Help with dd1 becoming vegetarian.

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My dd2 is 9 and she has decides she wants to be a vegetarian or pescatarian. I was wondering if anyone could help with ideas on what recipes we could possible make together. I have a vegetarian cookbook and we have been looking through and she has picked a few out.
My main concern is she has sn and is on medication for adhd which does effect her weigh so she needs a high calorie diet. She originally wanted to be just vegetarian but she doesn't like nuts so I have asked her to still eat fish as I'm still unsure of where she will get protein if she becomes an all out vegetarian.
I have said I will do this with her but it will still mean making 2 separate meals as my other dc eat meat. Meat subistute isn't an option as I have tried to use it in the past for things like chilli and lasagne but the others knew straight away it wasn't actual meat and refused to eat it.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated thank you

There’s loads of good recipes out there.
I’m not sure what kind of food she normally likes, but you can make plenty of pasta dishes, substitute meat with grilled hallomi, quorn.
For meat and two veg type dishes, substitute meat for something processed, Quorn, Linda McCartney sausages etc.. there are some very good ones now, but it’s a bit of trial and error to find the ones you like.
I’ve been veggie for long time and I make a lot of Asian - currries, noodles etc. Middle eastern - falafel. They’re easy, cheap but generally spicy, so it depends on whether dd would eat that kind of food, plus it’s a lot of faff for just one diner.
I would just look at adapting whatever you are making for everyone for her, or slipping a few good veggie dishes to everyone, to save you spending an eternity in the kitchen.
A good recipe to start with that you might be able to get whole family to enjoy is - bbc sweet potatoe veggie shepherds pie, it’s lovely.

Spag bol made with soya mince, lots of mushrooms, Tom toms,Tom puree, grated carrot. Same for chilli, jacket potato with salad. Get her to try lots of different pulses as they are packed with protein and will add valuable calories. Try full fat Greek yogurt with berries and honey for a sweet treat.

Its near impossible to miss protein as a vegetarian. Especially if you use quorn. Its protein paced. Also green leafy veg is a good source. I would say look at a vitmin b12 supplement. Other than that its not much different from eating meat.

*packed not paced sorry.

She does like lots of veg anyway she is generally a good eater. I don't really remember if she likes pulses I have 3 fussy eaters who always refused so I stopped using them.
The cooking if recipes allow I'll probably batch cook things like curry and then freeze it in small portions so when I make meat dishes I can just reheat mine and hers.
She likes some spicy foods so making falafel we could possible adapt it with less spice I assume.
Thank you for the replies :)

Try the vegetarian society - they used to have a kids club (years ago) and have lots of info and recipes.

Thank you fekko I will take a look.

When I went veggie (when I was about 14) I bought a couple of recipe books and my sister gave me one, and I used to experiment on a Saturday afternoon to learn the basics and try new recipes. I also boned up on nutrition.

Simon Rimmer from Sunday Brunch’s veggie recipes are good. He had a veggie restaurant before he made it to tv and I’ve always found his recipes tasty and not needing tonnes of obscure ingredients, unlike some veggie recipes.

I think I'm going to have to look deeper into nutrition as if her weight drops her medication will need to be lowered and we have only just got her stable on it.

She is practising her sewing at the minute as she is making a blanket for a stray cat that keeps visiting. It looks injured so we contacted cats protection and if we can gain it's trust enough to come in then they will get a volunteer to take it to the vets to be checked and to see if it has an owner. If not they said we could adopt it. She is going to look and pick some meals to go on our meal planner later but she has decided the cat is more important at the moment. Luckily enough the stray is friendly with our cat and she's helping to entice the stray in.

I have one vegetarian child and 2 meat eaters. she won't eat any veggie burgers, sausages etc but here's what we do. Homemade granola with nuts and seeds and plain yogurt in the morning, so that's a good nutritious start. Everything wholewheat as much as possible so that's more protein as well as just generally healthier. Freeze portions of veggie chilli and veggie bolognese. As much leafy green veg as possible, including making basil and spinach pesto and freezing in portions. I wish my DC would try tofu, lentils (sometimes blended into soup is okay) etc but is not open to that. She does eat a lot of dairy. Hope that helps.

My omnivore loves tofu!

