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What veggie meals do your kids eat?

40 replies

Atissue123 · 09/10/2023 13:22

We are not veggie but I want to reduce our meat eating and also for cost it makes sense.

My kids eat really quite well but when it comes to veggie...not so much. What do your kids eat that is vegetarian? Currently mine will eat:

Mac n Cheese
Pasta and veg / tomato sauce
Veg lasagna (they complain)
Cheese & Tomato pizza (but they will request salami!)
Bakes potato with various things
Quiche (one will, one wont)

Anyone got any good ideas? They eat quite adventurously but do not like sweet potato as a rule. We can't have quorn as they are both gluten free.

Ideas welcome...

OP posts:
BansheeofInisherin · 09/10/2023 13:24

They only eat veggie meals at home😁
Mostly Asian food: Indian, Thai, Malaysian, Sri Lankan. And Middle Eastern things like falafel and wraps.

SirenSays · 09/10/2023 13:35

Mostly South East Asian food. Stir fry, soups, ramen, dumplings, thai omelette, savoury pancakes, gimbap, summer rolls/spring rolls.

BansheeofInisherin · 09/10/2023 13:36

Oh also Mexican is veggie friendly. Quesadillas, tacos, burritos?

ReadyForPumpkins · 09/10/2023 13:41

Mine likes beans. This works in a lot of mexican food. So quesadillas, refried beans and nachos.

They also like tofu, in noodles and in stir fries. This can be used in a lot of Asian food. So things like mapo tofu, laksa, Singapore fried noodles, Thai curries.

If you aren't against ultra processed food, they really love veggie sausages.

CleanSheetsCupOfTea · 09/10/2023 13:46

A lot of quorn is gluten free now, the chicken pieces, beef pieces and mince are all okay (gf veggie here).

cheese and potato pasties/pie
breaded halloumi (make gf breadcrumbs)
mine will eat veggie sausages (some Linda McCartney are gf)
omelette
feta and cherry tomato pasta

cocksstrideintheevening · 09/10/2023 14:17

Curries and stir fry

BethDuttonsTwin · 09/10/2023 14:19

Vegetable stir fry and stuffed peppers - couscous and various mixed sautéed veg. These do have a hefty layer of grated cheese melted on the top though.

PatsWoggle · 09/10/2023 14:27

Falafels
Halloumi wraps
Lentil and Aubergine curry
Vegetable chilli
Glamorgan sausages
Salad with feta, olives and focaccia
Spinach, feta and bulgar wheat pie
Loads of vegetable soups

BrieAndChilli · 09/10/2023 14:31

DS2 is the biggest meat eater going but DD is veggie so we do have a lot of veggie meals.
DS2 will eat

Veggie/bean chilli - either withi rice or in tacos or quesadeas etc.
Veggie noodles
risotto/fried rice type dishes
onion bahjee burger
veg curries of various types

Inyourwildestdreams · 09/10/2023 14:32

Love a veggie meal in this house 😊

  • Chickpea & spinach curry
  • Cauliflower & ‘everything else I can find to throw in’ curry 😅
  • Stir Fry with edamame beans
  • Bean or Veggie Chilli with rice or make into quesadillas/enchiladas/tacos
  • Veggie fajitas
BoohooWoohoo · 09/10/2023 14:32

Stir fries
Chow mein
Veg fried rice
Veggie spring rolls

GingerIsBest · 09/10/2023 14:45

Fussy DD - not a a thing! Grin

Not fussy DS:

Tomato based pasta sauces with chunky additional veg - mushrooms, aubergine, courgettes etc.

Curry or curry style dishes although they're not his favourite. He does love roasted cauliflower (sometimes I add aubergine too) with satay sauce on rice. To be honest, is suspect I could put satay on anything and he'd eat it! Grin.

(Also, while I take you point re total vegetarian, one thing I've done is use less meat and up vegetable content eg I'll make a chicken curry, but it's two relatively small chicken breasts, at most, between 3 of us with loads of veg and rice or a lamb curry with a LOT of aubergine and onions.)

Risotto - our two favourite are roasted butternut and pea. I find the pea one can be a bit too carb heavy so that's another dish we sometimes add small amounts of meat to - eg a bit of leftover shredded chicken or some chorizo.

He used to love roasted tomatoes with feta /goats cheese on pasta or couscous but has gone off that a bit, I think because of the texture. Similarly, roasted mediterranean veg with pita breads and humous was a big favourite for a while.

Fajitas - I make them with sliced onions and peppers and then fry halloumi for the protein.

To that end, I also do halloumi quite often, in wraps or pita breads, but with different other veggies eg we like chargrilled greens with a lemon/honey/garlic dressing. Or if I have nice feta I'll roast it and serve it with a few roasted tomatoes in a wrap - but that's more a light lunch.

Honey and cumin roasted carrots served on mixed rices/grains (usually add some chickpeas too) and a dressing made with mustard, honey, lemon.

