ok i need some inspiration - vegetarian meal ideas for 2 adults, a 3yr old and a 9 month old?

[beautifuldays]

am sick of cooking 3 seperate meals, is there anything i can cook that is nice for grown ups, but also good for a 3yr old and 9 month old. we do pasta bake/macaroni cheese but i'm stuck for other ideas for family meals. most of the stuff i tend to cook for us or my ds contains quorn mince or pieces so not suitable for my 9 month old dd.

anyone have any ideas??

How about a vegetarian shepherds pie? It's nice if you use lentils instead of mince.

Try ratatouille and rice with grated cheese. There's a fab cook book called '365 recipes for babies, toddlers and children' not strictly vegertarian but lots of good veggie recipes - mine love the pasta with puy lentils. Our stand by is jacket potatoes. Home made soup at lunchtime.

ooh yes, good idea, how do i make the filling bit? (i can manage the mashed potato on top - not a culinary genius lol!) is it supposed to have a gravy-type sauce?

Lentil shepherds pie

Cook chopped onion and garlic for a bit until the onion is soft (add carrots if you want)

add the lentils (I use tinned ones) and a tin of tomatoes and some tomato puree. I also add a bit of stock powder - Swiss marigold vegetable bouillion is good

cook for a while

add red wine (but let the alcohol cook off if you are feeding this to children) and a teaspoon of marmite (my secret recipe). Add spinach if you want.

Simmer for a little while, then put in a dish, add the cheesy mashed potato and voila.

mmm yum thanks

i've seen someone mention a veggie sausage bean casserole thing, anyone know the recipe and would it be ok for a 9 month old?

Won't it depend if the veggie sausages have quorn in them? I think you can get some with just vegetables, but they always seem to have cauliflower in and cauliflower is the devil's vegetable - yuck.

that's true, and caulifower is the devils vegetable

what age is it ok to give them quorn things? 1?

I tried to post, but the site didn't let me.

The Quorn website says it is ok to give babies Quorn, but it should not be their only source of protein.

Have made this vegi shepherds pie from Ocado website a couple of times - uses mixed beans and chickpeas, plus chopped carrots and parsnips, with a really nice sweet potato topping. Kids liked it a lot too, though next time I make it I'll let the veg and beans simmer a bit longer to make them softer, dd1 not so keen on the texture of some of the firmer ones...

Here's the link - www.ocado.com/content/html/recipes3/vegiShepherdsPie.html - you may need to register or sign in first? It has some other ideas there too, though mostly sweet stuff .

Sainsburys do veggie hotdog sausages, which I use to make a sausage and bean casserole but I don't know if they'd be any good for the baby.

Holland and Barratt do tofu ones, though again, you'd need to check if that's okay or not.

Otherwise -lentil soup / bean and vege hotpot type thing / pasta with pesto and vege /

I was going to say cauliflower cheese but I've just seen your opinion of cauliflower!

thanks for the ideas, and that's interesting about quorn, does it not have egg in it, thought that was why you couldn't give it to babies. (surely it must have salt in it?)but i am probably wrong about that!

def gonna try the shepherd pie thingy - do you need to make some sort of sauce for the lentil bit, or is it just a case of fry the onions carrots etc add the lentils and put in a dish? i'm hopeless at cooking!

any one else have any brain waves??

any more ideas?

Maybe you should get away from the idea of meat substitutes and veggie versions of meat dishes and try actual born-as-veggie dishes, such as:
dahl and basmati rice,
chick pea curries and rice,
marinated tofu kebabs,
falafel and pitta breads,
bean and pasta soups,
pasta with pesto and peas,
pasta with broccoli and ricotta
spinach and mushroom pancakes,
mushrooms cooked with garlic, parsley and white wine, served with crispy toast (or blended to make a paté)
tabbouleh made with quinoa,
hummous with breadsticks and raw vegetables,
omelettes/tortillas/frittatas,
quinoa cooked with lemon and ginger, with peanut butter stirred in (fake satay/Thai flavour)
etc etc etc.

My DD was eating all these from 6 months (apart from the peanut butter bit, she got that at 9 months), so all are suitable for babies too. Just flavour the adult portions more after taking out the baby's portion. Most of these dishes are very easy (I'm not one for slaving over a hot stove) and freeze well, so you can even make batches.

If you stick to meat substitutes or eat style recipes you're going to be very limited and get bored quickly.

I'd recommend Sara Lewis' Veggie Food for Kids, it's also got a section with family meals in it and gives you a fair few ideas for experimenting yourself, as well as a wealth of nutritional information.

HTH

That should be meat style recipes. Oops!

beautiful days, the tomato and the wine make the sauce.

tomatoes?

Yes, tinned ones.

oh ok so i need to add a tin of chopped tomatoes to the lentil bit?

Heh. Read the recipe I posted for you.

ok, thanks x

My DS2 isn't 1 yet and he's been eating Quorn for a while. I didn't know it was a problem.

Pizza?

Ditto egg.

I thought the suggestion was not to use Quorn for children under 2 because it wasn't dense enough in calories. Personally, I regret not feeding it to DD1 because she won't eat any meat substitute things and although I cook using lentils a lot I do like Quorn too. DD2 on the other hand (not being a PFB) was fed Quorn from an early age and was not such a fussy eater.

The lentil shepherds pie is a good idea. Getting the consistency right is just trial and error, so you might have to stand over it and watch carefully the first time you make it.

Homemade pizza would be good.

Are you not supposed to give babies under 1 eggs then?

Jacket potatoes filled with (cold)beans and cheese and then put back into the oven for about 20 minutes is a big favourite in our house and very quick.

Veggie lasagne? I just do a (homemade) tomato sauce version and don't usually bother with a white sauce - topped with lots of (pre-grated, yes, yes I know) mozzarella.

Veggie curry and chilli is easy and I'd just reserve a portion for the baby before adding salt and spices.