one year old suddenly refusing meat... vegetarian ideas?

[mamaesi]

she eats lentils which is good... but what are some other lunch/dinner meals for vegetarian toddlers? how do I get enough protein in her...

My dd is 18months and hardly eats any meat. Apart from lentils, other good vegetarian protein foods are hummus, nut butters (eg peanut, but there are others), cheese and eggs. My dd always had a sandwich with one of those as a filling for lunch (plus fruit) and then whatever I can manage to get her to eat for dinner! (which is generally fish fingers!!)

As long as you can keep her eating fish. My Ds has never liked meat and is a virtual vegetarian out of choice (nothing ethical the rest of us eat meat). He has been fine, but I've always made sure that he eats fish, cheese and eggs. He will also eat quorn mince and sometimes mince -does you DD eat mince at all, it may be that she has a problem with "lumps" of meat. I can get some mince into him by making a bolognaise and then whooshing it with the stick blender. Give that a try.

Jacket potatoes with egg mayo or baked beans always goes down well. Pasta bakes with tuna and sweetcorn or vegetables and cheese.

Good luck - DS has got to nearly 9 without too many problems but it does take a bit of thinking about.

there is plenty of protein in dairy and eggs so worry not! I am vegetarian and as a result my DC (age 3 and 10 months) eat veggie most of the time as I do most of the cooking.

Lentils are good, as are any type of beans - try making a 3 bean chilli without any of the 'hot' spices. My two eat eggs at least 2-3 times a week - they love scrambled eggs, omlettes, fritata, quiche etc. Pasta with a cheese and spinach sauce is a good way of getting both protein and iron into them, as is spinach and ricotta canneloni. Houmus - you can make your own or use a good quality shop-bought one. We often have houmous and cheese sandwiches for lunch. They also have fishfingers probably once a week.

As for meat, mine have never been good with 'proper' meat, i.e big chunks. I always thought it was because they aren't used to it at home, but a couple of friends say their little ones are the same. Perhaps try making something like spaghetti bolognaise or a stew with just a little bit of chicken in? Or will she eat ham? Or a tuna pasta bake?

As long as you have some variety your DD will be fine. I am vegetarian as is my DD and we just give her the same as we eat. Lentils, beans, eggs, cheese, lots of veggies and carbs. If you need inspiration look to cultures where meat is not the centre of meals - e.g. asian food. Indian food in particular is great as there is such a strong vegetarian history there. Good luck.

I think I read not to give Quorn until they are 2 as it's difficult to digest. You can make tasty chilli and bolognaise using lentils instead of mince. Cottage pie with a base made from any mixture of lentils and beans with onion, herbs and gravy. Make bean burgers by whizzing up some tinned beans like aduky or kidney beans, mixing with leftover mashed potato, herbs and a bit of egg and frying. Falafal are good for little hands. Make stew and add beans as well as meat and just leave the meat out of the serving you give to LO. You get some tasty beans then too and use less meet so it's cheaper!

You can get lots of different tinned beans in supermarkets which makes cooking them far easier than dried versions, some of which need soaking overnight before cooking. There are about 4 widely available types of lentils, they work well mixed together, and don't need soaking before cooking so dried versions are easy to use and far cheaper than tinned. The tinny 'red' ones (which are actually orange) cook down to a mush so thicken sauces nicely. Black eyed beans also don't need pre-soaking so are good to have dried, and are great in stew.

Hope some of that helps. I do tend to waffle in a badly spelt manner!