Newly vegetarian and non-veg step daughters visiting for a week.

[EmedAK]

My husband and I recently cut most meat from our diets and minimized our dairy and egg intake - we generally eat meat free at home and occasionally eat meat when we're out for a meal. We've adjusted pretty well at home. Next week, my 7 and 9 year old step daughters who are not veg are coming to visit. I know that they eat meat at home and def eat lots of junkfood at home - getting them to each their veggies is always a battle when we go visit them. 

Soooo... just trying to figure out what I'm going to cook next week. Not sure if I should cook like i normally do - without meat.... or if i should cook meat because they're visiting? They will be visiting for christmas eve and christmas day - so I will need to have those two special meals cooked. I've contemplated cooking seafood on christmas eve and a duck for chirstmas (a tradition my husband and I started several years ago before becoming mainly veg) - And everything else vegetarian during the week.

What would you do? any recommendations for child friendly veg meals?

Thanks

[MrsSlocombe]

Well, because veganism is an ethical choice for me, I would not serve meat in my home, period.

Child friendly vegetarian meals:

Spanish rice (can even be from a boxed mix) and refried beans

Quesadillas, made from Daiya vegan cheese, or real cheese

Pizza, same cheese options as above

Baked tofu (pre-packaged, e.g. Thai peanut), stir-fried with veggies or simply served alongside steamed ones

Pasta with red sauce (add Tofurkey Italian sausage if they enjoy that sort of thing) or pesto (vegan or non-vegan)

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich

Oatmeal or pancakes for breakfast

These aren't very holiday-themed, I know, but I have not yet made a holiday meal for children.  Personally, I'm more a Thai/Indian fan, and have never really gotten excited about sweet potato casseroles, vegan or non.  Some people really like them, of course, and they are easy to make vegan.  All children really love fresh, homemade rolls, and some of them would be happy to make a whole meal of them.  For protein, I have done a rosemary-kale tofu and a store-bought Field Roast, but these were both for adults.  I always add a salad, too.

[SundayCrepes]

I'd just make vegetarian foods that they like. That's how I raised my stepkids. They ate my food at my house and her food at her house. I always made sure it was something they liked, but it never had meat. They had lots of favorite foods at my house.

When my stepson was grown, he commented, "Ironically, the only stuff I know how to cook is vegetarian." Ummm...not ironic, it's a reflection on who taught him to cook.

[catnip]

My vegetarian daughter's favorite dinners are:

Unfried rice - brown rice mixed with diced frozen veggies, tofu and a little soy sauce. I usually melt a little coconut oil or earth balance into it, too.

Pizza - with olives and mushrooms, we're dairy free, so we use daiya on it

Tofu ricotta stuffed shells

Bean tacos

Spaghetti with marinara and broccoli on the side

Apple pancakes

Butternut squash baked ziti

Ravioli

White bean soup and bread

Miso soup

Creamy tomato soup

[heatherr30]

Hi Emed I have to say this is a question I have as well!  I am a recent turned mostly-vegetarian (ie avoiding what meat I can without inconveniencing others too much when I am visiting someone, etc).  My 11 month old LOVES beans, tofu, lentils, etc but so far I haven't found a lot of recipes my 4 year old DD likes. 

I realize I am the one responsible for her being hooked on meat as I gave it to her for 4 years, so I am trying to reduce our family's meat consumption gradually by offering a vegetarian/vegan dish at each meal with a meat side dish.

If my family likes the veg dish, great, I make a mental note that next time I don't need to cook meat with it.  If they don't like it, I'm glad that Dd is eating something healthier than junk food (I know if she was still hungry after dinner she would beg for cookies, ice cream etc and it would really annoy me and I would probably end up offering her DH's lunch meat from the fridge instead--I choose meat over junk food for her)

I should mention that one other difference between our situations is that my DH is not 100% on board, altho he has been wonderfully open minded about trying the new foods.  Because there is meat in our house anyway, it's hard for me to enforce a vegetarian diet on my kids or guests.

In only 2 weeks I have managed to reduce our family's meat consumption to 50% of what it was, and I hope to gradually cook smaller amounts and less often.  I am starting to see this as a challenge for our family in addition to a personal challenge.

