Protein by stealth

[slipperthief]

DS (3.5) seems to be going seriously vege. Won't touch meat or fish in any kind of obvious form and has even gone off pasta sauce now (which hid all sorts of good for him things). No problem with this but I'm sure protein is pretty important for a growing lad.

Any sneaky suggestions of how to get meat, fish or vege protein into his diet. So far chicken hidden in homemade bread seems to be working though I think he's now geeting bored of that too.

dairy and eggs both have protein,

i wouldn't be too concerned tbh. i have 1 vegetarian child, 1 vegan child and 1 somewhere in the middle lol, and they're all fit and healthy

hummus, egg? My kids love eggy bread

oh good. and I just thought - he does love pancakes so that should help out.

ooh, eggy bread. might try that tomorrow.

Cheese, lentils, chickpeas and indeed any beans/pulses are good for protein as far as I know.

I melt mascarpone into a tomato sauce for pasta for DS

not really tried him on chick peas yet - would they work mixed in with rice or pasta do you think?

and as for cheese - couldn't get enough of it till he decided the other week 'I don't like cheese anymore, it always turns to sawdust'???

quorn in various forms?

can you disguse / pass quorn off as a vegetable? may count as the dimmest thing I've said all day but if it resembles chicken at all it'll end up on the fussy 'yucky' list.

Chickpeas go in curry in our house, if that helps?

Oh, and just remembered nuts are good for protein. Stir frys with cashew nuts in?

I am so not looking forward to DS getting older, as it's hard enough at 13mo to figure out what to feed him!

was going to suggest a tomato sauce fo0r pasta with an egg plus extra egg yoke stirred in at the last minute so it is nice and creamy...but he has gone off pasta.

will he eat prawns?, or egg mayonnaise?

hmm, nuts could work - might be able to smuggle them in, or he might even eat them just as they come.

yeah, somehow he used to eat anything at 13mo, just likes to keep us on our toes with new fussy phases at the moment.

he will eat prawns occasionally in with rice & sweetcorn so I keep trying with that one, and plain pasta is just about okay with veg, just the tomato sauce that's suddenly a show stopper.

yoghurt. you can put that in most things and things like bircher muesli for breakfast.

rice and peas or rice and lentils are very good.

It could well be a phase. DD went through 3 months when she would only want pasta with butter and cheese for supper. I thought that a perfectly healthy option and added a bit of philadelphia with the butter. She ate lots of fruit too so wasn't worried about the veg. Can you do him cheese boards? Protein is in so many things it is easy to get hung up on meat/fish/eggs.

DD is still in her anti tomato phase (she is coming up to three). I think they just go through a 'carbs' phase when they are growing. Have you tried him with kebabs or meatballs at all? Does he eat sausages?

Another thing you could try is pancakes or omelettes with chopped up stuff in them (fry stuff first, then add pancake batter or eggs) or frittata.

i feel your pain; after two kids who will eat just about anything I was a b it dismissive of fussy eates, blaming the parents......until DC3 came along, and treats anything that was once growing in a vegetable patch with mistrust, contempt or utter disdain.

Macaroni cheese? lentil dahl? veggie chilli with lots of pulses?

soya yoghurts?

I'm guessing / hoping it will be just a phase - at least he loves his veg. I probably am just a bit hung up on meat & fish.

And maybe I'll see if he wants to choose some cheese next time shopping - finds the idea of goats and sheep's milk hilarious and might get him back onto it. Dairy's never been too easy either so am quite keen to get some more calcium into him too.

thanks very much for all the suggestions.

DH has just had a clever moment too with a suggestion that he'll check out the spice shops in town for chickpea flour. time for a spot of experimental cookery I think.

How about fish pie? The mashed potato, fish and creamy sauce get well merged anyway so chances are he won't notice the fish (I use whitefish such as haddock, coley or pollock). And if you make a big one, you can freeze the rest for another day.
Fishcakes are also quick and easy - I quite often add in colourful vegies to the 'mash', such as carrot and swede, to blend in with the fish (mackerel, crab, salmon, tuna etc). My DD is allergic to all dairy so she gets a lot of her calcium from fish (we use soy milk in her fish pie). Good luck!

put cooked red lentils into pasta sauce and whizz up.