Please give me some advice re nearly vegetarian BLWed DD

[DitaVonCheese]

DD is 15 months, BLWed and it has all just finally "clicked" and she's a really good eater and meal times are fun However, I am now fretting about whether she is getting enough protein.

DH is veggie, so we tend to eat very little meat (and almost no fish) as a family, and we would rather just have one meal together, so what meat we do have tends to be something like sausages that DD and I can just have on the side, rather than the focal part of the meal iyswim. She and I do quite often have ham sandwiches for lunch (and she loves things like chorizo) but then I worry she is having too many processed meats.

We don't tend to eat many beans or lentils either. She is okay with carbs (mainly bread, sometimes crumpets/potato cakes). She is great with fruit and veg and definitely gets her five a day, and I'm pretty confident about dairy too. Is there protein in these things as well? Does she need loads or is she probably getting enough from what she is eating? She does tend to wolf meat down when she does get it (but then it's very yummy ;)).

I really didn't want to bring her up veggie specifically because I don't know enough about a vegetarian diet to ensure she was getting everything she needed. Help!

Hi, quinoa (a grain like cous cous) is great for protein as it's a complete protein (most non-animal protein lacks all the right amino acids, but you can get them by combining certain foods e.g. dhal with brown rice, beans on toast). Eggs are great and a complete source of protein too. With quinoa, I often give it to my daughter with veg stir fry or mixed in with soup.

Couscous has some protein in and is very easy to make. Houmous is good too if she likes it.

Falaffel. Worth a try even if you don't eat a lot of pulses. The ready made Cauldron Foods ones are yummy, or make your own.

Recipe here

It would be fantastic if you could give her some boiled chicken from time to time. Easy to prepare, even if you are not a great cook. if she refuses you can always mix it in the soup..As Gavotte said eggs are z great source of protein and can be prepared in so many ways. Good luck.

hi - I can understand your worries, kind of. But I don't really see why you can't give DD appropriate amounts of meat and fish.

Cheese (and other dairy) and eggs are good sources of protein. DD has an egg about every other day (she likes them hard-boiled best) Use beans and lentils (former tinned, make home-made baked beans; the latter are really easy and quick to cook, especially the red ones). Hummous good, and falafel (but watch salt in ready made ones), but not sure how much protein is in couscous . Avocados have about the same amounts of protein as milk, apparently. DD loves them.

The reason I'm interested is that I am in a similar position - DD is 12mo, I eat meat, DP doesn't, but we frequently give her some form of protein, often cooked separately (salmon, fish fingers), or meat, usually cooked as a stew with lots of veg. It doesn't take long to cook a chicken breast, or small chop. I have a portion, she has a couple of portions (reheated) - you could make a big batch of ragout or spag bol sauce and freeze it in small portions - defrost as needed and combine with a carb (possibly something that DH will be eating with his meal). Judicious use of leftovers is helpful too. Other than breakfast I try to make sure she has a small amount of protein with every meal.

The only problem is that DD likes to "feed" us, and DP is revolted unwilling to accept half-chewed bits of chicken!

Thanks for the replies Will look into quinoa - never tried it but someone suggested it for DH recently as well. I don't tend to give DD many beans or lentils as they're quite hard for her to eat but falafels are a good idea (and perhaps she can manage more than I think she can!).

You are right that I should just be able to give her some meat and fish! I think I have just got out of the habit of buying it as it's so expensive, especially as I try to get organic/free-range stuff, and I feel guilty splurging the money just on myself (ie not DH as well). But a chicken breast and a bit of mince a week shouldn't cost too much and will do DD quite a few meals.

I think I was rather hoping that someone would just come along and reassure me that she was probably getting plenty from her present diet. What a shock to find I actually have to do something!

driving I like the idea of casseroles etc. Do you do a meat-free one as well for your DP or does he have something completely different?

I usually just make a little - so one or two chicken pieces plus onion, carrots etc - casserole - I have it, DD has it (often twice), and then DP will have whatever veg/carb we have to go with it.

Mind you, I do tend to cook separately for DD because she has her dinner at about 5.30 - we eat together once she's gone to bed. But I try to think of the cooking as veggie plus extra protein. As I say, eggs and cheese are godsends, as is hummous, and baked beans. Lentils and beans - do you let her just pick them up herself - my DD loves to pick up beans. Haven't tried her with chickpeas - they seem a bit harder IYSWIM - but cannellini beans, flageolets, butter beans all good. Likewise haven't tried kidney beans.

There's a really good veggie pasty in Hugh F-W's latest book - you can make it veggie shepherd's pie with it too.

Good luck - it's all trial and error, really and I'm sure she's doing fine

ps just tried the falafel recipe and ended up with a pan full of falafel flavoured sludge followed it exactly, so what did I do wrong?

There is a good one on Mumsnet somewhere - it was recipe of the week a while ago.

I will do a few casseroles. DH tends to think that he's being short-changed when I cook a veggie meal then bung a bit of meat on the side (I find this extremely irritating!) but I guess I will just tell him that it's tough tit

I cook separately for DD as well at the moment, since she moved her own bed time forward to 7ish.

Driving,
Try putting the falafel balls in the fridge for a bit before frying them.