Vegan dinners children will eat

[LadyGooGoo]

i am currently in the process to switching to a vegan diet, but am struggling with cooking multiple dishes in the evening. So I was wondering if there are any vegans around with ideas as to vegan friendly dishes my young children will love.

They are not a fan of spicy food so my spinach and chickpea curry and chilli went down like lead balloons!

Oh and before anyone starts, not proposing to force veganism on my children yet

My two like
Dahl and rice
Veg stirfry and noodles
Baked potatos
Pasta and tomato sauce (usually with hidden veg and pureed pulses)
Soup and crusty bread

Pasta - with white sauce/leeks/peas and engevita flakes for a 'cheesey' taste, or with vegemince bolegnaise (or however you spell it)

My DC love mild tarka dhal, and thai green curry with only a bit of curry paste and plenty of coconut milk and lime juice.

Pie! Top pie here (I live in a vegan community) is with smoked tofu, leeks, and brocolli, white sauce and puff pastry on top.

Wraps - with houmous, bean salad, grated carrot, avocado, salad leaves.

Stews - we love one made with kale, white beans, quinoa and sliced vegan sausages.

If you use soya chunks, a goulash-type thing is nice - the 'chicken' ones with mushrooms and peppers and vegan yoghurt and smoked paprika.

Hummus. Beans on toast.

My ds loves 'lentil pie' as we call it. Recipe is adapted from Rose Elliot 'Vegetarian baby & child' - she called it lentil dilly dhally. I use green lentils instead of red, don't use onion and bung in extra veg like frozen peas and sweetcorn, sweet potatoes, brocolli etc. Oh and I use a good dollop of marmite instead of veg stock and don't bother with the corriander & cumin she suggests as ds isn't a fan of flavoursome spicy foods. I also add rice (just realised that isn't in her recipe!) and use a big frying pan rather than a saucepan. But then I use tinned lentils so maybe that's relevant.

Her recipe is:
1 Teasp veg oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
4oz each carrots, parsnips, potato, peeled & chopped
pinch each of coriander and cumin
2oz red lentils
1 pint vegetable stock

Heat oil, fry onion for 5 mins, add carrots, parsnip & potatoes., Sprinkle the spices over and cook for a further 5 mins.
Stir in lentils and stock & bring to boil. Cover pan and leave to simmer, stir occasionally, for 25 mins or until lentils are tender.
Blend briefly in food processor or belnder until smooth.

My recipe is:
chopped potato, carrot, parsnip, sweet potato - Fry in a little olive oil for 5 mins or so - just to soften not to actually brown/cook
Add frozen peas and frozen sweetcorn and fry a little longer (till they aren't frozen any more!
Add a handful of rice, fry for a further minute, keep stirring the whole time o it doesn't stick.
Add brocolli, and then fill pan with water and add the marmite (instead of using stock).
Add srained and rinsed green lentils (from a tin, or soak your own in advance)and bring to boil.
Leave to simmer and reduce - about 20/30 mins usually. Stor occasionally
When it has reduced right down (but before it goes totally dry) stick it in the food processor and blend. The more liquid left the sloppier it will be - aim for not too sloppy.

Ds likes his like that (usually with grated cheese stirred in - but obvious not in a vegan version) - I tend to blend it well as he had this as a baby and 'doesn't like vegetables' but will eat this till it's coming out of his ears. I don't completely lend it nowadays so he's getting used to finding whole peas and lumps of carrot and potato in it nowadays and still eats it.

I quite like using it as a base for cottage pie etc too. But he scrapes the potato off as he doesn't like potatoes! hehe

Wow! Came back to this, grumbling to myself that no one will have bothered. How wrong was I!

Do you tend to make in advance or cook from scratch every eve? Slow cooked meat is easiest thing for me to serve kids at mo, since can be prepared whilst eldest are in school.

Finally, which sausages are vegan? I always seem to look at ones containing egg White.

Ooh I lied, where do you look to for recipe inspiration? Looked at veginomicon (sp) but relies slot on seiken and seems v American.

Thank you all so much

I make enough lentil pie to last 3 days. If I had a bigger frying pan I'd make more! Am making it for ds tonight., so thats his meals sorted for the rest of the week! :)

Easy Vegan has been quite helpful for dishes my kids like.

This is fab for when I want to do basic stuff (cakes, pancakes etc) and don't know the best things to sub.

We're not actually a vegan family, we're veggie with a dairy allergic child, so often eat vegan as it's easy.

I tend to batch cook a lot of stuff in the slow cooker and freeze as evenings are mayhem here!

