Protein ideas for 12 year old

[ohwhattodo1]

Looking for ideas to get more protein into my 12 year old (bonus points for fibre ideas too!).

They won't eat meat or fish (except fish fingers), and doesn't like eggs or yogurt.

They'll eat eggs in things like pancakes, but not in quiche etc.

They love cheese, but obviously that's not particularly healthy in excess.

Will eat nuts sometimes, and will eat peanut butter in moderation.

I've tried all kinds of meat substitutes; quorn products, tofu etc, but all have been rejected due to texture.

Happy to 'sneak' protein in where possible - such as adding blended tofu to pasta sauces.

ETA - have tried blended cottage cheese in things, which was detected! But have had some success with the 'greek yogurt bread' type recipes.

Any and all ideas welcome, particularly snack ideas. Thank you!

Protein yogurt. Loads of protein and there are different types with different textures.

Why not peanut?

DD is also not a huge fan of meat or fish but has recently discovered breaded calamari rings after trying one of her dads at a restaurant and they’ve been added to the favourite food list, we tried her with breaded scampi too and it was found to be ‘ok but not as good as calamari’.

Have they tried Gyoza, the Bento & Sushi range in the chilled ready meals section are really nice and DD will happily eat those with rice and brocolli.

have you tried eggy bread or french toast, obviously French toast with the sugar is a less good option but it’s a way of getting an egg in. DD is also weird about eggs, she won’t eat the yolk, so if I want to do her an omelette or fried eggs or boiled eggs, then I have to separate the egg or remove the yolk from hard boiled before serving it.

An egg without the yolk is hardly an egg at all ?
That's where all the goodness is.
Still I guess it's better to eat more foods than not

DH likes this pasta from sainsburys. It’s really high in protein. https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-red-lentil-penne-pasta-250g

Peanut butter is a terrible source of protein.

Excellent sources of protein:
Baby-bel (low fat cheeses)
Cottage cheese
Nutritional yeast
Tofu
Setian
TVP
Lentils
peas
Edamame
Most half fat mature cheddars
Light feta
light mozzarella
Lentil pastas
Black beans
cannelini beans
chickpeas (not hummus - terrible source of protein)

Warburtons 12 pulses seeds and grains protein bread.

This isn’t true.

The Albumin has all the essential amino acids - I think we can safely call essential amino acids ‘good’

I’d keep experimenting with of the vegetarian meat replacements. There’s a huge variation in the textures between brands and even between different products by the same brand. E.g. the Quorn cocktail sausages have a completely different texture to the normal full-sized Quorn sausages. And their sausage rolls are also different. My dd finds the texture of vegan sausages and mince so much better than vegan chicken. Overall as a family we agree that Richmond sausages are the best fake meat.

Because thee OP said her DD would only eat small amounts of it and sometimes people forget that there are almond and cashew etc.

Actually OP cashew nuts added to stir fry work well.

I’m a big fan of chickpea flour. You can start half half and increase. I make flour from oats. I use it in bread rolls. They are not as soft as bought bread but they have a higher protein content. You can also find recipes for high protein bread that include yoghurt.

I suspect you could add mashed avocado to pancake batter.

All my ideas have come from baby weaning websites.

Some things - like oats - have surprisingly high protein. You could try a low sugar nutty/seedy granola or make flapjacks. The butter and sugar content aren't great though. If she'll eat porridge with seeds scattered on top, that would be good.

Will she drink milkshakes or smoothies? Dor DS2 who had complex eating issues, I made banana milkshake with vanilla protein powder added. Skimmed milk has more protein, I think, than full fat.

For DS2 I also used to do higher protein PBJ sandwiches. Wholemeal or granary bread (has more protein than white) spread with cream cheese instead of butter - but quite thinly so the flavour and texture didn't dominate, then peanut butter and bramble jelly or seedless raspberry jam.

I also used to make cakes with almond flour, chopped nuts and lots of eggs - banana bread or chocolate torte or brownies work well for this - any cake that doesn't have to be light and fluffy.

Peas are a good source of protein. A jacket potato or chunky chips with their skins on, with baked beans, grated cheese and peas on the side would be quite a good source.

