Daughter wants to be vegetarian

[lin7784]

My 9 year old daughter wants to be vegetarian, which i am happy to support. Just really interested in ideas for easy veggie recipes and items that can go with a meal to replace the meat.
Thanks!

Is she open to meat substitutes like quorn etc or does she just only want to each veggies?

Think of easy meals that don't usually have meat in them. Margherita pizza, Chips, egg and peas. Jacket potato with baked beans, Lentil cottage pie, Veggie curry, Chakchouka, Broccoli quiche, Cauliflower cheese....

Does she like Halloumi ? I’m not veggie but sometimes replace prawns or chicken with halloumi

It’s healthier to cook full vegetarian meals rather than meat substitutes but I mixed and matched. Some days we all had vegetarian food, some days I did multiple dishes eg 2-3 vegetable curries then chicken tikka separately, some days my dd had a quorn cutlet or a veggie ready meal because we were having chops or meat lasagna. Doesn’t hurt to cut down on meat.

one meal suggestion is to roast cauliflower florets tossed in a little oil, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and turmeric for 16-18 minutes, meanwhile sauté onion, garlic and chili, add 150g couscous and 200ml boiling water, season , turn off heat and leave for 15 minutes. Add the cauliflower, chopped coriander juice and zest of a lemon, a drizzle of olive oil and pomegranate seeds, mix up and serve with green salad and yogurt

52 Quick Vegetarian Recipes | olivemagazine
15 minute vegetarian meals - BBC Food

Soya chunks are easy for protein.

I am not a fan of meat substitutes, I think if you want to eat a meat substitute you may as well eat meat.
Most vegetarians I know do not choose to eat a meat substitute, but do find ppl tend to serve them to them. They do not eat meat substitutes at home.

When DD went veggie i tried to make our normal meals and then make a veggie version for her but then I found it was easier to flip it and make veggie meals and then add meat for the rest of us, although me and DH are happy to eat veggie too.
DD doesn't really like meat subs and is allergic to Quorn but we manage fine and if it wasn't for DS I doubt I would bother with meat at all

I would flip it and instead of replacing the meat with something vegetarian, cook a veggie meal and add meat for the meat eaters.

This is probably our favourite meals in our veggie house. You could easily add cooked chicken to it at the end if you wanted. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spring-veg-stew-cheddar-dumplings
And
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pea-feta-pearl-barley-stew

What sort of meals do you usually cook?

My child went vegetarian in in approx 1976. It was hell, but we managed. These days it's really easy. Suitable for vegetarians is a usual label in shops now.

As for every day meals, they are abundant, you really don't need meat substitutes.

Child, now adult, is the family's main cook. Veggie meals we frequently have are

Aubergine Italian. Layers of Aubergine in a tomato sauce, with mozzarella.

Cauliflower cheese, with added carrots and broccoli, heavy on the mustard.

Split lentil "shepherds" pie . Substitute the meat for split lentil, add seasoning of your choice.

Veg stirrfry. Veg of choice, plenty of spice.

Child went to university at a very cosmopolitan city, and got into the habit of using chinese, Vietnamese and Indian shops. Eating veggy, accord to them, is quite cheep as well as tasty.

I've learnt to try and avoid Quorn etc as they are classified as ultra processed food. I now use falafels which I crumble as a replacement for mince and tofu as a replacement for meat chunks in curries, fajitas etc.

Aubergine parmigiana or whatever it’s called is one of my favourite dinners and I’m a big meat eater. Dh and ds have it with chops on the side but it’s enough for me with a side salad.
Chickpea confit is another of my favourites.
I do love meat but when the boys are out I’m more than happy to eat veggie. It’s quicker for a start! I like things like crispy gnocchi, spinach and feta salad, very substantial.
Also cauliflower steaks with chimmichuri, baked potatoes, roasted veg and halloumi bulgar wheat/cous cous, boiled egg and soldiers.

My DD went veggie at 12. She’s not a fan of meat substitutes. I bought a smaller pan and just sat it next to the big pan. I made her whatever we were having except I substituted the meat for lentils or chickpeas. So, for example, if I was making a chilli, I’d put onions, carrots, etc. into both pans, and then put meat into ours, and chickpeas into hers. Then I’d add kidney beans, chilli, tomatoes, etc. to both. We’d all eat the same rice - just need to be a bit careful about ‘cross contamination’ with serving spoons, but it has never really been a problem. Just make sure you give her the talk about respect - you respect her choices and are happy to support them, but she needs to respect yours in turn.

I know they’re different things, but just checking if she would be open to being pescatarian? I know it doesn’t necessarily make sense from an ethical perspective (I say this as a lapsed pescatarian!), but it makes lots of things easier including home cooking and ensuring sufficient protein and micronutrients.

And actually I forgot about it cos they’re at uni but I have one dc who now eats pesci because she didn’t like the texture of most meats! She does eat seafood two or three times a week but veggie the rest of the time. When she’s home she makes me the most delicious lunches 😋 I’m looking forward to her coming home for good soon and cooking my lunch regularly 😂

My ds went veggie and I've been accommodating it for nearly 10 years. He was extremely fussy/sensory when he was younger so I did just replace mince and chicken with quorn mince and pieces which covered many of our usual meals. It didn't help that one sister has a peanut allergy and the other hates mushroom and aubergine. We manage but it's annoying. I worry about his protein intake.

Vegetarian family here - you can use a lot of chicken recipes especially if they are stews/casseroles and just sub with Quorn pieces, a couple of my favourites from the BBC Good Food website are the Cajun chicken pasta, Creamy chicken stew and korma.

Other meals we often have on rotation are:

Chickpea Lentil curry
Spanish omelette
Butternut squash risotto
Pasta with tomato sauce
Spaghetti bolognese with Quorn mince
Black bean chilli
Tofu stir fry with rice or noodles
Baked potatoes with cheese and soured cream
Pesto spinach lasagne
Veggie burgers
Veggie sausages with mash and peas
Quiche with potatoes and salad

my daughter went veggie at 9 after seeing a “where does our food come from” video at school, she’s been vegetarian since and is now almost 13.
we don’t use meat replacements (they are mostly vile apart from quorn nuggets).
dd like teriyaki stir fry with broccoli peppers & mushrooms
chickpea / lentil / potato curries
mixed bean chilli - spicy
pasta with tomato & cheese
halloumi pitta salad & hummus
lentil & cumin soup with cheesy garlic bread
mushroom and cheese omelette

Grilled halloumi makes a good meat sub in meat-and-two-veg meals