Chicken recipes for vegetarians

[Lamazeroo]

Bear with me! DH and I are vegetarian and we have a seven month old DS. He is a voracious breastfeeder, an enormous baby and a non-sleeper. He also has severe reflux and is intolerant to any hint of cows milk protein in my milk. As such, I have spent the last seven months in a fog of exhaustion - and starvation! I am hungry all the time and am constantly thinking about cheese. Being a qualified nutritionist I recognise that this is a sign that I'm not taking in enough protein, and I can see that my diet is not providing enough for me at the moment.
I have made the decision to include one meal of free-range organic chicken into our diet per week. This is the animal protein I'm most comfortable with (I know some vegetarians eat fish, but I consider fish to be about the most unethical food you could consume!). I'm looking for recipes which are easy to prepare, flavoursome and which don't celebrate the flavour of the chicken, if you see what I mean. So far we've had success with a nice tagine type thing with lots of spices, olives etc. I really want the chicken to just be a protein vehicle for lots of lovely yummy flavour.
Anyone care to link to their favourite delicious not-too-chickeny chicken recipes?

Or you could continue breast feeding and introduce solids at the same time if you don't want to stop breast feeding yet....

MrsMcEnroe I don't think there is a link between weaning and improved sleep - in fact it usually seems to be the reverse happening in the early days of weaning

If its cheese you crave, and cows milk is out, I assume you are able to eat goats cheese and sheeps cheese?

Minced or finely diced chicken goes well in a risotto which you can pack with loads of veggies. And you can't beat a good curry!

Flisspaps - Yes that's true and I did say that my experience of weaning was that the kids slept like logs - I'm not claiming to speak for all of womankind

The OP is knackered by her own admission, being "sucked dry" all night (her words) and in her last post she sounds understandably desperate. Weaning might help. It couldn't cause the baby to sleep any less than he currently does (he currently doesn't sleep and has to be held 100% of the time). Many of my friends have had reflux babies and they all say that the only thing that helped was weaning. It's certainly a far less drastic option than a lifelong vegetarian suddenly eating meat against her wishes.

I felt that by 7 months solid food was making a difference to my DDs sleep pattern, though they had been on solids for about a month by then, so it wasnt a new thing.

I am interested that you consider chicken to be the most ethical animal protein. Having watched Hugh FW's chicken prog I can't even eat organic chicken without feeling guilty! I ate organic beef or lamb when I was pregnant and craving meat (NB am not vegetarian though, just don't eat much meat). Also could you put more chickpeas and beans in things you cook? I also used to snack on nuts and seeds/dried fruit for iron.

Thanks again everyone who has made a suggestion.
My DS is indeed on solids, and has been since five months (paediatrician recommended four months but he wasn't interested at that point). He is enjoying his food and eats a lot at each mealtime; however, he still loves his breastmilk. I do not want to give him formula.
Part of the reason I have chosen chicken is so I or DH can make meals we can all eat together. Because of DS's food reactions we are holding off introducing him to egg white, soy and nuts, and I am taking it slowly with the legumes. So you can see that is a significant number of vegetarian proteins which are either off limits or of limited help! One of the attractions of a chicken dish is that all three of us could eat it, rather than me then having to make something else for DS, which is what I do when DH and I have tofu, eggs, nuts etc.
TeaOneSugar thanks for your suggestion on protein drinks. I do have a variety and use them as snacks but am really after wholesome meal ideas.
PlentyOfPubeGardens yes, I am sure I'm having enough fat! I have calculated how many grams of protein I need at the moment, and estimate that most days I am consuming approximately half of my requirement. Fat is not an issue - I enjoy copious lashings of butter, coconut butter, avocado, hommus etc.

Oh and my iron levels are fine. They dropped during pregnancy but haemoglobin was back to around 13 by six weeks post-partum.

Why no have some cheese? I know you said dc gets reflux to cows' milk but you can get cheese made from goats' or sheep milk.

BTW do you drink milk? If so then wouldn't the most ethical meat be veal?

OP is roast chicken too chickeny for you? A favourite stand by meal here is a whole chicken with herbs stuffed between the skin and the breasts and roasted. Cut up a variety of veg (we usually use peppers, courgettes, onions, tomatoes etc) and roast alongside the chicken. Make up a bowl of cous cous and at the last minute tip in any juices that came from the vegetables.

What about a chicken curry? There are lots of recipes online.

Could you chop up chicken and add to pasta sauce?

On the welfare front, do you have a local producer of free range pork? Pork can be pretty tasteless as a meat so again you could use it just as a vehicle for getting protein ( and I completely get why you want to do this).

I really hope this all works out for you and will keep on thinking of ideas.