My DDs like, falafel and tabbouleh
Veggie chilli and rice
Soup of any variety at all
Coconut milk based curries
Stir fry and noodles
Mushroom risotto

In the winter we live on root veg stew with dumplings made with Pure spread!

Linda McCartney sausages are vegan, but my DDs find them too salty, Dragonfly and Frys do vegan ones too but you might have to look for them!

Now I've got you here....

I'm happy with breakfast choices, granola and soya yoghurt, museli with orange juice, toast and marmite etc.

Lunch is soup, falafels in pitta, salad etc.

Lovely dinner ideas here...

But what about all the dreaded nutrients, take a supplement, marmite for b12, make sure I'm having enough protein, don't forget calcium. Gaah!

Surely this is too complicated, do I just vary weeks meals and take it for granted I've covered all the essentials, or should I really be calculating day by day?

I feel that I've got to make this seem as intuitive and simple as possible to prove to DH, MIL, DM and general judgy pants that there is nothing unhealthy about veganism and it is an entirely feasible step for anyone to take.

If they don't like spicy food, try stirring some greek style yoghurt into their portion of things like chilli and curry. (It's really good with a mild sweet potato chilli, with sweetcorn. I don't really like lentils and things but I make it with kidney beans, chickpeas and chunky veg - whatever I have really)

I can't find it now, but there was a nice recipe in Jamie's ministry of food which was pasta with breadcrumbs, gave it a really interesting texture. I think it was supposed to have anchovies in, but we always used to just make it with the tomato sauce, herbs and garlic breadcrumbs and it was lovely as an accompaniment.

Also one of my favourite dinners and always has been, is what my mum calls veggie shepherd's pie, basically home made ratatouille, topped with mashed potato and baked.

Home made soup is really easy and can be filling. Another stick everything in a pot and leave it recipe is one which my stepmum used to call "farty bean stew" - just buy whatever dried beans and pulses you can find, soak them overnight, then put into a big pot with cubed potato and (again) any veg you have spare, and cook on a low heat or in a slow cooker all day. As children the name appealed to us more than the look of it but actually it's really nice, especially if you use flavoursome veg.

Thank msbuggywinkle!

Must admit, haven't tried them on a coconut based curry, and have a tin lurking in cupboard....

With risotto, do you replace the cheese with a vegan version or just omit?

Think farty bean stew is best name ever and sure to please 5 and 3 year old boys :o :o

Am off now to do parental duties (sigh)

Have just got to mention though, McVities dark chocolate digestives having butterfat in them has been the closest to a deal breaker for me when it comes to veganism.

Will probably lose a stone just with their absence in my diet (tries and fails to find silver lining)

Well for protein, you need things like mushrooms, beans, pulses, or you could do something extra for DC's portion like grilled/roasted chicken or fish as an accompaniment, or you could add cheese to their portions. Children do need more protein than adults as they are growing. I'd say that one at least of either their lunch or their dinner needs to have a decent protein portion.

Beans and pulses are a bit alien to most people, and mushrooms can be hit and miss, so it's better if you can make them not the main focus of the dish, and remember things like baked beans and garlic mushrooms usually go down well. This is sort of opposite to most meat dishes where the other ingredients centre around the meat. So you want the veg mainly for flavour, if they don't like spices and herbs. If you try to get lots of different colours in that tends to mean you have different vitamins. Calcium is present in green vegetables and also beans/legumes (I think?) and carbohydrate will fill you up, so try not to over-dominate dishes with things like potato and pasta at the expense of other more nutritious foods.

Um... that's about all I know really. Protein is the important one, the others you can get around by variety. Calcium probably important as well to make sure lots of potential sources if you aren't eating dairy, especially for children. But if they are having dairy then I wouldn't massively worry about it.

Haven't got time for a proper reply right now, but please come and join us on the MN vegan thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/food/984090-Vegan-Vegan-friendly-MNetters-the-new-thread-sign-in-here?msgid=26273223.

Mine really, really like a very simple scrambled tofu.

Fry a couple of chopped onions until soft. Crumble in a block of firm tofu and fry about until it gives off the liquid and it evaporates away. Add a couple of teaspoons of mustard, some salt and pepper and a little pinch of turmeric (makes it a nice yellow colour.) Cook a couple of minutes, stir in a little soya cream and heat through. If you want to give it a cheesey taste stir in a couple of spoonfuls of nutritional yeast flakes. Nice on toast or mixed with rice. You can add different vegetables like peppers or mushrooms with the onions if you like, but mine just like it plain.

