

I should add that we're not vegetarian but we eat quite a lot of vegetarian dishes. make sure she eats lots of pulses

It is going to be very difficult as she is so fussy now. The diet is literally down to some breakfast cereals, jaffa cakes, tomato soup, peppers, some fruit, the pastry from sausage rolls, chips, mashed potato and occasional chips. She will not try anything new.

I'm not veggie either, but my daughter (age 4) is. It is quite possible to give a veggie/vegan child a healthy diet, but you may have to adapt your usual cooking. (Some people will tell you to tough it out and just give her what you eat, but I'm pretty sure my DD wouldn't crack!)
If she likes shepherds pie, you can easily make an alternative to the meat filling using beans or lentils instead of mince. Does she like pasta? Lots of easy veggie friendly toppings that everyone could eat - tomato sauce, pesto etc.
For easy quick meals, you can get quorn and soya alternatives - like veggie sausages/nuggets etc. But I think you do need to have a serious chat with her and explain that whilst she may not want to eat these foods, instead she must eat other things, like lentils, beans and more veg.
My DD is also happy to eat things like hummous and falafel - I've just got the Rose Elliot 'bean book' cookery book (as recommended by veggie chums). I tend to cook up a big batch of something and freeze it in individual portions so it's not that big a deal to put a meal together.
No milk? - perhaps try her with a rice or soya alternative. But if she is still eating cheese and yogurt I wouldn't worry too much about missing the milk out. Will she still eat things made with milk - like rice pudding?

Not sure. She did eat a bit of custard tonight. I am not sure she will eat pulses though. It is no just that she does not like the meat she is a fussy eater too. I am very happy to cook what she wants it is just that we get a lot of "I don't want anything" nowadays. Maybe I will contact veg society to see if they have any special books for veggie kids etc.

Lentils and small beans (like aduki) are about the size of mince and are a much softer less chewy texture than meat.
Pizza?
Egg?

I also find with DD and my DSD that they don't like food 'mixed up' and like simple, plainly cooked and presented food. For example DD would turn her nose up at a Spanish Omelette, but will happily eat scrambled eggs with potato and salad (not tomato) on the side.

no to most pizza as she does not like "melted" cheese
no to eggs.

I do like the idea of "basic" food though - she can tell what the food is and I think more chance of her trying it.

The other thing I've found that sort of helps, is to only introduce new foods that are similar to something they already like, for example most fussy eaters seem to like dry crunchy foods - like bread sticks, crackers etc so I'd try adding something similar like ryvita/oat cakes. This kind of approach has helped my DD be more confident in trying new foods, she knows I'm not going to spring anything too radical on her plus we have an agreement that if she doesn't like something, that is fine, and she doesn't have to eat much of it, but it's good to try new foods as you find things that you like. My DD is very wary of sauces and only really likes home made tomato sauce, but will not eat ketchup, she also won't eat melted cheese (so doesn't eat pizza either).

Have you tried Quorn? Easy to substitute for meat and that way she can eat the same as you and no worries on the protein front.

you can add milk and butter to mash potatoes
you can grate cheese (e.g. cheddar) to hot pasta shapes plus a little bit of butter

My DS is fussy but he does not notice cheddar in pasta. Some cheddars might smell.

You can cook lentil soup (or rice soup) with chicken stock. Do not show her the chicken.

The same about fish soup. Sea bus is good; does not smell. Do not show her the fish.
Soups are good because if the kids do not eat meat or fish they still get benefits from the vegetables, pulses, grains and the stock.

How about wholegrain cereals adding to her diet?

Dont ask her to Try anything, make her the same thing day in day out but cook nice stuff for the rest of you, one day she will just ask if she can have a taste, let her and leave it at that, dont make a big deal of her or tell her she is good for trying, just dont say anything, this can take weeks but i would give it a go, just be ready to stick with it and get everyone else on board.

If she likes yogurt, could you make her a smoothie? Greek yogurt has lots of protein.

Peanut butter and jelly?