Recipe ideas for veggie DS- protein and iron

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Hello

I'm looking for ideas for DS16 who is vegetarian. I'm worried that he isn't getting enough protein or iron. The rest of us are omnivores but happy not to eat meat most of the time so ideally I'd like some new ideas for family meals.

We have veggie chilli quite a lot, chickpea curries, lentils. What else could I do? He isn't keen on spinach unfortunately.

Thanks in advance.

Left to his own devices he would live on pasta.

Does he eat eggs? They have a lot of protein. Don't know about iron...

I'd also try an age appropriate iron supplement if you aren't already.

Tofu is also high in protein.

There are lots of good takeaway style tofu recipes that go with stir fry etc, you could do chicken in the same sauce in another pot for you and have the veggies separate.

Quorn chunks are great substitutes for most chicken recipes eg curry.

Macaroni cheese plus veg.

Fried egg sandwich

I’d get him on a multivitamin as well - you can get ones aimed at vegetarians but most bog standard ones have iron in anyway.

Omelettes are v easy too - you could do Spanish omelette (probably sneak spinach in there if you chop it fine).

Does he hate raw spinach or just cooked?

Thank you for all these ideas. He'd definitely eat an omelette so I might try to make them a bit more often, not sure why I haven't been!

Macaroni cheese is a fave. I've never cooked with tofu but will give it a go!

He takes Wellman gummies which do have some iron although not a huge amount.

Ds14 vege loves:
Vege burger and chips
Stir fry noodles and spring rolls
Pesto pasta with chopped quorn sausages
Toad in hole (made with quorn sausages)
Spanish omelette
Dahl and rice
Tofu in blackbean sauce

He will eat most vegetables on the side.

He also has a homemade fruit smoothie with protein powder and full fat milk most days. I reckon I could put some spinach in that too...

You honestly don't need a huge amount of iron. These vegan multivitamins for example have 100% of your daily intake and why would you need more.

www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/holland-barrett-vegan-multivitamin-mineral-tablets-60012166

Glad the ideas are helpful! This is my fave: pickledplum.com/house-foods-honey-sriracha-tofu/#tasty-recipes-40942
For one I'd just serve it with broccoli and rice. Super satisfying. As a family meal I'd serve it with a normal veg stir fry and rice.

Have you seen a book called The Green Roasting Tin? That's all veggie one pot meals. Lots of them have things like peanut butter and cashews for extra protein etc.

I do a pasta with cannellini beans and broccoli and spinach. You could leave out the spinach - i just use whatever greens I have to hand. The main thing is lots and lots of garlic and some hard cheese for good measure.

This may help

www.bda.uk.com/resource/iron-rich-foods-iron-deficiency.html

Jamie Oliver’s black bean burgers and his veggie enchiladas
Egg fried rice
Sticky sesame tofu
Lentil shepherds pie
Moussaka
Jerk black bean curry
Halloumi burgers with humous
Greek bean stew

People are really weird about protein
Most people will get enough from a fairly big standard diet even with very little or no meat/fish

The obvious ones - pulses - so chickpea curry, hummus on toast, lentil whatever, etc.
Eggs
Cheese has protein