Mushroom and chestnut pie is popular in the winter. nut roast is always popular in here. Rice cooked with onion, tinned tomatoes, mixed beans and taco seasoning is another well loved meal, you can sprinkle with vegan cheese if liked. Also toast with lentil spread (lentils and onions cooked with marmite and mixed to a spread with olive oil)

Forgot the very favourites:

lentil and potato curry:

bag red lentils
3lbs potatoes, peeled and diced
2 onions
mild curry paste
2 tins coconut milk
enough water to make up to 7 cups of liquid.

fry the onions until soft, add curry paste and cook for a few minutes. Add lentils and stir about. Chick on potatoes and liquid, mix well. SImmer until everything is soft and liquid is absorbed. Keep an eye that it doesn't get too dry, too soon.

DD's very favourite:

2 onions, chopped
garlic, chopped
mild curry powder to taste
salt and pepper to taste
3lbs potatoes, diced and parboiled
1 large cabbage (or other greens) shredded

Fry onions and garlic until sof in about 4 tablespoons oilt. Add cabbage and curry powder stir around, cover and allow cabbage to wilt, Add potatoes and cook, stirring all the time until cabbage is cooked and potatoes are soft.

SAusage and beans

Vegan sausages, onion, tinned toms, tin baked beans, tin kidney beans, mixed herbs. Fry sausages and then chop into chunks. Fry onion, add both tins beans and tin chopped toms. Chuck in a good amount of dried mixed herbs ( or chilli spices) simmer for a few minutes. Add sausages and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Lentils and rice:

2 cups green lentil
2 cups brown rice
2 chopped onions
10cups hot vegan stock (or water mixed with marmite)

Fry onions in a couple of tablespoons of oil. Add lentils, rice and stock. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until liquid is absorbed and lentils and rice are cooked. You can flavour this with any kind of herbs or spices that you like. We like it with taco spices served inside wraps with salad. I like it plain, served with crunchy salad and those peppadew peppers on top.

I know this sounds unbelievably disingenuous, but here goes...

I could just cook vegan food every night couldn't I?

I mean, they still have dairy with breakfast, could have ham etc with their lunch and eat whatever I want in the evening and they'd be fine.

As obviousness goes, it's on a par with "maybe Rupert controls enough media", but seems quite a big one to me!

All the recipes sound yum, filling and easy.
Cookbooks great for a Sunday afternoon browse, but often unusual ingredients or take hours of prep or constant vigilance.

Will C&P the recipes in this thread and use as next weeks meal planner (another job I loathe)

Thanks!

NoHunIntended, have seen thread you mention but have been unsure whether to contribute as am only just starting and didn't want to annoy with vegan newbieness.

I think that would be fine. The only thing is if you're in a rush or very tired and wanting to rely on convenience foods, I think you'd struggle to find some which are vegan.

Think that's what I'm struggling with...tired currently doing sausage and mash for kids and then have to cook other meal from scratch for myself. Don't want convenience food per se, just can't be arsed to cook twice gives children chance to run amok, whilst my back is turned

LadyGooGoo, you are most welcome on the thread, please join us. There are other new converts, and also people transitioning.

And yes - cook vegan, one meal! If they want meat/dairy, they can have it at other mealtimes.

I only have a baby, so not experienced with cooking regularly for older children, but presently he gets exactly what we have, and I plan to continue that. That's how my mother did it too.

I do a broccoli/lentil pizza which sounds disgusting, but isn't.

I do a tomato sauce with onions, carrots, broccoli and lentils. Then whizz until it's smooth and put on a pizza base.

DS actually likes tahini with oat cakes.

Flapjacks are good with a dairy free spread (Pure Sunflower)

P.S. This is my old website, I am in the process of moving all the info to a new site I am building, but for now, there is a section for vegan recipes here: veganparent.com/?q=node/9

And never forget the convenience of hummus and baked beans! (Although probably not together). Also peanut or almond butter.

We are not vegan but DH is vegetarian and DS1 can't have dairy or egg.

I make shepherd's pie out of vegemince (not Quorn mince, as you say it has egg in it). Most vegemince has onion and a bit of garlic in it already, so I just add some mushrooms, a bit of tomato puree, mixed herbs, water, and some vegetarian gravy granules. Mashed spud mashed with dairy free spread and rice milk - DS1 loves it.

Linda McCartney has bought out the best vegemince, which used to be Realeat, but it says this on the packet. ASDA and Tesco do their own versions which are vegan.

DD doesn't like shepherds pie so she has "pie pie" (Linda McCartney pies which are also dairy and egg free).