Very demoralised veggie mum - tether end close

[AnnieSG]

Just wondered if any of the veggies out there (AND fish eaters) can help.
Have just had yet another meal where I've chopped and grated and thought really hard about making something that won't be rejected on the first mouthful...only to end up with whingeing.
It was really yummy too - DH adored it: rice and chickpeas and tuna all garlicky and with soy sauce, fried up with onions and a few carrots and peas. We eat quorn too, which I'm sick to the bloody back teeth of, and I work so hard at trying to make food that my two boys (six and two) won't reject. They love some really healthy things (couple of pasta dishes) but I'm starting to feel the options are so very limited when they're reluctant vegetable eaters. They'll eat lentils and chickpeas, tuna, carrots, eggs, cheese, peas and sweetcorn, which sounds like a fair amount, but when you end up with the same basic veggie format in pasta, topped with potato, with noodles etc etc etc etc...blah blah.
They'll eat things like olives, but never ever courgettes, mushrooms, aubergines. Recently I baked sweet potatoes and they just went: 'Uggh, yuk, that's horrible.'
Sorry for the big rant, but I'm so demoralised about cooking at the moment. I really understand why some people just give up and feed them crap but I'm trying so hard not to give in.
Can anyone help? I've got Annabel Karmel, Rose Elliott and Delia's veggie book.
Please help, someone!!!

You aren't vegetarian though, are you? I mean you eat tuna.
I would say that meat plays a very small part in my children's diet (4 and nearly 1 and stepdaughter of 14). Lots of pasta with cheese, veg and tomato sauce, cheese on toast, baked potatoes with cheese/beans/tuna/hummus, fish pie, hummus and taramasalata dips, lasagne, risotto, soup and bread. Plus Helen brownings organics delicious sausages and sometimes casseroles.

Beanburgers? The Tesco mecican Beanburgers are really good.

I have made a fantastic vegan steamed pud in the past:
Use vegetable suet, and make into a crust, but add lots of finely chopped herbs (or not if can't be bothered!).
Line pudding basin.
Add chopped field mushrooms and or chestnuts
I used red wine gravy, but could use a rich stock of soy, veg stock, herbs etc etc, slightly thickened with cornflour.
Put suet lid on
Steam for ages

or:
Soften a finely chopped onion, add puy lentils, finely chopped carrot, celery.
Cook in flavoursome stock. Don't let it become dry at all. Should have consistency of thick brothy soup.
Add well flavoured chopped field muchrooms, lots of seasoning, black pepper.
Add a big dollop of creme fraiche and stir in.

Do they eat omlettes?

An avocado sandwich is v nutricious! Give them things like sandwiches for lunch or tea. maybe with breadsticks and hummus or corn on the cob. It does sound as if you are being very ambitious.

You can make your own beanburgers, if they like them.

2 teaspoons sunflower oil
1 small onion
1 small clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
10oz can black-eye beans (or kidney beans, or any other bean that takes your fancy), drained and rinsed)
A little flour

Heat half the oil in a frying pan. Add the onion and garlic, cook for 4 - 5 minutes. Stir in the spices and cook for a further minute. Put the mixture into a large bowl.

Add the drained beans to the onion mixture, mash with a potato masher (or blitz briefly in the processor). Divide the mixture in half then shape each portion into a burger shape using floured hands.

Heat the remaining oil in the clean frying pan, fry the burgers for 5 minutes each side or until browned.

(You can omit the spices if you prefer)

Thanks so much for these replies, they've really given me lots of ideas. No, we're not really veggie because we eat fish, but don't eat any meat at all. (Just in case anyone wonders, I could kill a fish without much compunction...that's my personal rationale behind it all. I couldn't kill a chicken though for eg).
Wigwam, do you think those burgers would work with borlotti beans, or even chick peas?
LadyS, that tagliatelle recipe sounds gorgeous: it's actually similar to my favourite meal at our local Italian restaurant. I think my eldest would eat that, although not Dh because cream and creme fraiche make him ill.
Will definitely be doing some of these and have already been out to buy some of the ingredients in the various recipes.
Can't thank you all enough.

Annie, they'd work with any kind of bean, can't see why you couldn't use chickpeas either. They might not mash down to quite the same but can't see why not.

I have a chickpea falafel recipe as well somewhere, let me see if I can find it.

God yes, agree with Blu. Only ever attempt one simple cooked meal a day. The other one can be sandwiches/cheese on toast and fruit, or if you are really ambitious, soup and fruit.
I find the simpler the cooking the less stressed you are.

Falafel

Small can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (you can also use 5oz cooked broad beans as a change)
Half a small onion, finely chopped
Half teaspoon ground coriander
2 tablespoons chopped parsley (optional)
2oz feta cheese, drained and chopped
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons oil
6 mini pitta breads
1 Little Gem lettuce, torn
3 tablespoons natural bio yoghurt
little finely chopped mint (optional)
1/4 cucumber, sliced
1 apple, cored and sliced

Put the chickpeas into a food processor with the onion, spices, parsley and feta and a small amount of water, and process until finely chopped (or finely chop the ingredients by hand and mix in a bowl)

Divide the mixture into 6 portions then press into small oval patties between floured hands. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry for 5 minutes, turining several times, until golden (or you could put them in the oven to bake for 20 minutes). Meanwhile warm the pitta breads.

Split the pittas, pop a little lettuce and a falafel into each one, then spoon in a little plain yogurt, or yogurt with the chopped mint added. Serve with the cucumber and apple slices (or put them into the pitta as well, if there's room).

DS prefers his mackeral unsmoked - get someone to fillet it for you, just serve with potatoes and veg. Now i'm impressed that some of you can get kids to eat pulses, apart from a serious hummous habit my 3 won't touch them

The felafel sound lovely, Wigwambam, thank you. The eldest really likes chickpeas - will actually pick them out of dishes. So in some ways, they're not bad, it's just that there is a fairly limited range they won't budge from very easily.
Getting away from all the quorn is a big ambition, because I like it, but you do get bloody sick of the stuff! And I'm not convinced that it's really any good for us. I know it's low fat and has protein, but it's not like it has other nutrients in the way fish, meat or pulses do......

Annie - I'm veggie but am not bringing dd up to be veggie. I was worried about how much iron she was getting so plucked up the courage to visit a butcher, bought some mince and lovingly crafted home-made beef burgers for her. She hated them, refused to even touch them!

So even if you did give them meat, there's no guarantee they would eat that either.

Disslocated - am in awe of you for doing that!

Another veggie family here with a fussy toddler who is also allergic to egg which is annoying! I've slipped recently but was sneaking Quinoa into food as it has more protein and amino acids than meat. This thread has remided me to start doing that again.
I try not to worry about her diet too much as some kids only eat one thing all the time and like you say Annie she'll eat olives with a passion!