Fussy teen wants to go veggie - needs ideas!

[Lotsachocolateplease]

As the title says I have a fussy teen - ds14 who wants to go vegetarian. He was vegetarian age 7 for a year and I managed them but he’s fussier now.
I need healthy ideas other than
Pizza
Pasta

Won’t eat mushrooms, rice, lots of veggies like broccoli cauliflower, prefers carrots and peppers raw.

His suggestions are halloumi burgers, halloumi fajitas, and salads.
Any other suggestions would be very welcome.

Dd has been veggie for 2 years, it’s actually improved her eating. She’s allergic to Quorn so we do tend to use that or any meat Subs, although she likes the LM fake chicken bucket.
She eats a lot of Tofu in chinese, Korean or Japanese type dishes and loves paneer. Filled pasta is also good for a quick snack as is quinoa salads with feta or similar

Are you worried about the protein balance? We're veggie, and its really a lot easier to get than you'd think (bit it was something I was worried about at first). He'll prob need at least 50 grams a day (adult amount). Eggs are 7 grams each, cheese and yoghurt a huge amount (about 20 grams a serving), beans and lentils about the same, Cauldron sausages about 20 grams per three sausages. Then its just in random food, like pasta is 14 grams of protein per serving. Veg like peas and endamame have a fair amount.

Its something I still keep track of. SE Asian and Indian food is really good for vegetarian food. Then things like lentils with Oxo cubes added for flavour as mince replacement in lasagne (or veggie mince) or cottage pie etc that the whole family can eat.

The Beyond Meat burgers are amazing as a treat. Halloumi, mozzarella, and feta also. Mostly we just add beans or chickpeas or lentils to foods though, and with herbs and spices its really delicious

A few of our faves are veggie lasagne (with pepper and courgette), spaghetti Bol or chill with lentils replacing mince, chickpea and spinach curry x

I didn't like the Beyond Meat burgers - too big, too meaty. Tbh though, I'm not generally a fan of burgers, so it's perhaps unsurprising that I wasn't too fond of them. In Lockdown One we ended up having a couple of emergency food orders from Iceland and their own brand veggie burgers were quite nice - I think they might have had beetroot in.

Please don't use meat stock in veggie dishes. My mother used to do this. When I got to university, I got really fed up that I couldn't cook anything to taste the way I wanted it to, it was only years later that she admitted she used chicken stock in soup, & beef stock in veggie quorn bolognaise. I was really cross because I'd assumed it was my fault for being a crap cook. (I'm not!)

Oh wow! I cannot believe all the replies!
Thank you so so much there’s some fab ideas here that I hadn’t thought about.
He actually likes helping out in the kitchen and will make his own lunch every day while I’m at work. He’ll cook eggs and noodles and make toasties. He can rustle up a salad and will add dressings etc.
Getting him to cook for himself isn’t something I’m prepared for him to do every day but sometimes is a good idea.
When he was veggie aged 7 I read a lot about nutrition and protein etc so I’m not too worried about that. He wasn’t keen on the meat replacement products but we should probably try them again as it was 6/7 years ago now!
I’m going to show him this thread and discuss the options with him. I’m hoping to try having a couple of veggie meals weekly as a family and then go from there.

If they want to do it they are responsible for cooking their own meals. YOu could try out a few recipes for family meals. Say a couple of times a week. The rest of the time he cooks his own.

Not sure if this fits the bill, but these always go down well in my house:

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetable-recipes/cool-mexican-bean-wraps/

I usually make a batch of them and stick them in the freezer. They take about 30 minutes to cook from frozen

@ConnectFortyFour

I have a veggie ds. It is a worry as he is also underweight I try to feed him loads of eggs, cheese, nuts, avocados. I also make a veg soup once a week which has a base of chicken stock... he also has a lot of frozen veggie food which isn't great but is easy.

I know a few other posters have asked already and you haven’t responded but why are you using chicken stock for veg soup for a vegetarian, and does he know? If he doesn’t know please don’t do this, why would you not just just veg stock?

I’ve been a vegetarian since I was around 11, I’m 35 now. I remember as a teenager we went to a distant Aunt’s house for dinner and she made a big fuss of the fact that she’d prepared a vegetarian meal for everyone since I was veggie, it made me feel awkward but it was actually really nice- a spinach and ricotta lasagne. My mum asked her for the recipe as she was always on the look out for new vegetarian recipes for recently converted me. The Aunt listed off the ingredients which included chicken stock... she looked at me with a kind of “oops gotcha!” sort of face as she said it. After she’d made such a fuss about going to trouble to make a veggie meal! Just such a nasty thing to do.