Veggie food for small children (plus one adult!)

[PenguinsDontEatKale]

Last year I made a resolution to cook more vegetarian meals and it went pretty well. I got lots of ideas from threads on here .

This year I'd like to extend my repertoire of things to cook when it's just me and the two children (DH works away a lot). They are 4 and 2 and generally not too fussy, but they don't like spicy food, courgettes or peppers. And I'm after things that are quite quick to make (or slow to make but don't need much time from me IYSWIM) because no. 3 is on the way later this year and my time will be even more stretched.

I already do things like bean chilli, risottos and a few veggie curries (though would love more that don't need lots of spice toasting, and fresh herbs, since we're talking quick meals after school).

Thanks in advance

omelette, potato wedges & salad? (salad for my 2 year old is simply cherry toms & cucumber sticks, but obv you can have extra bits for you!)

Eggs, potatoes, beans (whether you go fried/poached/ with wedges/new pots/hm chips etc all allows variety)

egg fried rice with stirfry/steamed veg

Think eggs, they are fast!!

homemade pizza & salad (you can top pitta breads/naans if v pushed for time)

Pasta & pesto (we use frozen cubes of basil in oil, then blend up lots of pine nuts with peas/spinach, and cook the sauce & pasta together for a couple of mins to defrost the basil. Top with grated cheese)

Potato with beans & cheese. Personally I would have a jacket spud but DD will only eat new potatoes, peeled and steamed so she has those instead.

DD loves quinoa which a great protein sauce. It can accompany chilli/pasta sauce type stuff or sometimes she just has it with grated cheese on top and some veg or salad.

Bean & veg casserole with carb of choice. My mum used to do a sausage casserole which I now just leave the sausages out of - it is oven cooked chunks of onion, carrot, peppers, then when those have had about 20 mins add 1 tin baked beans, 1 tin tomatoes, pinch chilli powder, mix and bake for another 20 mins or so. Obv you can add a mix of beans/chickpeas/other root veg to make it a bit more interesting. I like it with rice or new pots & steamed green veg.

Soups? Veg & Lentil, tomato & bean, curried sweetpotato & coconut & bean, roast butternut squash etc etc

**obv quinoa is a protein SOURCE not sauce!

What about incorporating more pulses into your cooking? A spaghetti with Lentil bolagnese is easy, tasty and nutritious. Chickpeas are generally a winner so what about something like a Moroccan type chickpea stew or these Jerk chickpeas

Thanks both!

That's your blog isn't it DrLadyBird? I've made a few things from it actually. The red kidney bean jambalya is now a regular in our 'all the family' meals. I've made the moroccan chickpeas as well and I loved it,but the girls were weirdly suspicious of the prunes! I hadn't seen the jerk chickpeas and they look really nice.

You are a vegetarian family aren't you? Do you have any nice slow cooker/stove top stew type things you do? I like the idea of spilt's bean and veg casserole. I always struggle rather when I try and think how you make a stew or a casserole without meat (we don't do 'meat substitute' stuff like quorn as none of us like it. To a non-veggie, I'd rather just have chicken! If I'm going to do a veggie meal, I want it to be one that we all like for itself IYSWIM).

Just seen butter beans with olives and cherry tomatoes. That is pretty much DD1's favourite things in one bowl...

Yes- that's my blog of all our successful veggie recipes (tried and tested by my 2.5 year old). I'm glad that other recipes have been a success (expect the prune one- you could chop them up a bit more so that the flavour is added to the dish and the chunks of wrinkly fruit are less visible!)

For stews, I basically use any veggies that I have to hand and add some chickpeas or beans. I always add dumplings too because they are just lovely. We never use meat substitutes because basically I've never liked them.

O and that butter bean dish is lovely- my daughter really enjoyed it too. A winner for olive fanatics!

It's a lovely blog

Fantastic tip about dumplings. Why had I never thought of that? I often feel that my veggie stews are lacking a bit of oomph and dumplings would definitely provide that. My mum always used suet, but I presume butter would be ok as the fat? Not that keen on veggie suet as I try and avoid palm oil where I can and that seems to be a key ingredient in the ones I've seen.

Will definitely do the butter bean dish when I next have some black olives (at the moment am overrun with green so will be a while...).

Thanks!
I've not tried butter dumplings and use the veggie suet. But, you're right, they probably are palm oil so I might have to try and find an alternative too.

O, and I'm sure the recipe would work just as well with green olives too..

I'm not obsessive about avoiding palm oil, I just try to avoid it where I can. There's a thread a little way down where someone experimented with just flour and water, so I might try a stew with some like that, some butter, and see what happens.

sara lewis veggie food for kids has some favourites in the zoo household-esp pumpkin pilaf,and Yorkshire pudding baskets with a filling