Lots of good ideas here OP but just wanted to add - Lidl do protein pancakes and protein tortilla wraps in their own brand range, they're both good. 9.5g of protein per pancake and 9.8g of protein per wrap.

I’d get them a clear flavourless protein powder and add it to their drinks. If they’re better with drinks Bulk does a lemon iced tea flavour or Clear does raspberry lemonade.

I make protein pancakes (like scotch pancakes):
50g oats blitzed in the blender with 25g unflavoured protein powder. I use the vegan pulsin pea protein powder due to dairy intolerance. Blitz those together, add a pinch of bicarbonate, pinch of salt, an egg and about 100ml of milk (dairy free is fine) and blend together. I’d eat a full batch for breakfast with fruit and soya yogurt but they’re really filling. You can keep the batter in the fridge for a couple of days.

Thanks all, some good ideas here.

It's a no to yogurt, porridge, peas, seeds, eggy bread, jam. They don't really like cake!

But will eat blitzed oats in energy-ball type things and flapjacks, so I sneak ground almonds into anything like that.

Will try the calamari and gyoza, and the protein pasta, and will keep trying 'new' brands of meat-substitutes. The only thing DC would eat was Aldi frozen 'no-chicken' breasts, and they've discontinued them! [crying face]

DC will absolutely love something for a while; I excitedly fill the fridge/freezer with lots of it, then they immediately go off it, and I'm back to square one.

I have a big list and will be headed to the big Tesco tomorrow.

Pottage - carrots, parsnips, onion, garlic, cabbage, oats, lentils, barley boiled up in chicken stock. Season to taste I usually go with some parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme and black pepper.

My 12 yr old has been veggie since the age of 5 and my 8 year old won’t eat eggs so it’s a lot of cheese in our house too. We eat a lot of beans and pulses. You can add lentils to most tomato sauce based meals (chilli, veggie bolognese, butter bean tagine, black bean quesidillas/fajitas) and they barely notice they are there once cooked. Add cottage cheese to pancake batter or a scoop of protein powder. Have you tried different nut butters instead of peanut butter? Mine does eat a lot of peanut butter. We eat quite a lot of halloumi as well - I know it’s more cheese but it serves as quite a good chicken substitute in things like wraps/kebabs and cous cous etc. we also make a good paneer curry that we found on the olive magazine website - my fussy kids love it. BBC good food has a great veggie aubergine chilli recipe that is packed full of pulses and legumes and is the closest I’ve found to a meat one in taste and texture

I’ve also found the optimal balance for my kids for a veggie bolognese is half quorn mince half green lentils. All lentils tastes a bit too “whole mealy” for them and all quorn mince has a slight cheap school mince texture but half and half seems to balance out well

You can make savoury flapjacks from red lentils, might be worth trying if they like scones and things.

Take a look at this. (I got it for myself so slightly different requirements maybe.)
https://www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/51/2024/01/BOB-ICB-High-Protein-Snack-Options.pdf

Have you tried red lentils as bread rolls - they are really best eating as soon as they are cooked.

I have made cheese and chive scones with varying flours. Also cheese and courgette muffins are really tasty.

If they like pancakes, could you try banana pancakes?

1 over ripe banana
2 eggs
1 tbsp flour

Mash banana, mix with flour, mix in eggs.

They don't taste like banana and will have higher protein/fibre than normal pancakes.

You can buy pasta made from lentils.
What about scrambled egg fried rice?

You mention they like avocado. My son loves a sliced bagel (you can get protein bagels from most supermarkets) topped with mashed avocado and crumbled feta cheese. They also like sliced spring onion and balsamic galze on top, but not sure if your DC would like that. Protein from the feta and added protein bagel.

Also baked beans on wholegrain toast is a complete protein meal, if they would eat that.

Would they eat a mild lentil daal? The red lentils disintegrate down so don't look 'lentil-y'.

Keep experimenting with the 'fake meats'. One of mine likes moving mountain burgers, the other bean burgers, while my DH likes quorn!

Cookie and Kate recipe site has a red lentil soup recipe that I did a rough copy of recently and my very fussy ND 7yo (who normally only eats tinned tomato soup) asked for seconds. It's blended smooth and includes gentle spice and a tin of tomatoes.