My 6yo dd turned pescatarian just over a month ago and I got some great advice on here. So far She likes the Linda McCartney veg sausages. Also quorn chicken nuggets (which looked and smelled like real ones!) we made a quorn shepherds pie last week which we all ate - I am sure quorn has improved since I last ate it! Sainsbury's also do veggy hot dogs which older dd and do eat as well. We also eat smoked salmon pasta which is easy to make. Tuna Sweetcorn mayo melts.

Cheese will be your friend if trying to do high cal veggie! Will she eat avocado? Houmous? Both excellent for adding calories! I know you have said she won’t eat nuts but if you are worried about calorie deficit a table spoon of ground nuts stirred into any saucy dish will be largely undetectable. In a similar way ground almonds can be added to crumble topping or flapjacks. Is it nuts in any form? Peanut butter is very calorie dense and can b3 used in recipes for burgers or as a dipping sauce.
How many fish dishes do you currently serve a week?

Thank you for all the advice
Nuts she used to eat them then just 1 day refused to eat them even peanut butter which used to be a favourite. A member of staff at her current school has a nut allergy and im not sure if thats what triggered the issue with nuts. But ill try putting a bit in sauces and toppings and see if she is ok with it.
I will try salmon pasta she eats tuna but won't eat it in pasta for some reason.
I'll also look into the vegetarian sausages and nuggets too.

mac and cheese and on the bottom of the dish lay some salmon fillets.really delicious
veggie lasagne.
could you make veggie stew and stir frys which then right at the end you could have cooked some chicken thighs or beef etc on the side and then split the dish off and stir through meat for the others?
lentil are great for veggies shepherds pies.
butterbeans,and other beans like haricots tomato.peppers.onions.garlic.jar of pasta sauce.saute down then split off and add chorizo in for the others.this goes great on pasta.on toast,jackets or rice.
fish paella.
jambalyas you can then serve with meat for the others.
look on to the good food site and type in for your veggie dishes and then fish.
salmon tray bake.
pasta bakes.
does she like pesto.as in pine nuts. would she enjoy whizzing up her own pesto for pasta. it also make a great crumb when mixed with bread crumbs to top salmon.and this crumb you can top lamb or other meat steaks for the other family.

Pizzas are also easy - I buy the mini cheese and tomato ones and then everyone tops their own as they like.

There's a kosher brand (tival?) that do nice frozen veggie schnitzels and 'chicken' bites which are very nice.

DD is a vegetarian - from the looks of what she likes to eat (17 and cooks for herself by choice) there is little correlation between vegetarian and healthy/low cal.

If I'm doing veggie for us all it will be a spicy chickpea and veg casserole maybe with garlic bread - if she is, it will be something beige with cheese and chips and ketchup.

Thank you so much I can't remember ever having pesto so that's definitely something to try especially homemade, I've also looked into hummous and think that's some thing we could make too. She likes to be involved with things so hopefully making them might make her more willing to try more.
I forgot about pizzas
Thank you so much everyone

I went veggie 3 weeks ago and have felt sort of cleaner and more energised. I have had a problem with jasmine rice that I bought for a treat though (have always used whole grain); it gave me a massive blood sugar spike and I had to lie down for about an hour. Didn’t put two and two together the first time, but it’s happened twice now.

I was given two cookbooks for Christmas, so I’m enjoying trying some of the recipes out. I’m using a lot of lentils and chickpeas to make sure I’m getting enough iron.

Looking forward to growing lots of veg as soon as possible, for maximum nutritional value.

Good luck!

Just wanted to say you are doing great taking her seriously and helping her with this. My parents didn't and insisted it was a stage I would grow out of. It made meal times awful and 20 years later I haven't changed my mind so they were definitely wrong about that.

If she will eat tuna tuna, sweet potato and chilli fish cakes are lovely and she could help to make them.

I'll bear that in mind about the jasmine rice
I look for the recipe for the tuna fish cakes.
Thank you rainbowquilter. We found out just before Christmas that she is being transitioned into sn provision and part of me wonders if this maybe her trying to control something to compensate so I want her to know that when she does make choices she's supported in it. I had been contemplating going veggie for a while as I have issues with ibs so it just pushes me into gear.
If at any point in the future she chooses to go full vegan or anything else then I will support that too I just need to make sure I really look into nutrition so I can make sure she has a balanced diet.