We have another challenge coming our way at Christmas as MIL will be here for 2 1/2 weeks.  I plan to use the same strategy as with DD--if I suspect the veg dish will be "strange" for her I will offer 2 options--ie veggie burger and normal-- and if I see that she likes the new food I will offer it the next time without the meat.  I do not want to starve a guest nor give them more fibre than they are used to so that it upsets their stomach.  I am such a recent convert myself that I haven't even announced it to friends and don't feel comfortable enforcing my new diet on others yet.  After I've been eating this way for maybe a year or so, I think I might feel comfortable telling friends and family "I don't cook/eat meat."  As a more experienced vegetarian cook (finding out what meat eaters like, don't like etc) I might be more comfortable cooking a Christmas dinner with only veg food.  At the moment I'm content with telling people that I've drastically reduced my meat and dairy consumption, but I don't label myself as vegetarian or vegan.

Because your DH is also making an effort however it might be nice for the 2 of you to plan your first vegetarian Christmas, finding out from your step daughters or their ...usual caretaker(s)...??? (sorry it was not clear who they live with) which of the above options would go over the best.

Thanks for letting me share my situation, I also have to say to the PPs I am pleased to see the list of child friendly food aboves and will defn give some of them a try!

[jess in hawaii]

When I was vegetarian for 20 years, we always had lasagna for holiday dinners. I realize you aren't doing much dairy, but if you would be willing to do this, it's a nice festive dish that meat eaters usually like (I would sometimes even sub tofu for the ricotta). Another nice vegetarian but not vegan option is quiche. Also, depending on your comfort level, you could cook all vegetarian/vegan meals, but have some deli meat on hand for them to make themselves sandwiches if they really want it.

[MrsSlocombe]

Originally Posted by jess in hawaii 

When I was vegetarian for 20 years, we always had lasagna for holiday dinners. I realize you aren't doing much dairy, but if you would be willing to do this, it's a nice festive dish that meat eaters usually like (I would sometimes even sub tofu for the ricotta). Another nice vegetarian but not vegan option is quiche. Also, depending on your comfort level, you could cook all vegetarian/vegan meals, but have some deli meat on hand for them to make themselves sandwiches if they really want it.

I have a good vegan quiche recipe if anyone would like it, though I can't guarantee that children would like it.  Adults love it.

[pinksprklybarefoot]

Originally Posted by MrsSlocombe 

I have a good vegan quiche recipe if anyone would like it, though I can't guarantee that children would like it.  Adults love it.

Please!

[MrsSlocombe]

Sure, it's from Joanne Stepaniak's Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook.  I always see if recipes are online before I type them out from the book, and wouldn't you know that someone on Mothering had already posted it!

Here is the recipe:

Classic Quiche

1 prepared 10-inch pie crust
3 cups (about 24 ounces) mashed firm silken tofu, or 3 cups drained cooked or canned white beans (two 15-ounce cans)
3/4 cup plain nondairy milk or water
1/2 cup flour (any kind; your choice)
1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
Scant 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon white pepper (optional)
1 tablespoon olive or organic canola or safflower oil
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onions

Preheat oven to 400F. Prebake pie crust 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool. Reduce oven temperature to 350F. Place tofu or beans, milk or water, flour, nutritional yeast flakes, salt, nutmeg, turmeric, and pepper, if using, in a blender or food processor and process several minutes until mixture is completely smooth. Stop machine frequently to stir mixture and scrape down the sides of the container with a rubber spatula. Set aside.

Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high. When hot, add onion and saute until tender and golden, about 8 minutes. Stir into blended mixture and pour into prepared pie crust. Bake on center rack of oven until top is firm, browned, and slightly puffed, about 40 to 45 minutes. Let rest 15 minutes before slicing.

***

You can stir a variety of steamed/lightly cooked vegetables into the filling mixture.  My favorite is zucchini or yellow squash, but broccoli and spinach are good, too.  You can also replace the sauteed onions with chopped scallions/green onions, which makes it nice and easy, because then you don't have to sautee them.

I have made this quiche many times from the book, using the silken tofu every time.  I'm low-soy now, and somewhat curious to try the bean version, but I'm afraid it will make me sad because I love the tofu one so much.  The liquid I always used was unsweetened almond milk, my "milk" of choice.

Here is the Mothering thread where I found this typed out:

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1246122/anyone-have-a-great-tofu-quiche-recipe

Thanks to somegirl99 for doing the work of typing!