As I write in this week’s newsletter, Celia, who recently turned 10, decided to become a vegetarian 2 or 3 weeks ago. We’re adjusting pretty smoothly to this change at home, but I know this is easier for us than for many families because I was a vegetarian in the past and because we only cook with meat once or twice a week.
For others, the transition isn’t so smooth, if they allow it to happen at all. I spoke to a friend yesterday who said her daughter wanted to become a vegetarian and she told her that she would have to make all of her own meals because they weren’t changing their diet. Another friend told her 10 year old daughter no because she felt it would be too much of an inconvenience and possibly unhealthy for her daughter.
Do you have a family member who doesn’t eat meat, and if so, how do you accomodate them, if at all? I’d love to hear your advice, too, for making sure my daughter gets the right nutrients in her diet.
Haven’t been through this personally, but I think I’d solicit information/input from the child’s doctor, so that the kid knows - from an independent and knowledgeable source - that she can’t live on cereal and fruit snacks.
Most likely this would corroborate what you say/show to her yourself, and you could get some solid nutrititional recommendations too. I would definitely ask my child to take some leadership in making this happen healthfully, even at the age of 10.
We entertain friends who are vegetarians sometimes; we just make a veggie meal that we already enjoy. We’re exploring Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone to learn more about what to do with all kinds of veggies.
After dissecting a chicken in school, my daughter swore off our main dinner staple. What did I do? I turned to The Six O’Clock Scramble. Both she and I love the Crispy Baked Taquitos with Black Bean Filling. and our whole family loves your adaptation of Sherry Ettleson’s Vegetarian Chili. She also does drink a lot of (chocolate) milk The only problem is that my other daughter loves a good roast chicken and is not such a fan of black beans. So when the vegetarian is out for the evening, we fill up on poultry. However, we do eat a lot less meat than we use to. (But for some reason, she will eat the Mini Meatloaf Muffins.)
My niece was a vegetarian for a while. She refused to eat a lot of the protien food (nuts for example) to get the nutrients she needed. This winter she got sick and she could not get better. It was like her body was not strong enough to fight off infection. So my sister in law gave her an ulimatum - eat these certain foods every day or you have to go back to meat and chicken. She chose to stop being a vegetarian.
I think speaking to your pediatrician is a good idea.
:)Susan
We went through the same thing with our daughter and it was yet ANOTHER reason why The Scramble was such a lifesaver. I didn’t necessarily cater to her needs but if I knew she would not be eating dinner with us, I tried to make the meat-eater meals. If she was eating with us and I wasn’t making a vegetarian meal, I would be sure to heavy-up on the side dishes and made sure those side dishes were high in protein. Our whole family embraced it with the idea that we could all do with a little less meat. She is vegetarian for two years now and counting, and I don’t think anyone in our family feels hindered the dinner menu choices.
Hi Aviva!
I’m a big fan of The Scramble, and a vegetarian. I make a lot of non-meat options for my husband and 4 year old daughter Sela (who’s not a vegetarian yet). One great option is edamame. She loves it straight from the pods when we go out for Chinese food, and for lunch, I heat up frozen shelled edamame with brown rice, corn, a few pieces of broccoli or whatever other cooked veggies we have, tossed with some thinned out teriyaki sauce or other asian sauce (I send it to school hot in a thermos). I also recently discovered Quorn mock-chicken nuggets, which aren’t made with soy, and taste (to me) exactly like McDonalds chicken nuggets- Sela and my husband both couldn’t tell that they weren’t made from chicken. Also, as I’m sure you know, greek yogurt is very high in protein, as is quinoa. You also might want to check out Vegetarian Times- they have great recipes, and often stuff that kids would like. Good luck!
-Romy C.
Here’s another great message from a long time subscriber on this topic:
Hello Aviva,
Very intersting about your daughter (hooray for her) choosing to avoid meat. Does she also avoid fish?
Anyway, we had the same issue in reverse. My wife had been vegetarian for over a decade when I met her, and I had been so for about 7 years. By the time we had kids, our “track record” was even longer. So, we pretty much made two meals every time we cooked (and we almost never ate out, even pre-Scramble days). Eventually, that just got pretty time consuming and my wife decided to start back to eating meat (not only because of the fuss, but to get more protien and iron for the energy necessary to chase two toddlers around). In time, I too started back to eating meat.
But that’s not the point.
If one of our kids were to “go vegetarian” I think I’d feel compelled to make two main entrees every night. When I was still vegetarian, it would not have been adequate for me to cook up chicken and some sides and then throw in hummus and carrots for me. I would want to have “my” main course as well. Some pasta and cheese thing or your zucchini enchilladas (which we still make vegetarian with spinach and corn and such included) or stir-fried veggies with fried tofu cubes. But I wouldn’t consider just giving sides plus some salad thing. I feel it’s important to have that main course that’s vegetarian for those who choose to eat that way (and we have plenty of friends who are still vegetarian).