GingerIsBest · 09/10/2023 14:46

Oh, and spanakopita - he loves those! I should make some more, haven't done it for ages.

BatteryPoweredMammy · 09/10/2023 14:56

Great thread OP, with lots of good ideas. 👍

My teen DS used to be very fussy and ate only beige food from about 3yrs but he's starting to try more things so I'm going to copy these suggestions into a list and work my way through them.

I aim to get him to try a new dish at least once a week.

So far, he'll eat simple pasta dishes and loves a plain margarita pizza. I've also started making some mildly spicy Asian dishes with rice but I want to find a good recipe for a sweet and sour type sauce. I'm pretty good at simple curries although he's only eaten chicken based curries so far.

Onemoretimeok · 09/10/2023 15:00

We eat a lot of noodles! Also stir fried rice. We eat family style, so the kids can help themselves to the noodles or rice and then the side dishes - veg, dumplings, prawn crackers etc.

thesugarbumfairy · 09/10/2023 15:01

I did halloumi wraps the other day which went down well (I like the deli kitchen greek style flatbreads as bit more substantial but any wrap will do), then cut halloumi into chip shapes, air fried them, and whacked in some salad (red onion, tomato, shredded lettuce) And whatever sauce they wanted (DS2 likes sweet chilli sauce on everything but I had the heinz turkish style garlic sauce)

GingerIsBest · 09/10/2023 15:03

@BatteryPoweredMammytry this book. It has a lot of very easy, very accessible Asian-style meals.

There's a chicken stir fry in there with a sort of sweet and sour sauce that you could use for anything - you don't have to do it with chicken. It is DS' favourite meal of all time and it's what I make when he gets a special treat. The sauce is very easy.

To be honest, most of the recipes seem easy and I've tried a few. The satay sauce I mentioned above is from this book as well. I'm trying a aubergine curry this week.

Atissue123 · 09/10/2023 15:05

Thank you - some great ideas here. I think being gluten free makes it harder as the usual wraps / noodles etc are a bit harder but there are some options and it's got me thinking more of what I can replace in our usual meat / fish options to make them veggie.

Mine will eat spice and flavour so thats good, i think i rely on meat a lot as they can't generally eat the carbs so much other than GF versions and often they're just not as nice! But rice is good and I can do more of that with veg / eggs etc.

Tofu is a great idea as is halloumi. In fact this has motivated me to do air fry halloumi wraps tonight! Easy and tasty.

OP posts:
SpaceOP · 09/10/2023 15:05

thesugarbumfairy · 09/10/2023 15:01

I did halloumi wraps the other day which went down well (I like the deli kitchen greek style flatbreads as bit more substantial but any wrap will do), then cut halloumi into chip shapes, air fried them, and whacked in some salad (red onion, tomato, shredded lettuce) And whatever sauce they wanted (DS2 likes sweet chilli sauce on everything but I had the heinz turkish style garlic sauce)

I agree the flatbreads are nice. we do this sort of thing quite often. Top tip - I lightly pickle onion/cabbage/carrot - usually just in lime juice with a bit of salt and sugar. goes down a treat! I hadn't thought of a jar sauce though - I'm missing a trick there. Thanks for this.

Do your DC like aubergine? I find that goes down well over here in various formats. Aubergine and mushroom burgers are surprisingly popular - with a bit of goats cheese, some fresh thyme and a drizzle of honey.

GingerIsBest · 09/10/2023 15:09

I forgot about your gluten free issue. A lot of the things we do in flatbreads would also work as a sort of "loaded wedges" option. Halloumi, chargrilled veg and a bit of a sauce of some sort would work as well on wedges as it does in a flat bread? Even fajita style sauce would work on wedges I think?

GingerIsBest · 09/10/2023 15:11

Sorry, spamming you now - also, we do rice noodles with stir fries quite a lot simply because I find them quite easy to prepare as they don't need proper cooking. I also sometimes create a sort of Thai style soup and use rice noodles. I believe most rice noodles are gluten free so that is one option?

TotalOverhaul · 09/10/2023 15:17

Egg fried rice
Cheese, onion and tomato GF toasties with carrot and cucumber sticks on the side
Pizza
Pasta pomodoro/all'arrabiata
Pasta with pesto
Stuffed peppers (stuffed with brown rice, onions, peas, toasted cashews and topped with GF breadcrumbs and cheese
Veggie chilli (massive hit when DC were small - made either with quorn mince or just lots of chopped veggies and a mix of kidney beans and black turtle beans
Savoury rice - long grain rice with lots of roasted or fried mediterranean veg and herbs stirred in
buckwheat pancakes stuffed with mild spicy veggies and served with fresh guac and sour cream dips

nonsensicalmess · 09/10/2023 15:20

Mine eat a lot of the bbc good food veggie recipes - gnocchi tomato and mozzarella bake, veggie lasagne, toad in the hole with veggie sausages (not quorn as there are much better ones than quorn out there!), veg ragu, baked potatoes with various toppings....