Protein ideas for vegan toddler

[daisydaredyou]

She isn't actually vegan, but vegetarian and doesn't like eggs, and we've recently realised too much dairy wasn't agreeing with her so cutting that down.

But now I'm worried about protein, and nutrition in general. She's a fussy eater anyway so sometimes feels like she lives on bread and fruit.

Anyone got any vegan protein recipes or ideas that are a hit?

My very fussy vegan preschooler loves tofu scramble (the Nora Cooks recipe), pancakes made with silken tofu (Anna Banana recipe), Mexican rice with beans. Peas are also a good protein source. I add hemp seeds to porridge and he will snack on nuts and nut butters. I give wholewheat pasta instead of white etc.

I also make pizza bases with white beans puréed into the base, pasta sauce with red lentils puréed in. You can also give a lentil or chickpea pasta that is higher in protein.

Falafels and hummus is another good option if your kid will eat them, as are baked beans.

Every so often, I will log a day or two on my fitness pal or similar to make sure they are getting enough protein. They need surprisingly little in the toddler years, so will probably be meeting it.

Green peas are apparently a good source of protein. I never knew that myself until a friend told me the other day. Edamame also.

Spelt is high in protein.

Personally I'd focus on disguising eggs. Banana oat pancakes (one banana, 2 eggs, half a cup of oats, dash of water) are popular for breakfast here, as are eggy cheesy veggie muffins.

And nuts and nut butters - homemade peanut butter cookies with added nuts and things like that might be popular snacks.

As PP said First Steps Nutrition is a great resource https://www.firststepsnutrition.org/vegan-infants

A toddler needs 13g of protein.

For food ideas, chickpea pasta from Aldi has 14g protein per 100g cooked and is pretty bland, DD is happy to eat it with tomato based pasta sauce and sweetcorn.

Mac n cheeze using nutritional yeast (8g protein in 2 tbsp) with vegan cream cheese, violife brand has B12 added, and blended butternut squash. Macaroni itself has about 7g protein per 100g once cooked and I add peas which have about 5g per 100g.

Baked beans have 6g protein per 100g as well as 2mg iron (toddlers need 7mg a day) sliced bread is also fortified with iron and is roughly 4g protein per slice dependant on variety.

I also do scrambled tofu on toast, tofu has lots of protein, I serve with tomatoes and cucumber.

Warburtons do seeded bagels that are higher in protein (8.1g per thin bagel) we sometimes have that with peanut butter (25g protein per 100g).

Lentil soup as PP said is good. Green leafy veg is great if you can get it into them even with soup (DD will eat broccoli and spinach soup).

We always have peanut butter and flaxseed (for omega 3) on cereal. Cereal like weetabix and Shreddies are great as they are fortified (including with iron).

Soya milk and soya yoghurts are also good sources of protein, choose some that are fortified with calcium.

We also have things like Richmond meat free sausages or green cuisine chicken dippers a couple of times a week. A recent study found that ultra processed meat substitutes had no negative effect on health (but processed meat did).

Obviously toddlers might not (won’t) eat anywhere near 100g of each of the listed foods but the point is they don’t need to, as long as they are offered a variety and eat some they will almost certainly get enough protein as 13g is easy to hit, and with enough fortified foods calcium and iron shouldn’t be an issue either. We also give a multivitamin in case.

I use the whole earth drizzler to easily add peanut butter to cereal and pancakes.

DH also makes a French toast using tofu that’s a hit.

My kids absolutely love this Dahl recipe - red lentils, onions, spinach, coconut milk

www.noracooks.com/red-lentil-dahl/

My kids will eat anything from the air fryer - tin of chickpeas or cubed tofu sprinkled with seasoning are favourites.

What seasoning do you use?

@Mariposistaaa

this is the VEGAN board, have some respect for where you're posting.

@bakewellbride

you're right, I should ignore the rude posters who invade the vegan board with their nonsense. They're just so rude & wrong!

Well great, but no one here is doing that so, bit strange of you to comment.

Little bit of garlic powder, paprika, cumin, all purpose.

There has been a significant growth in the vegan and vegetarian options available over the past few years. Plus the quality has improved vastly. You can now find many alternatives to the Quorn option in your supermarket. I would especially recommend checking out products from "Meatless Farm" and "This".

I would also see a dietitian if I were considering a vegetarian/ vegan diet for my child. So many pitfalls even when you think you've done the research. (I found this out regarding me as an adult...)
However, this is my unscientific beanburger recipe of sorts and I think they are great!
For one adult:
Half a tin of beans (whatever sort you like)
A big dollop of tomato ketchup
A big dollop of marmite peanut butter
Fried onions (quite a lot as I like onion)
Garlic
Ginger
Dried herbs (whatever you like)
(The garlic and ginger are pre frozen in pots from the supermarket so come ready diced into tiny pieces)

Mix the above together, mash so there's still a bit of texture, coat in flour and fry until golden brown.

I guess reduce for a child (or share). I make quite small burgers which may appeal to a child (or feel more like tapas for an adult).

Peanut butter/ almond butter/ cashew butter sandwiches with wholemeal bread goes down brilliantly with my kids. They are not vegan but don’t really eat meat or eggs so similar to you! I just made life easy for myself during the fussy toddler phase and they had that for every lunch with some cucumber and tomatoes