Just my two cents,
Randy
A note I received today:
I am glad to know other parents are experiencing this too! My daughter, Emma, declared herself a vegetarian two years ago at the age of 7. She has always gagged when eating meat and now states her love of animals keeps her from eating meat. We have tried to get creative and your menus help with that, but still I find myself struggling to make sure she eats healthy. I am going to check out the websites you listed, thanks for all of your ideas.
Amy
More great advice for “mixed” families from subscriber Diana M:
Hi, Aviva -
Interesting topic! I just rediscovered being a vegetarian, although I do still eat fish. I told my family I’m just taking a meat holiday, although I’m feeling so much healthier in general, I may stick to it. I’m doing it purely for health and environmental reasons, not out of a particular concern for animal welfare, so if there is chicken broth in my soup or pork seasoning in my green beans I’m not going to stress about it. But it has been interesting, because my family still eats meat - for my kids, mainly in the form of processed chicken and lunch meats. My husband definitely would not be OK with me never serving meat again. I’ve been minimizing it, having it on the side when possible, or letting him grill a big slab of something and I just eat the side dishes. But that’s been a useful shift in thinking for me, that there does not have to be a “main dish.” I mean, for entertaining you kind of have to, but for just our family I’m happy to have a couple extra servings of bread, seconds on the vegetables, and maybe have some dessert if I really don’t feel like I’ve eaten enough. I think if just one or two people are going to be vegetarians in the house, it’s not really reasonable to expect that they will get their own meatless entree everytime the others eat meat, unless it’s an easy parallel substitute like a veggie burger or salmon steak. But if they accept that just the veggie portion of dinner makes an acceptable dinner in itself (with some nuts or cheese or boiled egg thrown in for protein), then everyone eats happily. For lunches, we’ve gotten away from the traditional “sandwich and a side,” and now each kid sort of has a collection of healthy snacks in her box, which in aggregate counts as a whole lunch. I think my kids prefer to eat that way anyway, a little of this and a little of that! Their favorite informal meal is “salad bar,” which consists of me setting out lettuce and 8 little bowls of whetever we’ve got - leftovers, eggs, cheese, nuts, sliced veggies, dried fruit, beans, chow mein noodles, you name it - and they get to choose what constitutes dinner.
Oh, by the way - another trick I’ve been using on your recipes is that I bought a big bag of frozen raw trimmed shrimp - the kind where you can thaw them pretty quickly, pull off the shell, and cook them up - and for almost any chicken dish with marinade or sauce, I’ll just cook up a handful of shrimp for myself in parallel to the main meal, with the same sauce. The shrimp cook so fast i can practically toss them in the pan after the chicken comes out, and by the time everyone else’s plate is set and on the table, my shrimp is ready.
-Diana
Hi Aviva!
I’m a big fan of The Scramble, and a vegetarian. I make a lot of non-meat options for my husband and 4 year old daughter Sela (who’s not a vegetarian yet). One great option is edamame. She loves it straight from the pods when we go out for Chinese food, and for lunch, I heat up frozen shelled edamame with brown rice, corn, a few pieces of broccoli or whatever other cooked veggies we have, tossed with some thinned out teriyaki sauce or other asian sauce (I send it to school hot in a thermos). I also recently discovered Quorn mock-chicken nuggets, which aren’t made with soy, and taste (to me) exactly like McDonalds chicken nuggets- Sela and my husband both couldn’t tell that they weren’t made from chicken. Also, as I’m sure you know, greek yogurt is very high in protein, as is quinoa. You also might want to check out Vegetarian Times- they have great recipes, and often stuff that kids would like. Good luck!
-Romy
I think its a brave and wonderful choice your daughter has made. I am brand new to the scramble and am excited to try some of the recipes.I am the only vegetarian in the house and its sometimes challenging with all meat eaters. There are loads of kid friendly vegetarian cookbooks-like Vegan planet and Vegetarian times (online) that will help you both explore her choice in being vegetarian. Its not all tofu and nuts! If you can visit your local organic market, as well as the organic section in some of the larger supermarkets, there are alot of ready-prepared frozen and fresh vegetarian options to help you out initially, until you become more familiar with things like seitan, creatively ways to use beans and nuts for protien. As Romy mentioned, kids love edamame and the Quorn chicken nuggets, and other great items. Good luck!
Dear Aviva, my younger son, Garrett, was vegetarian for three years (middle
school) and The Scramble was essential for me NOT having to cook two completely different meals. Many of your recipes could easily accommodate substituting in tofu or textured soy protein. Sometimes I would make the whole meal vegetarian, and sometime I could just divide out part of the dish and do some with meat and some with soy. When he started his big growth spurt at the end of eighth grade, he decided he needed to eat meat again.
Good luck! The Scrmable made it very easy to accommodate everybody. Laura S.
thanks much…here is a link to some of my recipes…enjoy http://www.mlssclistings.com/sc-cabins/cabin/sc-cabins/organic-recipies/